State report

State of Vet Care in Illinois

As of September 2026, Illinois has 1,182 veterinary practices tracked; 25.2% are corporately owned , led by NVA with 53 in-state locations . 74.8% of practices remain independently owned , and 12.0% are actively hiring .

Key takeaways

  • 1,182 veterinary practices tracked in Illinois, of which 25.2% are corporately owned.
  • 17.3% of practices in Illinois are private-equity-backed.
  • NVA (owned by TSG Consumer Partners) leads all consolidators operating in the state with 53 locations.
  • General practices make up 86.7% of the state's practice mix.

Consolidation by city

At a glance

1,182
Practices tracked
74.8%
Independent
25.2%
Corporately owned
17.3%
PE-backed

12.0% of practices in Illinois are actively hiring.

Ownership breakdown in Illinois

Ownership type Practices Share
Independent 884 74.8%
PE-backed 204 17.3%
Corporate group 89 7.5%
National ownership-type breakdown, stacked by share Independent: 74.8% (884 practices) PE-backed: 17.3% (204 practices) Corporate group: 7.5% (89 practices) 75%17%8% Independent (74.8%) PE-backed (17.3%) Corporate group (7.5%)

Top consolidators operating in Illinois

Ranked by in-state locations. See the full national leaderboard on ownership & consolidation statistics.

# Group Ultimate owner In-state locations Share of corporate practices
1 NVA TSG Consumer Partners (Private Equity) 53 15.6%
2 Heartland Veterinary Partners Gryphon Investors 32 9.4%
3 Vetco (Petco) Petco (Public) 31 9.1%
4 VCA Mars (Strategic) 29 8.5%
5 Banfield Mars (Strategic) 27 7.9%
6 Mission Pet Health The Vets Pets (Private Equity) 26 7.6%
7 VetCor Harvest Partners / Oak Hill Capital (Private Equity) 20 5.9%
8 Thrive Pet Healthcare TSG Consumer Partners (Private Equity) 19 5.6%
9 Blue River PetCare Apax Partners (Private Equity) 15 4.4%
10 GoodVets General Atlantic 11 3.2%

Practice-type mix

Type Practices Share
General 1,025 86.7%
Mobile 41 3.5%
Specialty Referral 34 2.9%
Mixed 29 2.5%
Emergency 29 2.5%
Urgent Care 24 2.0%

Species mix

Segment Practices Share
Small Animal 978 82.7%
Mixed 172 14.6%
Equine 19 1.6%
Exotic 10 0.8%
Other 2 0.2%
Food Animal 1 0.1%

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Frequently asked questions

How many veterinary practices are in Illinois?

As of September 2026, VetPulse tracks 1,182 veterinary practices in Illinois.

What percentage of veterinary practices in Illinois are corporately owned?

25.2% of veterinary practices in Illinois are corporately owned — part of a consolidator, private-equity-backed group, or public company — while 74.8% remain independent.

Who is the largest veterinary consolidator in Illinois?

NVA (owned by TSG Consumer Partners) is the largest veterinary consolidator operating in Illinois, with 53 in-state locations.

What share of veterinary practices in Illinois are hiring?

12.0% of veterinary practices in Illinois are actively hiring, based on live job-signal data.

Every figure above is queried live from our practice-level dataset — see the methodology for how ownership is triangulated from multiple independent sources. Compare Illinois against every other state on the ownership & consolidation statistics page, or browse the rankings.