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Career overview · SOC 29-1171

Nurse Practitioners

Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

Also called: ACNP (Acute Care Nurse Practitioner) · Adult Nurse Practitioner · Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) · ARNP Specialist (Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner Specialist) · Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) · Family Practice Certified Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner

Median pay (national)
$129,210
$97,960–$169,950 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
307,390
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+40.1%
~29,500 openings/yr
Typical entry
Master's degree

What the numbers say

Refit analysis ·Pay for nurse practitioners shows a relatively narrow range: the top 10% earn $169,950 versus $97,960 at the bottom 10% — 1.7x. The median of $129,210 leaves roughly 32% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +40.1% from 2024 to 2034 — much faster than the 3% average for all occupations. Even so, BLS projects about 29,500 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 51 states with released data, California pays the most for this role (median $166,610, +29% vs the national median), while Guam sits lowest at $105,060 — a 59% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list.

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Top skills employers ask for

Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Listening
  • Critical Thinking
  • Writing
  • Speaking
  • Active Learning
  • Monitoring
  • Science
  • Learning Strategies
  • Mathematics

What they actually do

Core O*NET tasks for this role.

  • 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.
  • Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
  • Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
  • Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
  • Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.
  • Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.

Tools & technology

  • eClinicalWorks EHR software
  • Epic Systems
  • MEDITECH software
  • Allscripts Professional EHR
  • Amkai AmkaiCharts
  • Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
  • Cerner Millennium
  • e-MDs software
  • GE Healthcare Centricity EMR
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCS
  • Medical condition coding software
  • Medical procedure coding software
  • Medscribbler Enterprise
  • MicroFour PracticeStudio.NET EMR
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer
  • NextGen Healthcare Information Systems EMR

Knowledge areas

  • Medicine and Dentistry
  • English Language
  • Biology
  • Psychology
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Therapy and Counseling
  • Education and Training
  • Sociology and Anthropology