Cost
What it costs to spay or neuter
The one first-year line with a real published range, what actually moves it, and why an adoption fee usually buys the surgery for less than the surgery costs.
On this page
Spaying a dog averages $455 and neutering $487 in the United States. For a cat the same two operations run $353 and $262. Those are the middle of a published range, and the range is the part worth reading: across clinics it runs $361 to $885.
The figures
| Procedure | US average | In Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Dog — spay | $455 | $442 |
| Dog — neuter | $487 | $473 |
| Cat — spay | $353 | $343 |
| Cat — neuter | $262 | $254 |
National figures from a 50-state survey of veterinary prices; the state column applies the government's regional price index for services. A dog spay is the dearer of the two operations because it is abdominal surgery rather than an external one — the gap between $455 and $487 is the operation, not the sex of the animal being charged differently.
The clinic decides this, not the map
This is the finding that should change what you do. The survey behind the averages above publishes a low and a high: $361 to $885 for the same operation. Adjusted for state, the same surgery runs $429 in North Dakota and $490 in New York — $61 apart.
So the published clinic-to-clinic spread is about 8.6 times wider than the state-to-state one. Searching for the price in your state answers a question that barely varies; ringing three practices in your own city addresses the one that does. Nothing else on this site has that shape — food, insurance and boarding all move with the state in a way this does not.
What it costs in your state
One operation, priced for a dog of unknown sex — the mean of a spay and a neuter, which is how the figure enters the first-year total on every breed page.
| State | Dog | Cat |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $490 | $320 |
| New Hampshire | $489 | $319 |
| Washington | $489 | $319 |
| New Jersey | $488 | $318 |
| Maine | $486 | $317 |
| District of Columbia | $485 | $317 |
| Hawaii | $485 | $316 |
| Arizona | $484 | $316 |
| Connecticut | $484 | $316 |
| Massachusetts | $484 | $316 |
| Rhode Island | $484 | $316 |
| California | $483 | $315 |
| Alaska | $481 | $314 |
| Maryland | $479 | $312 |
| Vermont | $478 | $312 |
| Delaware | $477 | $311 |
| Florida | $477 | $312 |
| Michigan | $475 | $310 |
| Wyoming | $473 | $309 |
| Illinois | $472 | $308 |
| Minnesota | $472 | $308 |
| Oregon | $472 | $308 |
| Virginia | $472 | $308 |
| West Virginia | $471 | $307 |
| Pennsylvania | $470 | $307 |
| Colorado | $469 | $306 |
| Wisconsin | $469 | $306 |
| Indiana | $467 | $305 |
| Idaho | $466 | $304 |
| Ohio | $466 | $304 |
| Utah | $466 | $304 |
| Montana | $465 | $304 |
| Nevada | $465 | $304 |
| New Mexico | $464 | $303 |
| South Carolina | $463 | $302 |
| North Carolina | $462 | $302 |
| Georgia | $458 | $299 |
| Kentucky | $458 | $299 |
| Texas | $457 | $299 |
| Alabama | $456 | $297 |
| Mississippi | $453 | $295 |
| Louisiana | $451 | $294 |
| Oklahoma | $450 | $294 |
| Arkansas | $449 | $293 |
| Missouri | $448 | $293 |
| Tennessee | $448 | $293 |
| Kansas | $442 | $288 |
| Iowa | $438 | $286 |
| Nebraska | $438 | $286 |
| South Dakota | $433 | $283 |
| North Dakota | $429 | $280 |
The index is the one the government publishes for services other than rent and utilities, so it tracks what a clinic's hour costs in that state. It does not know about your particular practice, which is the point of the section above.
Why an adoption fee undercuts the surgery
Of the 18 US shelters and animal-control agencies whose published fees we collected, 13 list spay or neuter as included in the fee. The median adult-dog fee is $161 and the range is $25–$500 — that is, the typical fee is less than the operation alone, and it usually also covers the first vaccines and a microchip.
That is not a bargain in the retail sense; it is a subsidy, paid for by donations and municipal budgets because an unsterilised dog is the shelter's next intake. It does mean the arithmetic people do — fee plus surgery plus shots — double-counts work already in the fee. The full sample, and what each organisation lists as included, is in what dog adoption actually costs, which also covers the 34 breed rescues in the sample — they charge more, and more of them hand over a dog already sterilised because they take in adults.
What we cannot price
- Low-cost and voucher clinics. They exist in most metros, often at a fraction of these figures, and none of them publishes a price list we could cite across states. Rather than invent a number we leave the gap — ask your local shelter, which usually knows which ones run in the area.
- Complications and extras. Pre-anaesthetic bloodwork, pain medication to take home, an e-collar, a cryptorchid neuter or a spay on a dog already in season all move the bill, and the survey prices the standard operation.
- Size. Several clinics price by weight; the national figures are an average across sizes, which is why a giant-breed quote may land above the published high.
- When. The age at which this is done is a veterinary decision with real evidence behind it on both sides, and it is not ours to make. This page is about the price, not the timing — ask your veterinarian.
Sources and method
Procedure prices come from a 50-state survey of veterinary costs and are shown as published for the national average; the state column multiplies them by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for services. Adoption fees are our own sample, read off the fee pages of 18 US shelters and 34 breed rescues with the date each was read. The first-year totals on breed pages use the mean of the spay and neuter figures, which is what the first-year tool and the calculator both show. The whole model is on the methodology page.
Informational only — not veterinary advice. See your veterinarian.