AVMA economic report paints veterinary market picture

Market data enables you to leverage trends, manage expectations, and identify opportunities for both your career and your practice. And that’s exactly what a new report from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) enables you to do.

At the end of July, the AVMA released the 2015 AVMA Report on the Market for Veterinarians. It offers information on income trends, supply and demand for veterinary labor, and a forecast of what’s to come.

A few key highlights of the report include:

  • Starting salaries increased from 2001-2008, declined from 2008-2012, and, as new graduates entered the market from 2012-2014, starting salaries increased.
  • The demand for companion animal practitioners is directly related to pet owners’ incomes—as pet owners’ income rises, so, too, does a demand for services.
  • As the economy improves, the mean starting salary will increase to approximately $84,000 in 2020, reaching a little less than $94,000 by 2024.
  • New veterinarians fall just below the average U.S. family in the 80th percentile due to the loss of a home interest deduction (most new veterinarians rent); however, by age 48, veterinarians are in the 90th percentile of U.S. households.
  • The low unemployment rate for veterinarians suggests that the salaries offered are considered sufficient.
  • New graduates make their selections based on income; however, once they have chosen a specific career path, it is difficult to switch to another area of veterinary medicine.

The AVMA report is the fourth in a six-part series on the economic outlook for the veterinary profession.

Photo Credit: © iStock/wgmbh

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