---
title: "Applied Animal Behaviorist"
description: "A scientist trained in animal behavior who diagnoses and resolves behavior problems in pets, zoo animals and other species through behavior modification…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/applied-animal-behaviorist"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Applied Animal Behaviorist

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-1011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-1011.00

A scientist trained in animal behavior who diagnoses and resolves behavior problems in pets, zoo animals and other species through behavior modification and consultation.

Also advertised as: Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB); Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist; Animal Behavior Consultant; Companion Animal Behaviorist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $68,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $33.14/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $44,350 to $166,000, with the middle half between $49,770 and $103,300
- **Total US employment:** 3,100
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 38/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 3,100 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $44,350 |
| 25th | $49,770 |
| 50th (median) | $68,940 |
| 75th | $103,300 |
| 90th | $166,000 |
| Mean (average) | $88,350 |

### Pay by state

The 13 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| TX | $132,830 | $136,858 | 40 |
| MN | $88,640 | $89,879 | 100 |
| WI | $84,310 | $89,601 | 280 |
| WA | $83,160 | $77,710 | 40 |
| KS | $80,090 | $88,922 | Not published by BLS |
| MD | $77,750 | $74,077 | 190 |
| PA | $77,660 | $79,593 | 90 |
| SD | $77,300 | $87,260 | 90 |
| IA | $75,290 | $85,789 | 60 |
| ND | $72,100 | $81,049 | 40 |
| MI | $60,010 | $62,369 | 80 |
| NE | $55,300 | $61,374 | 210 |
| IL | $47,930 | $47,950 | Not published by BLS |

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 3,400 in the 2025–2035 base year to 3,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 200 jobs, or +5.8%. Faster than average: 5.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Doctoral Degree | 43.5% |
| Master's Degree | 21.7% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 13.0% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 13.0% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.4% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 4.4% |

## What the work involves

- Observe and analyze problem behaviors in animals
- Take detailed behavioral histories from owners or keepers
- Design behavior modification and environmental management plans
- Coordinate with veterinarians on medical rule-outs and medication
- Advise shelters and zoos on enrichment and welfare
- Conduct research on animal behavior and cognition
- Provide expert opinions in legal cases involving animals

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Science — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Biology — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Chemistry — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Food Production — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Investigative (I), Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| I — Investigative | 6.93 |
| R — Realistic | 5.39 |
| C — Conventional | 3.36 |
| S — Social | 3.28 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.40 |
| A — Artistic | 1.96 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| INTJ | 79.1 |
| ISTP | 78.3 |
| ISTJ | 76.3 |
| INTP | 70.2 |
| ISFJ | 54.8 |

Best-fitting types: INTJ, ISTP, ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Animal Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/animal-scientist) — median $68,940
- [Food Scientist and Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/food-scientist-and-technologist) — median $88,720
- [Soil and Plant Scientist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/soil-and-plant-scientist) — median $78,850
- [Microbiologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/microbiologist) — median $87,990
- [Farmer or Agricultural Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/farmer-or-agricultural-manager) — median $89,900
- [Veterinarian](https://nuecareer.com/careers/veterinarian) — median $130,100
- [Agricultural Sciences Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/agricultural-sciences-teacher-postsecondary) — median $98,700
- [Biochemist and Biophysicist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biochemist-and-biophysicist) — median $127,410
- [Geneticist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/geneticist) — median $98,920
- [Biologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/biologist) — median $98,920

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

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