Animal Control Workers Salary and Pay
How much do Animal Control Workers make?
Animal Control Workers pay a median of $45,830 a year in the BLS May 2024 survey, with a mean of $49,240 across 11,790 counted jobs. Half of all workers in the occupation earn between $38,160 and $57,110.
One page for the whole Animal Control Workers pay distribution: national ladder first, then all 45 state rows and the metro rankings, every figure from BLS OEWS May 2024.
Updated November 5, 2026
Salary converter for this occupation
Hourly figures use the BLS full-time convention of 2,080 hours a year. The converter loads this occupation's own ladder, median $45,830 first; type any offer into the custom box to price it against the same year.
The national wage ladder (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
| Pay level | Annual wage | Hourly wage |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $32,880 | $15.81 |
| 25th percentile | $38,160 | $18.35 |
| Median (50th) | $45,830 | $22.03 |
| 75th percentile | $57,110 | $27.46 |
| 90th percentile | $69,990 | $33.65 |
A percentile marks a point in this occupation's pay distribution: the worker one quarter of the way up the Animal Control Workers ladder earns the 25th percentile wage, $38,160. 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 11,790 Animal Control Workers jobs in May 2024, which is 0.01% of all U.S. employment in the survey. Work is most concentrated in New Mexico, where the location quotient is 4.05, meaning the occupation holds 4.05 times its national share of local jobs. Texas employs the most people outright, 1,380 of them, and the three largest state employers together account for 30.4% of the national total.
Pay inside the occupation is wide: $37,110 separates the ends of its ladder. The 90th percentile ($69,990) is 2.1 times the 10th percentile ($32,880), a gap of $37,110 a year. The mean of $49,240 sitting above the median of $45,830 tells you the top end pulls the average up: most workers cluster below the mean, and the high tail is thin.
Pay by state
Oregon posts the highest median annual wage in the state table at $66,110, and Texas the largest headcount. The full table, sorted by employment:
| State | Employment | Jobs per 1,000 | Location quotient | Mean annual | Median annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 1,380 | 0.1 | 1.31 | $43,240 | $43,410 |
| California | 1,280 | 0.1 | 0.93 | $63,690 | $62,760 |
| New York | 930 | 0.1 | 1.27 | $61,190 | $49,210 |
| Florida | 480 | 0.0 | 0.64 | $48,700 | $45,400 |
| Georgia | 450 | 0.1 | 1.21 | $40,150 | $39,330 |
| North Carolina | 450 | 0.1 | 1.21 | $43,670 | $42,800 |
| Illinois | 370 | 0.1 | 0.79 | $48,730 | $44,630 |
| Oklahoma | 370 | 0.2 | 2.88 | $37,050 | $36,110 |
| Virginia | 360 | 0.1 | 1.16 | $49,860 | $48,850 |
| Missouri | 320 | 0.1 | 1.44 | $45,380 | $45,280 |
| Massachusetts | 310 | 0.1 | 1.12 | $60,470 | $60,120 |
| Indiana | 290 | 0.1 | 1.19 | $45,630 | $46,280 |
| Ohio | 290 | 0.1 | 0.68 | $45,360 | $44,950 |
| Tennessee | 280 | 0.1 | 1.13 | $42,440 | $43,020 |
| Alabama | 270 | 0.1 | 1.71 | $39,430 | $36,990 |
| New Mexico | 270 | 0.3 | 4.05 | $38,550 | $36,090 |
| Michigan | 260 | 0.1 | 0.79 | $48,050 | $48,710 |
| New Jersey | 260 | 0.1 | 0.80 | $52,540 | $46,750 |
| Kentucky | 240 | 0.1 | 1.55 | $35,520 | $36,000 |
| Arkansas | 210 | 0.2 | 2.13 | $34,270 | $33,350 |
| Connecticut | 200 | 0.1 | 1.52 | $60,120 | $58,510 |
| Arizona | 190 | 0.1 | 0.76 | $46,410 | $47,260 |
| Washington | 190 | 0.1 | 0.72 | $64,130 | $65,210 |
| Utah | 180 | 0.1 | 1.40 | $46,970 | $46,690 |
| Colorado | 160 | 0.1 | 0.74 | $55,550 | $56,890 |
| Maryland | 160 | 0.1 | 0.77 | $56,000 | $52,710 |
| South Carolina | 160 | 0.1 | 0.94 | $40,040 | $41,560 |
| Iowa | 130 | 0.1 | 1.10 | $48,470 | $48,160 |
| Maine | 130 | 0.2 | 2.59 | $45,860 | $43,660 |
| Mississippi | 130 | 0.1 | 1.49 | $35,700 | $34,480 |
| Kansas | 120 | 0.1 | 1.13 | $44,430 | $43,250 |
| Pennsylvania | 110 | 0.0 | 0.24 | $54,360 | $51,440 |
| Louisiana | 90 | 0.0 | 0.62 | $42,420 | $38,200 |
| Nevada | 80 | 0.1 | 0.67 | $61,230 | $59,500 |
| West Virginia | 80 | 0.1 | 1.56 | $36,430 | $36,890 |
| Rhode Island | 70 | 0.1 | 1.73 | $54,610 | $57,790 |
| Idaho | 60 | 0.1 | 0.97 | $42,330 | $41,670 |
| Montana | 60 | 0.1 | 1.56 | $46,240 | $46,180 |
| New Hampshire | 60 | 0.1 | 1.17 | $51,390 | $54,170 |
| Wisconsin | 50 | 0.0 | 0.23 | $49,470 | $46,720 |
| Alaska | 40 | 0.1 | 1.69 | $59,960 | $62,870 |
| Oregon | 40 | 0.0 | 0.28 | $67,190 | $66,110 |
| South Dakota | 40 | 0.1 | 1.12 | $52,140 | $49,590 |
| Wyoming | 40 | 0.2 | 2.00 | $51,370 | $51,580 |
| Vermont | 30 | 0.1 | 1.29 | $41,190 | $34,850 |
The occupation in context
Ranked against all 826 published occupations, Animal Control Workers stands number 667 by employment and number 626 by median pay. Inside its own major group, Protective Service Occupations, the group median wage is $58,610 across 24 detailed occupations, so this occupation pays 22% less than its group median, and it supplies 0.3% of the group's 3,654,920 jobs. In 24 of the 45 states with a published median, the state median beats the national median of $45,830, 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 430 jobs, 3.6% of the national total. 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 | 430 | $67,160 | $63,560 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 400 | $62,290 | $56,090 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 390 | $47,320 | $45,880 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 220 | $52,760 | $49,870 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 200 | $42,920 | $41,100 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 180 | $61,570 | $61,610 |
| Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 180 | $61,280 | $60,910 |
| St. Louis, MO-IL | 160 | $48,900 | $47,090 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX | 150 | $45,800 | $45,290 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 150 | $73,300 | $76,170 |
What the median pay looks like as a budget
As a household number, $45,830 a year is $3,819 a month gross, $1,763 every two weeks, $881 a week. Moving from the 25th percentile ($38,160) to the 75th ($57,110) is worth $18,950 a year, which is the realistic size of the experience and specialization premium inside this occupation. The next step from a gross figure is a net one: run the $3,819 monthly figure through the paycheck calculator applies your state's taxes, the salary calculator compares two offers in any unit, and the raise vs inflation calculator tells you whether a nominal raise is a real one.
To place a real offer: a salary of $50,413 would sit between the median ($45,830) and the 75th percentile ($57,110), inside the top half but outside the top quarter of this occupation's ladder. An offer at the 25th percentile, $38,160, is $7,670 under the median, the typical size of the discount attached to entry-level or low-cost-market postings in this field.
Related occupations in Protective Service Occupations
Pay for the neighboring roles in the same BLS major group: First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers, First-Line Supervisors of Correctional Officers, Transportation Security Screeners, Private Detectives and Investigators, First-Line Supervisors of Protective Service Workers, All Other, Bailiffs. The full directory is on the Careers hub.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Animal Control Workers make?
The median annual wage is $45,830 and the mean is $49,240 in the BLS OEWS May 2024 estimates. The middle half of workers earn between $38,160 and $57,110 a year.
Which state pays Animal Control Workers the most?
By median annual wage, Oregon leads the state table at $66,110, based on 40 jobs in that state. By mean wage and by headcount the leaders can differ, so the state table on this page shows all three measures side by side.
How many Animal Control Workers are there in the United States?
BLS counted 11,790 wage and salary workers in this occupation in May 2024, 0.01% of all U.S. employment in the survey. The largest state employer is Texas with 1,380 jobs.
What do the OEWS percentiles mean for Animal Control Workers?
They mark points in this occupation's pay distribution. One worker in ten earns $32,880 or less and one in ten earns $69,990 or more; the median, $45,830, is the wage of the worker exactly in the middle of the 11,790 counted jobs.