iVET360 Releases 2026 Veterinary Payroll Report
New Data Reveals Rising Payroll Pressure Despite Productivity Gains
iVET360, the leading accounting, analytics, and HR partner for veterinary practices, has released its 2026 Veterinary Payroll Report, offering an in-depth look at compensation, staffing efficiency, and labor utilization across U.S. veterinary hospitals. Now in its third year, the report highlights a growing disconnect between improving productivity metrics and increasing payroll pressure.
According to the report, gross payroll as a percentage of revenue increased from 40.8% in 2024 to 41.6% in 2025, even as many efficiency indicators improved. Revenue per full-time employee rose from $185,238 to $189,032, and revenue per staff hour increased from $112 to $114. Despite these gains, practices continue to feel financial strain.
“On paper, many practices are becoming more productive,” said Oliver Roller, co-founder of iVET360. “But productivity improvements are not keeping pace with inflation, softer transaction volume, and staffing decisions that aren’t always aligned with real demand. That’s why it still feels tight for so many hospital owners.”
Key Findings from the 2026 Veterinary Payroll Report Include:
- Payroll pressure continues to rise. Average payroll-to-revenue increased to 41.6%, while top-performing hospitals held payroll closer to 37.5%, representing an average efficiency gap of approximately $110,000 per hospital.
- Transaction volume per DVM continues to soften. Transactions per DVM FTE declined from 3,425 to 3,385, reinforcing that growth through appointment volume alone is no longer a reliable strategy.
- Support staffing increased while DVM capacity stayed flat. Average support FTEs rose from 16.8 to 17.4, while DVM FTEs remained nearly unchanged, contributing to higher labor costs without proportional revenue gains.
- Utilization, not wages alone, drives performance differences. Top hospitals demonstrated stronger technician utilization, lower turnover, higher revenue per staff hour, and reduced support labor leakage.
- Relief veterinarians remain the most expensive staffing solution. Relief DVMs generated the lowest average transaction charge while consuming the highest percentage of production, making long-term reliance on relief coverage a profitability risk.
The report also dives deeply into role-specific wage trends, turnover rates, and market comparisons for CSRs, veterinary assistants, technicians and CVTs, kennel staff, practice managers, and DVMs, providing practices with actionable benchmarks and context for compensation decisions.
From Data to Action
Beyond benchmarking, the 2026 report includes a clear action plan designed to help practices close the efficiency gap. Recommendations focus on aligning staffing to demand, protecting technician utilization, reducing management overtime, professionalizing front desk roles, and treating payroll-to-revenue as a managed KPI rather than a static number.
“The takeaway isn’t ‘pay less’ or ‘push harder,’” added Vandeberghe. “It’s about alignment. When staffing, utilization, training, and client experience work together, practices can support their teams and protect profitability at the same time.”
The full 2026 Veterinary Payroll Report is available for download at ivet360.com/vpr
Established in 2013 and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, iVET360 is a practice management services company providing critical support to veterinary hospitals across North America. Their specialists educate and assist practices with marketing, analytics, bookkeeping, team training, and HR services to ensure the full implementation of proven business strategies in hospitals’ daily activities.
