Nurse practitioner employment is expanding rapidly across the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted 320,400 nurse practitioner jobs in 2024 within the larger occupation group that also includes nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) reported a national count of more than 461,000 nurse practitioners in 2025, using a different counting method. Together, these figures describe a large workforce with substantial demand, broad clinical reach, and meaningful geographic variation.
Contents
- Employment size and projected growth
- Workplaces and education
- States with the most jobs
- Wages by state and metropolitan area
- Who nurse practitioners serve
- Training, roles, and specialties
- Daily work and patient care
Employment size and projected growth
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (BLS OOH) reported 382,700 jobs in 2024 for the combined occupation of nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners accounted for 320,400 of those jobs. Because the BLS figure is part of a combined occupation group, it should not be treated as a count of every nurse practitioner represented in professional or national workforce estimates.
The same BLS OOH category is projected to grow 35% from 2024 to 2034. BLS also projects about 32,700 openings per year, on average, across the decade. These are projections for the combined occupation group, rather than a nurse-practitioner-only forecast. They nevertheless show the scale of expected hiring and replacement demand in advanced practice nursing.
The outlook is paired with a high educational threshold. The typical entry-level education listed by the BLS OOH is a master’s degree. Most advanced practice registered nurses work full time, and nurse practitioners commonly work in hospitals, physicians’ offices, and clinics. Employment therefore combines strong projected growth with graduate-level preparation and a wide range of care settings.
Workplaces and education
BLS OOH employment shares show that physicians’ offices were the largest setting in May 2024, employing 46% of the combined occupation group. Hospitals employed another 25%, while outpatient care centers accounted for 9%. Offices of other health practitioners represented 5%, and educational services at the state, local, and private levels represented 3%.
| Employment setting | Share of the occupation group, May 2024 |
|---|---|
| Offices of physicians | 46% |
| Hospitals | 25% |
| Outpatient care centers | 9% |
| Offices of other health practitioners | 5% |
| Educational services, state, local, and private | 3% |
These categories describe where the combined BLS occupation group worked, not a survey of only nurse practitioners. AANP’s 2022 Practice Report provides a more detailed view of nurse practitioner workplaces. Among its respondents, 13.5% worked in a hospital outpatient clinic and 12.4% in a hospital inpatient unit. Private group practices accounted for 10.3%, and private physician practices for 7.3%.
Other reported settings included urgent care at 5.8%, federally qualified health centers at 4.5%, community health centers at 3.4%, private nurse practitioner practices at 3.3%, and employer or corporate clinics at 3.0%. The percentages come from the 2022 AANP practice report and reflect respondents’ reported workplaces, so they should not be combined with the BLS establishment shares as though they were one survey.
States with the most jobs
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (BLS OEWS) data for May 2023 show the largest reported nurse practitioner job counts in several populous states. Florida had 22,270 jobs, followed by California with 21,740, Texas with 20,170, New York with 16,670, and Tennessee with 14,040.
| State | Nurse practitioner jobs, May 2023 |
|---|---|
| Florida | 22,270 |
| California | 21,740 |
| Texas | 20,170 |
| New York | 16,670 |
| Tennessee | 14,040 |
Job totals measure the number of positions, while concentration measures show how prominent the occupation is within a state’s overall employment. Tennessee had 4.36 nurse practitioner jobs per thousand jobs and a location quotient of 2.36 in May 2023. The location quotient compares the occupation’s concentration locally with its national concentration; a value above 1 indicates a higher local concentration under that measure.
BLS OEWS also reported elevated nurse practitioner location quotients in Mississippi at 1.89, New Hampshire at 1.50, West Virginia at 1.47, and Arkansas at 1.41. These figures do not identify the states with the most total jobs. Instead, they point to states where nurse practitioner employment made up a relatively larger share of the workforce than in the country overall.
Wages by state and metropolitan area
BLS OEWS reported California as having the highest annual mean wage for nurse practitioners in May 2023, at $161,540. Other high annual mean wages included $148,670 in Nevada, $145,400 in Washington, $145,030 in New Jersey, and $144,950 in Oregon.
The BLS OOH reported a $132,050 median annual wage and a $63.48 median hourly wage in May 2024 for the combined nurse anesthetist, nurse midwife, and nurse practitioner occupation group. A median is different from an annual mean: the median is the midpoint of the wage distribution, while a mean is an average. The figures also come from different BLS products and measurement periods, so they should not be read as a single national nurse-practitioner pay series.
Metropolitan wage data show another layer of variation. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara had the highest reported metro annual mean wage for nurse practitioners in May 2023, at $191,250. Napa, California, reported $187,640; San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward reported $186,730; and Vallejo-Fairfield reported $183,120.
The metro figures are annual means, not medians. They also describe specific labor markets rather than entire states. Differences may reflect local employers, occupational mix, cost of living, experience, specialty, and the types of positions included in the OEWS estimates. The data support comparisons of reported wage levels, but they do not establish that every nurse practitioner in a listed area earns the stated amount.
Who nurse practitioners serve
AANP’s 2025 nurse practitioner infographic reported broad participation across major insurance groups. It said 80% of nurse practitioners see Medicaid patients, 74% see Medicare patients, and 77% see privately insured patients. The same source reported that more than 42% of Medicare Part B patients receive services from a nurse practitioner.
The AANP infographic also reported that nurse practitioners provide nearly 1 billion patient visits annually. This is a national activity estimate and is not a count of unique patients. A patient may have more than one visit, and the figure should not be interpreted as a direct measure of individual practitioner productivity.
Access to care is especially visible in smaller communities. In the 2022 AANP Practice Report, 8.6% of nurse practitioners working in communities with fewer than 2,500 people reported that all of their patients lived in poverty. Another 49.6% reported that at least half of their patients lived in poverty. These results describe the responding nurse practitioners in that community-size category and highlight the range of populations served in rural and small-community practice.
Training, roles, and specialties
The 2022 AANP Practice Report found that 85.1% of respondents had completed an initial master’s-level nurse practitioner program, 6.7% had a post-master’s certificate, and 5.9% had completed a doctoral initial nurse practitioner program. Looking at highest degree, 80.1% held a nursing master’s degree and 15.7% held a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP).
Family preparation was the largest reported certification category. AANP reported family certification for 70.2% of respondents, adult-gerontology primary care certification for 8.8%, psychiatric/mental health certification for 7.2%, and adult certification for 6.2%. Adult-gerontology acute care certification accounted for 5.3%, while acute care certification accounted for 2.8%.
The 2025 AANP infographic, drawing on the 2024 workforce survey for preparation figures, reported that 68.7% of nurse practitioners were prepared in family primary care, 15.1% in adult and geriatrics, 3.0% in pediatrics, and 2.0% in women’s health. These categories come from a different AANP source and period than the 2022 practice-report certification figures.
In the 2022 report, 83.4% of respondents reported a clinical role, compared with 8.9% in administrative roles, 4.3% in faculty roles, and 3.5% in research roles. The report also found that 89.4% of respondents were female, 10.4% male, and 0.3% other. The age distribution was 29.2% under 30, 28.4% ages 30 to 39, 23.3% ages 40 to 49, 14.7% ages 50 to 59, 2.8% ages 60 to 69, and 1.6% age 70 or older.
Reported clinical focus areas included family at 17.9%, primary care at 9.8%, urgent care at 6.4%, psychiatry or psychology at 6.1%, and cardiology at 4.3%. Other reported areas were adult at 6.2%, adult-gerontology acute care at 5.3%, oncology or hematology at 3.2%, geriatrics at 3.2%, and acute care at 2.8%.
Daily work and patient care
Patient volume varied by specialty in the 2022 AANP Practice Report. Urgent care nurse practitioners saw a mean of 29 patients per day and a median of 30. Dermatology nurse practitioners reported a mean of 27 and a median of 28. Nephrology nurse practitioners reported a mean of 23 and a median of 20, while family nurse practitioners reported a mean of 18 and a median of 17.
The same report measured how often respondents performed common activities. Education and counseling were most often provided by 84.9% of respondents, while 0.5% never provided them. Ordering, performing, and interpreting labs, x-rays, and diagnostics was most often reported by 79.7%, and 0.7% never did so.
Diagnosis and management of chronic conditions was most often reported by 69.3%, with 2.7% saying they never performed it. Coordination of care was most often reported by 61.3%, while 1.5% never provided it. Diagnosis and management of acute conditions was most often reported by 59.1%, and 1.3% never did so.
Preventive screening and immunizations were most often provided by 49.9%, while 6.8% never provided them. Taking patient histories and performing physical examinations was most often reported by 43.8%, and 9.0% never did so. Procedures were most often performed by 23.9%, while 8.1% never performed them. These results show that nurse practitioner work spans assessment, prevention, diagnosis, treatment, coordination, and patient education, with the mix differing by setting and specialty.