NOC 2021 · 65220 · TEER 5
Pet groomers and animal care workers
Unit group 65220 of the National Occupational Classification, 2021 Version 1.0.
Check which category draws this code qualifies for
What this group covers
Animal care workers feed, handle, train and groom animals and assist veterinarians, animal health technologists and technicians and animal breeders. Pet groomers clip coats, bathe and otherwise groom pets. They are employed by animal hospitals and clinics, animal shelters, breeding and boarding kennels, zoos, laboratories, retail pet shops, dog training schools, pet grooming establishments, or may be self-employed.
Example job titles
As Statistics Canada publishes them. Yours may be worded differently and still belong here.
- animal attendant
- animal attendants supervisor
- animal care worker (except farm)
- animal groomer (except horses)
- animal health care assistant
- animal trainer (except horses or marine mammals)
- aquarist
- certified dog master
- dog groomer
- dog handler
- dog master
- dog master trainer
- dog trainer
- groom - horse race track
- horse hot-walker
- kennel attendant
- kennel keeper
- kennelman/woman
- laboratory animal attendant
- laboratory animal care worker
- pet groomer
- pet master groomer
- pet shop attendant
- pet-sitter
- pound animal attendant
- pound attendant
- receiving barn custodian
- veterinary attendant
- veterinary helper
- zoo animal attendant
- zoo attendant
What it pays, and where it is hiring
Job Bank publishes a wage estimate and a three-year employment outlook for each occupation, region by region. Both are below as published — where an estimate is missing from the source it is missing here too, because the alternative is inventing one.
Across Canada
$18.00 an hour
Low $15.00, high $25.50
Where it pays most
- Bas-Saint-Laurent · Quebec$20.17
- Toronto · Ontario$20.00
- Muskoka--Kawarthas · Ontario$19.64
- Vancouver Island and Coast · British Columbia$19.50
- Kootenay · British Columbia$19.50
Economic regions only. A province’s figure is an average over the regions inside it, so including one would rank a province above its own best region and read as a finding.
By province and territory
| Where | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.10 | $16.00 – $26.00 | Moderate |
| Prince Edward Island | $16.50 | $16.50 – $17.00 | Moderate |
| Nova Scotia | $16.50 | $16.50 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| New Brunswick | $16.25 | $15.65 – $24.00 | Moderate |
| Quebec | $18.57 | $16.10 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Ontario | $19.00 | $17.60 – $26.00 | Moderate |
| Manitoba | $16.00 | $16.00 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Saskatchewan | $15.35 | $15.35 – $20.00 | Moderate |
| Alberta | $17.00 | $15.00 – $32.50 | Moderate |
| British Columbia | $19.50 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Limited |
| Yukon Territory | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Northwest Territories | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
| Nunavut | Not published | Not published | Undetermined |
By economic region
The 61 economic regions where Job Bank publishes a wage or a rated outlook, of 72.
| Where | Province | Median hourly | Low to high | Outlook 2025–2027 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalon Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.10 | $16.00 – $30.00 | Moderate |
| South Coast--Burin Peninsula | Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.00 | $16.00 – $20.53 | Moderate |
| West Coast--Northern Peninsula--Labrador | Newfoundland and Labrador | $16.06 | $16.00 – $18.87 | Moderate |
| Notre Dame--Central Bonavista Bay | Newfoundland and Labrador | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Cape Breton | Nova Scotia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| North Shore | Nova Scotia | $16.89 | $16.50 – $22.68 | Moderate |
| Annapolis Valley | Nova Scotia | $16.50 | $16.50 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Southern | Nova Scotia | $17.15 | $16.50 – $22.79 | Moderate |
| Halifax | Nova Scotia | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Campbellton--Miramichi | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Moncton--Richibucto | New Brunswick | $16.27 | $15.65 – $23.74 | Moderate |
| Saint John--St. Stephen | New Brunswick | $15.89 | $15.76 – $24.53 | Moderate |
| Fredericton--Oromocto | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Edmundston--Woodstock | New Brunswick | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| Bas-Saint-Laurent | Quebec | $20.17 | $18.56 – $25.91 | Moderate |
| Capitale-Nationale | Quebec | $18.57 | $16.10 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Chaudière-Appalaches | Quebec | $18.57 | $16.10 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Estrie | Quebec | $19.40 | $17.28 – $28.75 | Good |
| Centre-du-Québec | Quebec | $18.19 | $17.13 – $20.89 | Moderate |
| Montérégie | Quebec | $18.54 | $16.10 – $25.00 | Moderate |
| Montréal | Quebec | $19.00 | $16.10 – $22.00 | Moderate |
| Laval | Quebec | $18.09 | $16.10 – $20.21 | Moderate |
| Lanaudière | Quebec | $18.69 | $16.52 – $23.42 | Moderate |
| Laurentides | Quebec | $18.57 | $16.77 – $22.58 | Moderate |
| Outaouais | Quebec | $18.30 | $16.24 – $23.08 | Moderate |
| Abitibi-Témiscamingue | Quebec | $18.35 | $17.43 – $21.31 | Moderate |
| Mauricie | Quebec | $18.73 | $16.89 – $22.79 | Moderate |
| Saguenay--Lac-Saint-Jean | Quebec | $19.18 | $17.54 – $24.16 | Moderate |
| Ottawa | Ontario | $18.00 | $17.60 – $24.00 | Moderate |
| Kingston--Pembroke | Ontario | $18.37 | $17.60 – $21.93 | Moderate |
| Muskoka--Kawarthas | Ontario | $19.64 | $17.60 – $24.51 | Moderate |
| Toronto | Ontario | $20.00 | $17.60 – $27.50 | Moderate |
| Kitchener--Waterloo--Barrie | Ontario | $18.75 | $17.60 – $31.00 | Moderate |
| Hamilton--Niagara Peninsula | Ontario | $17.86 | $17.60 – $24.00 | Moderate |
| London | Ontario | $19.00 | $17.60 – $26.00 | Moderate |
| Windsor--Sarnia | Ontario | $19.00 | $17.60 – $26.00 | Moderate |
| Stratford--Bruce Peninsula | Ontario | $18.41 | $17.60 – $26.38 | Moderate |
| Northeast | Ontario | $19.00 | $17.60 – $26.00 | Moderate |
| Southeast | Manitoba | $16.00 | $16.00 – $20.00 | Moderate |
| South Central | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Southwest | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Moderate |
| North Central | Manitoba | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Winnipeg | Manitoba | $16.00 | $16.00 – $26.91 | Moderate |
| Regina--Moose Mountain | Saskatchewan | $15.35 | $15.35 – $20.00 | Moderate |
| Swift Current--Moose Jaw | Saskatchewan | $15.35 | Not published | Moderate |
| Saskatoon--Biggar | Saskatchewan | $15.35 | $15.35 – $32.00 | Moderate |
| Prince Albert | Saskatchewan | $15.35 | $15.35 – $18.82 | Limited |
| Northern | Saskatchewan | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Lethbridge--Medicine Hat | Alberta | $17.00 | $15.00 – $32.50 | Moderate |
| Camrose--Drumheller | Alberta | $17.70 | $16.41 – $21.72 | Moderate |
| Calgary | Alberta | $17.00 | $15.00 – $32.50 | Moderate |
| Banff--Jasper--Rocky Mountain House | Alberta | $16.96 | $16.30 – $20.66 | Limited |
| Red Deer | Alberta | $17.00 | $15.00 – $32.50 | Moderate |
| Edmonton | Alberta | $18.00 | $15.75 – $21.00 | Moderate |
| Athabasca--Grande Prairie--Peace River | Alberta | Not published | Not published | Limited |
| Wood Buffalo--Cold Lake | Alberta | $17.66 | $15.00 – $28.35 | Limited |
| Vancouver Island and Coast | British Columbia | $19.50 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Limited |
| Lower Mainland | British Columbia | $19.00 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Limited |
| Thompson--Okanagan | British Columbia | $19.41 | $17.89 – $25.61 | Limited |
| Kootenay | British Columbia | $19.50 | $17.85 – $25.00 | Limited |
| Cariboo | British Columbia | $19.33 | $19.03 – $22.95 | Limited |
Job Bank rates employment prospects for each occupation in each economic region from very good to very limited over 2025–2027, and says “undetermined” where it has not got enough to rate. It is an assessment of prospects, not a count of vacancies.
The estimates on this page come from Labour Force Survey (2023-2024) · Small Area Estimation (2024) · Employment Insurance Survey Data (2023-2024).
Job Bank publishes an estimate for 24,364 of the 44,376 occupation-and-place pairs in this release. The rest are suppressed rather than modelled, and appear here as not published.
Wage estimates from the 2025 Wages release, revised 19 November 2025; employment outlooks from 2025-2027 Employment Outlooks - NOC 2021, released 8 December 2025. Both are updated annually. Estimates for different regions come from different surveys, so comparing two regions is exactly as sound as Job Bank’s own regional comparison and no more.
Source: Statistics Canada — National Occupational Classification 2021 V1.0; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank wages; Employment and Social Development Canada — Job Bank 3-year employment outlooks. Data current as of 13 August 2026. NOC 2021 Version 1.0. The classification is versioned rather than dated — IRCC moved to it in November 2022, and a new version would be a new classification rather than an update.