Nurse practitioners (NPs) are a rapidly expanding part of the U.S. health care workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projected 40% employment growth from 2024 to 2034, while the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) reported 431,410 licensed NPs in 2024. The figures below show how that growth connects to pay, geography, patient access, and everyday practice.
Table of contents
- Employment outlook
- Wages and earnings
- Where nurse practitioners work
- Metropolitan patterns
- Access and patient populations
- Prescribing and practice activity
- Collaboration across care settings
Employment outlook
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projected nurse practitioner employment to increase from 320,400 jobs in 2024 to 448,800 jobs in 2034. That is an increase of 128,400 jobs and a projected growth rate of 40% over the decade. These are BLS projections, not a count of jobs already filled.
The BLS also projected about 32,700 openings per year from 2024 through 2034 for nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, and nurse practitioners combined. Because this annual-opening figure covers three occupations together, it should not be treated as an NP-only hiring estimate.
The AANP reported a much larger 2024 figure when counting licensed professionals rather than BLS employment: 431,410 licensed NPs. AANP said this count rose nearly 12%, from 385,358 in 2023 to 431,410 in 2024. The difference between the BLS employment count and the AANP licensed-NP count reflects different measures: employment is a labor-market estimate, while licensure counts people holding a credential.
| Measure | Figure | Period | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| BLS NP employment | 320,400 | 2024 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| BLS projected NP employment | 448,800 | 2034 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Projected NP employment growth | 40% | 2024–2034 | BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook |
| Licensed NPs | 431,410 | 2024 | AANP NP count 2025 news |
| Licensed NPs | 385,358 | 2023 | AANP NP count 2025 news |
Wages and earnings
The BLS reported a median annual wage of $129,210 for nurse practitioners in May 2024. The median divides the occupation into two equal groups: half earned more and half earned less. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $95,930, while the highest-paid 10% earned more than $183,050.
These national wage figures describe May 2024. They are not the same measurement as the May 2023 state and metropolitan annual mean wages below. Median wages and mean wages answer different questions, and a mean can be pulled upward by high earners.
In the BLS May 2023 state data, California had the highest annual mean wage for NPs at $161,540. Nevada ranked second at $148,670, followed by Washington at $145,400, New Jersey at $145,030, and Oregon at $144,950. BLS also reported California’s hourly mean wage as $77.66 for May 2023.
| State ranking by annual mean wage | State | Annual mean wage, May 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $161,540 |
| 2 | Nevada | $148,670 |
| 3 | Washington | $145,400 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $145,030 |
| 5 | Oregon | $144,950 |
The BLS May 2024 national distribution and the May 2023 state means are useful together, but they should not be combined into a single ranking. The national figures use a median and percentile thresholds; the state figures use annual means and represent a different period.
Where nurse practitioners work
BLS May 2023 employment estimates show that the largest state NP workforces were in Florida, California, Texas, New York, and Tennessee. Florida had 22,270 NP jobs, California had 21,740, Texas had 20,170, New York had 16,670, and Tennessee had 14,040.
Employment totals indicate the size of a state’s NP workforce. They do not measure the share of all health care jobs held by NPs or the availability of care for every resident.
Location quotient provides a different perspective. It compares an occupation’s concentration in an area with its concentration nationally; a value above 1 indicates a higher-than-national concentration. In May 2023, Tennessee had a location quotient of 2.36 for NPs. Mississippi recorded 1.89, New Hampshire 1.50, West Virginia 1.47, and Arkansas 1.41.
Those concentration figures highlight places where NPs represented a relatively large part of the local employment mix. They do not necessarily identify the states with the most total NP jobs or the highest wages.
Metropolitan patterns
The BLS May 2023 metropolitan data show that the largest NP employment totals were concentrated in major population centers. New York–Newark–Jersey City had 15,410 NP jobs. Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim had 7,940, Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach had 7,080, Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell had 6,910, and Chicago–Naperville–Elgin had 6,680.
The areas with the highest concentration were not identical to the areas with the largest totals. Rochester, Minnesota, had 8.33 NPs per thousand jobs and a location quotient of 4.51. Johnson City, Tennessee, had 7.49 per thousand and a location quotient of 4.06. Jackson, Tennessee, had 5.45 per thousand and a location quotient of 2.95. Nashville–Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin had 5.26 per thousand and a location quotient of 2.85, while Knoxville had 4.78 per thousand and a location quotient of 2.59.
Metropolitan pay also varied. San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara had the highest annual mean wage at $191,250 in May 2023. Napa, California, followed at $187,640; San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward was $186,730; Vallejo–Fairfield was $183,120; and Salinas was $162,760.
Access and patient populations
AANP reported that NPs provide nearly 1 billion patient visits per year. It also reported that patients in 27 states have full and direct access to NP-delivered care. The access figure describes state policy conditions, while the patient-visit figure describes the scale of reported NP care; neither is a forecast of future visits.
AANP reported that 80% of NPs see Medicaid patients, 74% see Medicare patients, and 77% see privately insured patients. These percentages overlap because an NP may see patients in more than one coverage category.
Primary care is a major part of the profession. AANP reported that 87% of NPs are board certified in primary care. It also reported that 53.4% of U.S. primary care practices employed NPs in 2023. The practice-employment percentage concerns primary care practices, while the certification percentage concerns NPs, so they describe different populations.
Prescribing and practice activity
AANP’s 2024 Practice Report includes prescribing data by certification and work setting. Among family-certified NPs, 96.4% prescribed medications, with an average of 23 prescriptions per day and a median of 15. Among acute care NPs, 100.0% prescribed medications, averaging 17 per day with a median of 12. Psychiatric/mental health NPs had a 98.5% prescribing rate, an average of 26 per day, and a median of 20.
Across all full-time NPs in the report, the average was 21 prescriptions per day and the median was 15. The average and median differ because prescription volume is not evenly distributed across all NPs.
The reported figures also varied by setting:
- Urgent care NPs had a 99.0% prescribing rate and averaged 35 prescriptions per day.
- Federally qualified health center NPs had a 100.0% prescribing rate and averaged 29 prescriptions per day.
- Private physician practice NPs had a 98.1% prescribing rate and averaged 29 prescriptions per day.
- Telehealth NPs had a 92.0% prescribing rate and averaged 27 prescriptions per day.
- Hospital outpatient clinic NPs had a 98.4% prescribing rate and averaged 18 prescriptions per day.
These are reported averages and rates from AANP’s 2024 Practice Report. They should not be interpreted as a universal prescription target or as evidence that every NP in a setting has the same daily workload.
Collaboration across care settings
AANP also reported differences in consultation patterns between primary care and non-primary care NPs. Primary care NPs consulted specialist physicians at a rate of 83.3%, compared with 75.2% for non-primary care NPs. Primary care NPs consulted physical therapists at a rate of 69.6%, compared with 65.4% for non-primary care NPs. Consultation with dietitians was reported for 64.0% of primary care NPs and 49.7% of non-primary care NPs.
The figures describe whether consultation occurred in the reported practice data; they do not quantify the number of consultations per patient or establish that one practice type provides better care than another. Together with the prescribing results, they show that NP work varies substantially by specialty, setting, and patient-care model.