Animal Breeders Salary and Pay
How much do Animal Breeders make?
Median pay for Animal Breeders is $52,000 a year ($25.00); the mean is $56,150. The occupation employed 1,730 people in May 2024, and its middle band runs from $43,310 to $59,630.
One page for the whole Animal Breeders pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 9 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Gross pay only, before taxes and benefits. The picker starts at this occupation's median ($52,000); the custom box accepts any annual figure, which is how you price an offer letter against the ladder below.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $37,130 | $17.85 |
| 25th percentile | $43,310 | $20.82 |
| Median (50th) | $52,000 | $25.00 |
| 75th percentile | $59,630 | $28.67 |
| 90th percentile | $89,970 | $43.26 |
A percentile marks a point in this occupation's pay distribution: the worker one quarter of the way up the Animal Breeders ladder earns the 25th percentile wage, $43,310. BLS top-codes very high wages ($239,200+ a year, $115.00+ an hour) and marks estimates it cannot publish as n/p.
Employment and concentration
BLS counted 1,730 Animal Breeders jobs in May 2024, which is 0.00% of all U.S. employment in the survey. Work is most concentrated in Alabama, where the location quotient is 2.28, meaning the occupation holds 2.28 times its national share of local jobs. New York employs the most people outright, 220 of them, and the three largest state employers together account for 23.1% of the national total.
One in ten workers in this field earns $37,130 or less, and one in ten earns $89,970 or more, so the top-to-bottom ratio is 2.4 to 1 and the annual gap is $52,840. The mean ($56,150) versus median ($52,000) comparison shows a right-skewed ladder where senior and specialist roles lift the average in this occupation.
Pay by state
Sorted by employment, the table below puts New York first at 220 jobs; sorted by median pay instead, Ohio would lead at $71,930. Both orderings are printed in one table:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 220 | 0.0 | 2.04 | $55,480 | $50,440 |
| Texas | 110 | 0.0 | 0.72 | $48,460 | $48,230 |
| Wisconsin | 70 | 0.0 | 2.18 | $49,750 | $45,840 |
| Alabama | 50 | 0.0 | 2.28 | $41,540 | $29,140 |
| Minnesota | 40 | 0.0 | 1.34 | $49,610 | $48,670 |
| Kentucky | 30 | 0.0 | 1.41 | $48,270 | $45,730 |
| California | n/p | n/p | n/p | $61,680 | $58,240 |
| Idaho | n/p | n/p | n/p | $50,420 | $48,620 |
| Ohio | n/p | n/p | n/p | $89,060 | $71,930 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Animal Breeders stands number 806 by employment and number 492 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations, the group median wage is $46,710 across 13 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 11% more than its group median, and it supplies 0.4% of the group's 440,980 jobs. In 2 of the 9 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $52,000, which is the single best quick test of whether this occupation's pay is set nationally or locally: a high count means local markets regularly outbid the national figure.
Metropolitan areas: where the jobs and the pay sit
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA is the largest metro employer with n/p jobs. Employment rank and pay rank are different lists: the second table re-sorts metros with at least 500 jobs in this occupation by mean pay, the floor keeping a handful of workers from posing as a market.
Largest metro employers
| Metropolitan area | Employment | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | n/p | $50,410 | $49,440 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | n/p | $54,780 | $50,440 |
| San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | n/p | $70,190 | $58,240 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | n/p | $63,620 | $58,180 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
The median Animal Breeders paycheck, gross, is $2,000 every two weeks on an annual $52,000, which is $4,333 a month and $1,000 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($43,310) to the 75th ($59,630) is worth $16,320 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. Gross is a starting point, not a budget: the paycheck calculator nets it down by state, an offer comparison lives in the salary calculator, and the raise vs inflation calculator separates a real raise from a nominal one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $57,200 would sit between the median ($52,000) and the 75th percentile ($59,630), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $43,310, is $8,690 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations
The occupations BLS groups with this one, by size: Agricultural Inspectors, Forest and Conservation Workers, Agricultural Workers, All Other, Fallers, Log Graders and Scalers, Logging Workers, All Other. Every one of the 826 published occupations is indexed on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average salary for Animal Breeders?
BLS publishes both centers: the mean annual wage is $56,150 and the median is $52,000 (May 2024). The median is usually the better answer to what a typical worker makes, because the mean is pulled by the highest earners.
Where do Animal Breeders earn the most?
At state level, Ohio posts the highest median at $71,930. At metro level, BLS publishes no metro estimates for this occupation.
How many Animal Breeders jobs are there?
1,730 nationally in May 2024. The biggest metro employer is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA with n/p jobs.
Is $52,000 a good salary for Animal Breeders?
It is the exact middle of the occupation: half of the 1,730 counted workers earn more, half earn less. Against the occupation's own ladder, an offer above $59,630 is a top-quartile offer and one below $43,310 is a bottom-quartile one.