CCollegeMatcher

Registered Nurses

US occupation · SOC 29-1141

Job titles people report: Certified Operating Room Nurse (CNOR), Charge Nurse, Emergency Department RN (Emergency Department Registered Nurse), Oncology RN (Oncology Registered Nurse), Operating Room Registered Nurse (OR RN), Psychiatric RN (Psychiatric Registered Nurse), Relief Charge Nurse, School Nurse, Staff Nurse, Staff RN (Staff Registered Nurse)

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$97,550
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$80,330 – $112,350
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
3,379,720
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+5.6%
At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
Openings a year (projected)
180,800
New jobs plus replacing people who leave
Typical education to enter
Bachelor's degree
BLS
  • All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
  • Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
  • Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.

What the work involves

Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required.

Main tasks

  • Record patients' medical information and vital signs.
  • Administer medications to patients and monitor patients for reactions or side effects.
  • Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.
  • Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions.
  • Provide health care, first aid, immunizations, or assistance in convalescence or rehabilitation in locations such as schools, hospitals, or industry.
  • Consult and coordinate with healthcare team members to assess, plan, implement, or evaluate patient care plans.
  • Direct or supervise less-skilled nursing or healthcare personnel or supervise a particular unit.
  • Monitor all aspects of patient care, including diet and physical activity.

More specific O*NET® occupations under this one: Acute Care Nurses, Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Critical Care Nurses.

Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.

Getting in

Typical education to enter (BLS)
Bachelor's degree
O*NET Job Zone 4
Considerable preparation
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Interests it suits

The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.

  • Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
  • Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
  • Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 21 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.

Health & Nursing

  • Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse
  • Nursing Administration
  • Adult Health Nurse/Nursing
  • Family Practice Nurse/Nursing
  • Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing
  • Nursing Science
  • Pediatric Nurse/Nursing
  • Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing
13 more programmes
  • Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing
  • Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing
  • Clinical Nurse Specialist
  • Critical Care Nursing
  • Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing
  • Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing
  • Nursing Practice
  • Palliative Care Nursing
  • Clinical Nurse Leader
  • Geriatric Nurse/Nursing
  • Women's Health Nurse/Nursing
  • Forensic Nursing
  • Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing, Other

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Health & Nursing at the Major step.

Where many students take health & nursing

Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

Sources

This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0

Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk