Career Explorer Healthcare (clinical)
Grows with AI
Veterinarians
Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. Includes veterinarians who conduct research and development, inspect livestock, or care for pets and companion animals.
More resilient than most: more resilient than 67% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is moderate (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +9.4% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on ethical judgement and emotional intelligence.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $130,100
- Job growth to 2035
- +9.4%
- Openings a year
- 3,100
- People doing it (2025)
- 91,100
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Provide information or assistance to the public
- Analyze health or medical data
- Advise patients or clients on medical issues
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Treat injuries, illnesses, or diseases
- Examine people or animals to assess health conditions or physical characteristics
- Prescribe medical treatments or devices
What the work looks like
- Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
- Inoculate animals against various diseases, such as rabies or distemper.
- Examine animals to detect and determine the nature of diseases or injuries.
- Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis.
- Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Physician assistantsHuman edge, growing, Index 97, +21.1%
- OptometristsHuman edge, growing, Index 89, +9.5%
- ChiropractorsHuman edge, growing, Index 78, +8.7%
- DermatologistsHuman edge, growing, Index 78, +6.8%
Also known as: Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Emergency Veterinarian (Emergency Vet), Small Animal Veterinarian (Small Animal Vet), Veterinary Medicine Doctor (DVM), Companion Animal Practitioner, Large Animal Veterinarian (Large Animal Vet), Mixed Animal Veterinarian (Mixed Animal Vet), Veterinary Surgeon (Vet Surgeon).
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.