Veterinarians in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$98,428
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$35,092
26.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$100,952
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$133,520
Kept after tax
$98,428
Worth in national money
$100,952
State rank
9
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for veterinarians is strong here. Pennsylvania's middle earner gets $133,520, putting the state 9 of 49 — about 2.63% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Pennsylvania. It ranks 18 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $133,520, tax leaves $98,428, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $100,952 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $154,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- For veterinarians, Pennsylvania sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $133,520, ranking 9 of 49 and running about 2.63% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Pennsylvania, veterinarians ranks 18 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for veterinarians — median $133,520 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $98,428 retained, $100,952 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $154,440 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Veterinarians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $79,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $133,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $268,870 |
| This salary | $133,520 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Pennsylvania | $98,428 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $102,527 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,556 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $127,523 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,477 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $133,520. The published range is $79,780 up to $268,870, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $98,428 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $133,520. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 18 of 492.
- Two cautions on $100,952, the adjusted value of that $133,520 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 18 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for veterinarians in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $79,780 to $268,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $98,428, from $133,520, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 18 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 49 for it.
- This $100,952 adjusted figure, worked from $133,520, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 18 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 18 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $154,440, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $79,780 and the top tenth $268,870 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $100,952.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $98,428 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Pennsylvania is $154,440. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($79,780) and the ninetieth ($268,870) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $100,952 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $98,428 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.