Nursing

Types of Degrees Nursing Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many nursing graduations there were in 2019-2020 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	159,958
Associate Degree	84,795
Master’s Degree	50,422
Doctor’s Degree	10,033
Graduate Certificate	4,268
Undergraduate Certificate	2,613
Basic Certificate	1,273

What Nursing Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, nursing majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Nursing Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Skills for Nursing Majors

A major in nursing prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Nursing Majors

As a nursing major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Nursing Major?

People with a nursing degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Acute Care Nurses	14.8%	$71,730
Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nurses	14.8%	$71,730
Clinical Nurse Specialists	14.8%	$71,730
Critical Care Nurses	14.8%	$71,730
Medical and Health Services Managers	20.5%	$99,730
Nurse Anesthetists	16.3%	$167,950
Nurse Midwives	20.0%	$103,770
Nurse Practitioners	36.1%	$107,030
Nursing Instructors and Professors	24.0%	$73,490
Registered Nurses	14.8%	$71,730

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing?

This is one of the most frequently chosen nursing majors. It is the 1st most popular in the country with 154,237 students graduating with a bachelor’s in nursing in 2019. The major attracts more women than men. About 87% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of nursing majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	10,586
Black or African American	15,483
Hispanic or Latino	21,673
White	97,475
International Students	1,119
Other Races/Ethnicities	13,622

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Nursing, too. About 0.7% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• South Korea
• Canada
• China
• Saudi Arabia
• Nigeria

How Much Do Nursing Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The U.S. Department of Education found that students who graduated in 2015-2017 with a bachelor’s degree in nursing made a median starting salary of $61,050 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $56,400 (25th percentile) and $67,800 (75th percentile).

It is possible that some of these people may have taken positions that were not related to nursing.

Salaries According to BLS

Nursing majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $81,350 to $113,730 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Nursing

Some careers associated with nursing require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to nursing have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	0.7%
Some College Courses	1.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	17.9%
Bachelor’s Degree	16.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	1.7%
Master’s Degree	48.2%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	5.3%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	2.0%
Doctoral Degree	6.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	0.8%

Online Nursing Programs

In 2019-2020, 2,130 schools offered a nursing program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	73	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	36	0
Associate’s Degree	1,138	14
Bachelor’s Degree	261	66
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1,352	364
Post-Master’s	737	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	278	57
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	464	127
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	33	18

Is a Degree in Nursing Worth It?

The median salary for a nursing grad is $106,910 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 168% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,340,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Nursing

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to nursing.

Major	Number of Grads
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	86,912

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Aleksahgabrielle under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.