Nurse practitioner demographics statistics show a predominantly female profession with a broad age distribution, substantial experience, and a strong concentration in family practice. The latest figures below combine the 2020 AANP Sample Survey, the 2022 AANP Practice Report, 2022 BLS occupational data, and May 2023 BLS OEWS employment data. Because the sources measure different populations and years, each figure is labeled by its original period.
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- Gender, race, and age
- Experience and education
- Certification and clinical focus
- Practice settings and community size
- Regions, employment, and wages
- Roles, privileges, and military service
Gender, race, and age
The 2022 AANP Practice Report found that 89.4% of nurse practitioner respondents were female, 10.4% were male, and 0.3% identified as another gender. A separate BLS Spotlight on Healthcare Occupations measure found that 88.7% of nurse practitioners were women in 2022. These percentages come from different sources and should not be treated as one combined estimate.
The AANP racial and ethnic profile for 2022 was 78.6% White, non-Hispanic; 8.1% Black or African American, non-Hispanic; 5.7% Hispanic; 4.9% Asian, non-Hispanic; and 4.9% multiracial, non-Hispanic. The report also recorded 1.9% as two or more races, non-Hispanic, 0.6% as American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic, and 0.2% as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic. The categories are reproduced as reported by the AANP and are not recalculated here.
The 2020 AANP Sample Survey gives a more detailed age distribution:
| Age group | Share of NPs |
|---|---|
| Under 30 | 1.5% |
| 30–34 | 8.6% |
| 35–39 | 14.6% |
| 40–44 | 12.6% |
| 45–49 | 13.4% |
| 50–54 | 12.6% |
| 55–59 | 12.9% |
| 60–64 | 14.3% |
| 65 or older | 9.5% |
The largest reported age group was 35 to 39 at 14.6%, followed by ages 60 to 64 at 14.3% and ages 45 to 49 at 13.4%. BLS reported more broadly that 83% of nurse practitioners were ages 25 to 54 in 2022. Since the AANP and BLS age groupings differ, the detailed distribution should be read as a survey profile rather than a direct breakdown of the BLS percentage.
Experience and education
The 2020 AANP Sample Survey found that 37.2% of NPs had five or fewer years of experience. Another 23.6% had six to 10 years, 13.3% had 11 to 15 years, 10.0% had 16 to 20 years, and 15.9% had 21 or more years. This places both newer and highly experienced clinicians prominently in the reported workforce profile.
Most respondents entered NP practice through a master’s degree route. The 2020 survey reported that 85.9% entered with a master’s degree, 9.2% with a post-master’s certificate, and 4.9% through a doctoral NP program. The same survey reported highest-degree figures of 81.1% with a nursing master’s, 14.7% with a DNP, 1.6% with a nursing PhD, and 1.3% with a non-nursing doctorate.
The BLS Spotlight on Healthcare Occupations reported that 95.8% of employed nurse practitioners ages 25 and older held advanced degrees in 2022. That BLS measure uses a different population definition from the AANP survey’s entry pathway and highest-degree questions, so it provides context rather than a replacement for either AANP measure.
Certification and clinical focus
Family certification was the dominant primary certification area in the 2020 AANP Sample Survey, at 69.7%. The remaining reported primary areas included Adult at 10.8%, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care at 7.0%, Psychiatric/Mental Health at 4.7%, Acute Care at 4.1%, Pediatrics-Primary Care at 3.2%, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care at 2.9%, Women’s Health at 2.2%, Gerontology at 1.8%, and Neonatal at 1.0%.
Among NPs with additional specialty certification, the 2022 AANP Practice Report recorded 70.2% in Family, 8.8% in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care, 7.2% in Psychiatric/Mental Health, 6.2% in Adult, 5.3% in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care, and 2.8% in Acute Care. The same report stated that 87.7% had no additional specialty certification. The additional-certification figures describe a different question from primary certification, so the two sets should not be added together.
Clinical focus data from the 2020 AANP Sample Survey show Family at 19.2%, Primary Care at 10.0%, Urgent Care at 5.7%, Internal Medicine at 4.8%, Psychiatry/Psychology at 4.1%, Cardiovascular at 3.6%, Geriatrics at 3.5%, Women’s Health/OB-GYN at 3.3%, Oncology/Hematology at 2.9%, and Pediatrics at 2.7% as the top clinical focus areas reported.
These focus areas help distinguish what NPs do from the credential used to describe their preparation. For example, Family was the top focus for 12.3% of NPs working in hospital outpatient clinics, 24.6% in private group practices, and 25.6% in private physician practices. In urgent care, 91.9% listed Urgent Care as the top clinical focus.
Practice settings and community size
The 2020 AANP Sample Survey reported hospital outpatient clinics as the largest listed workplace setting, at 14.3%. Private group practice accounted for 10.4%, hospital inpatient units for 10.0%, private physician practices for 7.8%, urgent care for 4.3%, private NP practices for 3.8%, rural health clinics for 3.4%, federally qualified health centers for 3.3%, community health centers for 3.2%, and employer or corporate clinics for 2.9%.
The survey’s setting-specific results show meaningful differences in focus. Hospital inpatient units had Hospitalist as the top clinical focus for 19.2% of respondents. Family was the top focus for 43.7% of NPs in private NP practices, 67.8% in rural health clinics, 54.6% in federally qualified health centers, 48.3% in community health centers, and 36.7% in employer or corporate clinics.
Community size was also distributed across several categories. In 2020, 4.2% practiced in communities with fewer than 2,500 residents; 11.3% in communities of 2,500 to 9,999; 22.2% in communities of 10,000 to 49,999; 31.4% in communities of 50,000 to 249,999; 19.6% in communities of 250,000 to 999,999; and 11.3% in communities with 1,000,000 or more residents.
Regions, employment, and wages
The 2020 AANP Sample Survey placed 18.0% of NPs in the Northeast census region, 21.2% in the Midwest, 36.2% in the South, and 24.6% in the West. The South was therefore the largest of the four reported census regions in that survey.
BLS OEWS reported 280,140 nurse practitioners employed nationally in May 2023, with a mean annual wage of $128,490. The largest listed employment settings were offices of physicians with 137,030 NPs, general medical and surgical hospitals with 61,740, outpatient care centers with 25,440, offices of other health practitioners with 11,400, and home health care services with 7,410.
The five states with the largest reported NP employment counts in the May 2023 BLS OEWS data were:
| State | Employed NPs |
|---|---|
| Florida | 22,270 |
| California | 21,740 |
| Texas | 20,170 |
| New York | 16,670 |
| Tennessee | 14,040 |
Employment totals and concentration are not the same measure. BLS reported the highest listed location quotients in Tennessee at 2.36, Mississippi at 1.89, New Hampshire at 1.50, West Virginia at 1.47, and Arkansas at 1.41. A location quotient describes relative concentration, while an employment count describes the number of workers.
Roles, privileges, and military service
The 2022 AANP Practice Report found that 83.4% of NPs had a clinical role. Administrative roles accounted for 8.9%, faculty roles for 4.3%, and a clinical role plus another role for 3.4%.
Hospital privileges were reported by 45.0% of NPs. Among NPs with hospital privileges, 53.3% had admitting privileges. Nursing home privileges were reported by 12.1%.
Military service was uncommon in the same 2022 report: 93.9% had never served in the military, 4.6% had served on active duty in the past but were not presently serving, 1.3% were only on active duty for training in the Reserves or National Guard, and 0.2% were currently on active duty. These figures describe military-service status, not employment setting or clinical specialty.