Rural-urban differences in the economic contributions of veterinary practices across 10 states

Quantify and compare the economic contributions of veterinary services across rural and urban counties in 10 U.S. states, and assess whether rural status is associated with higher veterinary economic intensity.

We conducted a county-level economic contribution analysis of veterinary services using 2023 IMPLAN data. For each county, we extracted direct employment and output and calculated total effects (direct + indirect + induced) and multipliers. Counties were classified by rural-urban status, and log-linear OLS models estimated employment and output per veterinary establishment per 1,000 residents, controlling for county poverty and unemployment rates and state effects.

Across the sample, veterinary services generated 75,438 direct jobs and 97,912.70 total jobs, and $7.20B in direct output and $11.94B in total output. Rural counties accounted for 8,010 direct jobs and $706.90M in direct output vs. 67,428 direct jobs and $6,489.58M in urban counties. Employment multipliers ranged from 1.25 to 1.38 and output multipliers from 1.57 to 1.70. In regression models, rural status was positively associated with higher employment intensity and output intensity.

Veterinary services generate substantial local economic activity with meaningful spillovers. Although urban counties dominate in total scale, rural counties show higher standardized intensity, supporting continued policy initiatives that target rural workforce recruitment and retention.