SOC 31-1131.00Bright outlook

    Nursing Assistants

    Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff.

    Median pay
    $42,260
    Growth
    +2.6%
    As fast as average
    Openings a year
    196,200
    Typical education
    Postsecondary certificate

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $33,940
    Median
    $42,260
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $51,980
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    1,448,910 people work in this occupation.

    In short

    Nursing assistants provide essential, day-to-day care for patients under the supervision of licensed nurses. This career offers a median annual salary of $42,260, with steady job opportunities available across the country.

    Written with AI from the BLS, O*NET and CareerOneStop data on this page. Every figure is checked against that data before it is published.

    What nursing assistants do

    Job Zone 3: Medium preparation

    Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.

    Usually vocational training, an associate degree or related experience.

    What the work is like

    Nursing assistants spend their days helping patients with basic needs such as bathing, dressing, eating, grooming, and moving around. They monitor patient health, record vital signs, and report changes directly to supervisors and peers. This role is highly physical and requires constant movement, from assisting patients out of bed to standing for long periods.

    To succeed in this field, workers must have a strong social orientation and a desire to help others. Key skills include active listening, social perceptiveness, and coordination. Because they work closely with vulnerable individuals, nursing assistants must demonstrate empathy, dependability, cooperation, and high stress tolerance. They also need basic knowledge of medicine, personal service, and public safety to ensure patient well-being.

    How to get there

    To enter this career, individuals typically need a postsecondary certificate. Preparation usually involves vocational training, an associate degree, or related work experience. Common college majors that prepare students for this role include practical nursing, vocational nursing and nursing assistants, and health aides or attendants.

    Depending on the state and employer, specific credentials can help secure employment. Some states list a license for this work. Available certifications include the National Nurse Aide Assessment Program, Medication Aide Certification, and various patient care technician credentials from organizations like the National Healthcareer Association and the National Center for Competency Testing.

    Pay and outlook explained

    The median annual pay for nursing assistants is $42,260. Earnings vary based on experience and location, with the lowest 10 percent earning less than $33,940 and the highest 10 percent earning more than $51,980. The field employs 1,448,910 people. Employment is projected to grow by 2.6 percent from 2025 to 2035, which is as fast as average. This growth, combined with staff turnover, is expected to create 196,200 job openings each year.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    60 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    29 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    0 / 100
    Social (S) · strongest
    78 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    13 / 100
    Conventional (C)
    54 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code SRC. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Assisting and Caring for Others
    89
    Getting Information
    79
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    78
    Documenting/Recording Information
    76
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    73
    Performing General Physical Activities
    70
    Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
    69
    Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
    68
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    66
    Developing and Building Teams
    65
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Service Orientation
    • Active Listening
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Monitoring
    • Coordination
    • Critical Thinking
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Speaking
    • Active Learning
    • Judgment and Decision Making

    Knowledge

    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Administration and Management
    • English Language
    • Public Safety and Security
    • Medicine and Dentistry
    • Education and Training
    • Therapy and Counseling
    • Psychology
    • Sociology and Anthropology
    • Personnel and Human Resources

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension
    • Problem Sensitivity
    • Near Vision
    • Oral Expression
    • Speech Recognition
    • Static Strength
    • Deductive Reasoning
    • Extent Flexibility
    • Information Ordering
    • Trunk Strength

    Work styles

    • Empathy
    • Cooperation
    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Optimism
    • Integrity
    • Social Orientation
    • Sincerity
    • Self-Control
    • Stress Tolerance

    Also called

    Birth Attendant · Certified Medication Aide (CMA) · Certified Nurse Aide (CNA) · Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) · Certified Nurses Aide (CNA) · Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) · Certified Nursing Attendant (CNA) · Certified Residential Medication Aide (CRMA) · Clinical Assistant · Competency Evaluated Nurse Aide (CENA)

    Career pathway

    From your interests to nursing assistants

    Interests that fit the work, the career, majors that lead there and colleges whose graduates in those majors earn the most. Hover or focus a step to follow one path.

    1. Interests

    2. This career

      • Nursing Assistants$42,260 median pay

    3. Majors

    4. Colleges

    College Scorecard program outcomes

    Colleges with strong outcomes

    Programs that lead to this career, ranked by what their graduates earn four years after finishing. Earnings are for graduates who received federal aid.

    1. 1
      Carrington College-Sacramento

      Sacramento, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $70,686
      4 yrs after
      $112,176
      Median debt
      $19,872
    2. 2
      Unitek College

      Fremont, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $72,818
      4 yrs after
      $108,612
      Median debt
      $14,273
    3. 3Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts logo
      Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts

      San Mateo, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $66,307
      4 yrs after
      $85,529
      Median debt
      $23,410
    4. 4Green River College logo
      Green River College

      Auburn, WA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      Not reported
      4 yrs after
      $76,656
      Median debt
      $9,257
    5. 5
      San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia

      Visalia, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $57,680
      4 yrs after
      $76,313
      Median debt
      $21,000
    6. 6
      San Joaquin Valley College-Bakersfield

      Bakersfield, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $57,680
      4 yrs after
      $76,313
      Median debt
      $21,000
    7. 7Dickinson State University logo
      Dickinson State University

      Dickinson, ND · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      Not reported
      4 yrs after
      $69,015
      Median debt
      $13,000
    8. 8Pacific College-California logo
      Pacific College-California

      Costa Mesa, CA · Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants · Associate

      1 yr after
      $54,755
      4 yrs after
      $67,162
      Median debt
      $25,250

    Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data, 2025. Programs with few graduates are not listed.

    NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk

    Majors that lead here

    Related programs by four-digit CIP code. They are common routes in, not the only ones.

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What nursing assistants may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Certifications

    Core certifications employers recognise for this work.

    Search all certifications on CareerOneStop

    Training

    Programs of study that prepare people for this work.

    • Health Aide
    • Nursing Assistant/Aide and Patient Care Assistant/Aide
    • Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants, Other

    Find training near you on CareerOneStop

    Licenses by state

    27 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Federal

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Your plan

    Build my pathway plan

    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

    All careers

    Questions about nursing assistants

    Written with AI from the BLS, O*NET and CareerOneStop data on this page. Every figure is checked against that data before it is published.

    What are some alternative job titles for nursing assistants?

    People in this profession are also known as Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), Certified Medication Aides (CMAs), Clinical Assistants, or Birth Attendants.

    What are the main daily tasks of a nursing assistant?

    Daily tasks include assisting patients with basic care like feeding, toileting, and bathing, as well as documenting health status and communicating updates to the nursing staff.

    What related careers can I consider in this field?

    If you are interested in this line of work, you might also explore becoming a Home Health Aide, Paramedic, Emergency Medical Technician, or Registered Nurse.

    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    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. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.