Animal Caretakers
United States. Estimated employment 266,910, with pages for 7 metro areas below.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 39-2021
Fig. 1 — The wage rule
Where you sit in the distribution
Drag the marker, or type a figure
$35,360 · 50th
$27,25010th
$29,82025th
$35,36050th
$40,05075th
$50,06090th
That is the median — half of animal caretakers in the US earn more.
Table 1 — By metro area
Where it pays
Every published Animal Caretakers page, by median pay. Employment is the BLS estimate for the metro.
| Metro area | Median | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | $37,900 | 11,430 |
| Ithaca, NY | $36,930 | 100 |
| Kiryas Joel, NY | $36,360 | 540 |
| Albany, NY | $35,640 | 880 |
| Syracuse, NY | $35,500 | 470 |
| Utica, NY | $35,460 | 180 |
| Kingston, NY | $35,090 | 150 |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Employment
- 266,910 employed in this occupation nationally (BLS estimate; excludes the self-employed).
- Occupation
- SOC 39-2021, Animal Caretakers. Mapped to our taxonomy as animal-caretakers.
Percentiles are reported exactly as released and are never interpolated between published values. We take no payment from employers, recruiters or anyone else for how any figure is presented.