Employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness of year 2021 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges.

For year 2021 graduates of US veterinary medical schools and colleges who had accepted a full-time position in a private or public practice or an advanced education program (n = 2,448), mean starting annual salary was $80,844. Excluding salaries for individuals who were pursuing advanced education, mean starting annual salary for graduates who had accepted a full-time position in a private or public practice was $98,088. For the 2,771 year 2021 graduates who reported information on debt, mean educational debt accumulated during veterinary school was $156,221 (median, $160,000). Mean educational debt for the 2,322 year 2021 graduates who had educational debt was $186,430, compared with a mean of $188,853 for year 2020 graduates who had educational debt.