Career
Nurse practitioners
Diagnose, treat and prescribe, with a nurse's view of the whole patient.
$132,300
Median pay
+41.0%
Job growth, 2025–35
29,400
Openings a year
Master's degree
Typical education
6 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
- Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
- Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
- Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
- Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on ideas & analysis, then people & care?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
6 years of education after high school (master's degree), for a median of $132,300 a year and 29,400 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NursingSee the degree →
- Nursing AdministrationCIP 51.3802
- Adult Health Nurse/NursingCIP 51.3803
- Family Practice Nurse/NursingCIP 51.3805
- Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/NursingCIP 51.3806
- Nursing ScienceCIP 51.3808
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Registered Nurses$97,550 · +5.6%
- Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses
- Clinical Nurse Specialists
- Family Medicine Physicians$244,180 · +3.3%
- Acute Care Nurses
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.