Veterinarian.
St. Louis.
$117,000
median salary, 7% below the national average
$91,000 to $150,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
If you are evaluating a Veterinarian offer in St. Louis, MO, here is the reality: $91,000 to $150,000, with $117,000 as the midpoint. 7% below the national average. Practice type is the primary differentiator, with emergency, specialty, and equine or large animal vets earning above companion animal general practitioners. Do not accept the first number. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Veterinarian in St. Louis, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $122,460 for Veterinarians (SOC 29-1131) in the St. Louis, MO-IL metropolitan area, based on 810 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$74,680
25th percentile
$103,690
Median
$122,460
75th percentile
$153,450
90th percentile
$195,480
Workers surveyed
810
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Veterinarians (SOC 29-1131) rather than Veterinarian specifically. The St. Louis range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 29-1131Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $105,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$76,000
to $94,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$99,000
to $123,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$129,000
to $152,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$146,000
to $181,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $24,000 to the total package.
Base
$117,000
Equity
$13,000
Bonus
$9,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $141,000
How St. Louis compares.
St. Louis, MO
$117,000
Cost of living: 10% below average
National Average
$126,000
St. Louis is $9,000 below
Veterinarian salary by city.
Salary by role in St. Louis.
What you should know.
The Veterinarian landscape in St. Louis is not what most salary sites will tell you. St. Louis offers one of the most affordable major metro areas in the country, with a strong base in healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing. The region's anchor employers include Boeing, Centene, and Washington University's medical campus. A growing biotech and plant sciences corridor centered on the Cortex Innovation District is attracting new investment and talent. Practice type is the primary differentiator, with emergency, specialty, and equine or large animal vets earning above companion animal general practitioners. Board certification in specialties like surgery, internal medicine, or oncology adds 30 to 60% over general practice. Geographic areas with vet shortages offer signing bonuses and premium salaries.
New graduate vets start at $88,000 to $100,000 in general practice. Mid-career vets with strong client bases earn $115,000 to $140,000. Practice owners or board-certified specialists can reach $160,000 to $250,000 depending on specialty and practice revenue. In St. Louis, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Veterinarians commonly receive production bonuses of 18 to 22% of personal production above a base salary. Benefits include CE allowances of $2,500 to $5,000, DEA license reimbursement, professional liability coverage, and increasingly, student loan repayment assistance programs. And on the tax side: missouri's top income tax rate is about 4.8%, and St. Louis City adds a 1% earnings tax. The low base cost of living means your after tax salary still stretches further than in most metros. When someone quotes you $117,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Emphasize your willingness to work in person at Cortex or the BJC campus. St. Louis employers offer higher packages for candidates who commit to the local innovation hubs. The range for Veterinarians in St. Louis runs from $91,000 to $150,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
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- An ML Engineer in St. Louis earns $116,000 (1% less)
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Common questions.
Veterinarian salary in other cities.
Other salaries in St. Louis.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Veterinarian Salary in St. Louis, MO." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/veterinarian/st-louis
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