Family nurse practitioners (FNPs) are part of a national nurse practitioner workforce that provides care in every U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia. The figures below describe FNP certification research, broader nurse practitioner workforce patterns, family-practice activity, and May 2023 employment and wage data. Measurement dates and source populations matter: these statistics come from the ANCC 2021 FNP Role Delineation Study, the AANP 2024 Practice Report, and the BLS May 2023 Nurse Practitioners profile.
Contents
- FNP certification and role research
- Who makes up the NP workforce
- Where NPs practice
- Education and credentials
- Family-practice workload and prescribing
- Conditions treated
- Employment, wages, and job concentration
FNP certification and role research
The ANCC 2021 FNP Role Delineation Study provides a detailed look at how the family nurse practitioner role was defined for examination purposes. The American Nurses Credentialing Center assembled a content expert panel of 10 clinicians certified in Family Nurse Practitioner. Eight of those panel members attended the role delineation study meetings.
PSI conducted a two-day virtual meeting with the content expert panel on June 14–15, 2021. The study also used a live survey sent to 1,500 active ANCC-certified Family Nurse Practitioner practitioners. Of the 1,090 people who opened the invitation, 137 completed the survey, producing a reported completion rate of 12.56%.
The final examination specifications contained 14 knowledge areas and 14 skills. The role delineation study organized the examination around five competency areas:
- Assessment
- Diagnosis
- Planning
- Implementation
- Evaluation
These numbers describe the structure and research process behind the FNP examination. They are not a count of all FNPs, a pass rate, or an estimate of the number of family nurse practitioners working in the United States. The study’s measurement period was 2021, and the source is the ANCC 2021 FNP Role Delineation Study.
Who makes up the NP workforce
The AANP 2024 Practice Report described a nurse practitioner workforce that practices across the entire U.S. health system geography: licensed NPs practice in every state, territory, and the District of Columbia. The report also said NPs perform more than 1 billion patient visits annually. That annual visit figure applies to NPs broadly, rather than to family-certified NPs alone.
The report’s surveyed NP population was 87.6% female and 11.5% male. Its age distribution was concentrated below age 50:
| Age group | Share of surveyed NPs |
|---|---|
| Under 30 | 24.7% |
| 30–39 | 31.4% |
| 40–49 | 24.6% |
| 50–59 | 16.0% |
Experience levels were also reported in distinct bands. NPs with 0–1 years of experience represented 5.2% of the report’s respondents. The 2–5-year group represented 32.7%, while 28.3% reported 6–10 years of experience. Another 13.7% reported 11–15 years of experience.
Because the AANP figures are survey percentages, they should be read as characteristics of the surveyed NP population. They do not establish that every FNP has the same demographic or experience profile. The source and report period are the AANP 2024 Practice Report.
Where NPs practice
Community size was one way the AANP 2024 Practice Report described practice location. Among the reported groups, 20.9% of NPs practiced in communities with 10,000–49,999 people. The largest listed community-size group was communities of 50,000–249,999 people, where 31.8% of NPs practiced. A further 21.0% practiced in communities of 250,000–999,999 people.
The same report showed substantial differences in NP ratios by state. Tennessee had the highest reported ratio, at 188 NPs per 100,000 population. Mississippi and Kentucky each had 175 NPs per 100,000 population. At the other end of the reported comparison, Oregon had 26 NPs per 100,000 population. Hawaii had 69 per 100,000, and California had 72 per 100,000.
| Reported state | NPs per 100,000 population |
|---|---|
| Tennessee | 188 |
| Mississippi | 175 |
| Kentucky | 175 |
| California | 72 |
| Hawaii | 69 |
| Oregon | 26 |
These are NP ratios from the AANP 2024 Practice Report, not FNP-only ratios. They also should not be interpreted as a direct measure of access to family nurse practitioner care in each state. As of June 2024, 27 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories had adopted Full Practice Authority for NPs, according to the same report.
Education and credentials
The AANP 2024 Practice Report recorded how surveyed NPs entered their initial NP program. A master’s program was the entry route for 83.6% of NPs. A post-master’s certificate program accounted for 7.1%, and a doctoral program accounted for 6.7%.
The report separately identified the highest degree held by respondents. A Doctor of Nursing Practice degree was the highest degree reported by 17.6% of NPs. In addition, 95.8% reported no other advanced practice registered nurse credential besides NP.
These measures describe different dimensions of education and credentialing. Initial program route is not the same thing as highest degree, so the figures should not be combined into a single education total. They also do not provide a separate percentage for FNPs versus every other NP certification in the report.
Family-practice workload and prescribing
Family Practice NPs saw a mean of 17 patients per day and a median of 17 patients per day in the AANP 2024 Practice Report. The matching mean and median indicate that both summary measures were reported at 17 for this family-practice group; they do not describe the distribution of individual daily schedules.
Family certification NPs prescribed a mean of 23 prescriptions per day and a median of 15 prescriptions per day. The difference between the mean and median shows that the report presented two different summaries of daily prescribing activity. In the same report, 96.4% of family-certified NPs reported prescribing medications.
The AANP report also provided prescribing figures by practice setting. Hospital outpatient clinic NPs prescribed a mean of 18 medications per day, with a median of 10. Private physician practice NPs reported a mean of 29 and a median of 20. Federally qualified health center NPs also reported a mean of 29 and a median of 20. Urgent care NPs reported the highest listed setting-level mean and median, at 35 and 30 medications per day, respectively.
| Practice setting or group | Mean per day | Median per day |
|---|---|---|
| Family certification NPs: prescriptions | 23 | 15 |
| Hospital outpatient clinic NPs: medications | 18 | 10 |
| Private physician practice NPs: medications | 29 | 20 |
| Federally qualified health center NPs: medications | 29 | 20 |
| Urgent care NPs: medications | 35 | 30 |
The family-certification measure and the setting measures are not interchangeable. One describes a family-certified NP group, while the others describe NPs by practice setting. The source is the AANP 2024 Practice Report.
Conditions treated
The AANP 2024 Practice Report listed the conditions most commonly treated by NPs in its survey. Anxiety was reported by 64.5% of NPs, making it the most common condition in the provided comparison. Hypertension was reported by 64.0%, and pain by 63.6%. Diabetes was reported by 57.7%.
The report also included reproductive and maternal-health categories at lower percentages in the comparison: pregnancy was reported by 12.0% of NPs, and prenatal care by 11.3%.
| Condition or care area | Share of NPs reporting treatment |
|---|---|
| Anxiety | 64.5% |
| Hypertension | 64.0% |
| Pain | 63.6% |
| Diabetes | 57.7% |
| Pregnancy | 12.0% |
| Prenatal care | 11.3% |
These percentages describe the NPs covered by the AANP report, not a diagnosis rate among patients and not a family-NP-only prevalence estimate. They also do not indicate how many patients each NP treated for a given condition.
Employment, wages, and job concentration
The BLS May 2023 Nurse Practitioners profile reported 280,140 employed nurse practitioners. It reported a mean annual wage of $128,490 and a mean hourly wage of $61.78. The hourly wage range across reported percentiles ran from $45.45 at the 10th percentile to $80.79 at the 90th percentile.
Offices of physicians were the largest employment industry listed, with 137,030 NP jobs. General medical and surgical hospitals accounted for another 61,740 NP jobs. These employment counts cover the nurse practitioner occupation rather than only family nurse practitioners.
California was the top-paying state in the BLS profile, with an annual mean wage of $161,540. Tennessee was the highest-concentration state for NP jobs, with 14,040 employed NPs and a location quotient of 2.36.
At the metropolitan level, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, California, was the top-paying metro area, with an annual mean wage of $191,250. Rochester, Minnesota, had the highest reported concentration of NP jobs, at 8.33 employment per thousand jobs and a location quotient of 4.51.
| BLS measure | Reported result |
|---|---|
| Employed NPs, May 2023 | 280,140 |
| Mean annual wage | $128,490 |
| Mean hourly wage | $61.78 |
| 10th-percentile hourly wage | $45.45 |
| 90th-percentile hourly wage | $80.79 |
| Largest listed industry: offices of physicians | 137,030 jobs |
| General medical and surgical hospitals | 61,740 jobs |
The BLS wage figures are occupation-level estimates for May 2023, not salary guarantees for an individual FNP. Differences by state, metro area, employer, specialty, experience, and work setting are not resolved by the national mean. The source is the BLS May 2023 Nurse Practitioners profile.