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Registered Nursing

Types of Degrees Registered Nursing Majors Are Earning

Students pursuing Registered Nursing can earn degrees at several award levels.

Award Level	Graduates
Certificate	2,426
Associate’s Degree	83,968
Bachelor’s Degree	147,392
Master’s Degree	22,322
Doctor’s Degree	852

What Registered Nursing Majors Need to Know

Coursework for Registered Nursing emphasize a specific mix of knowledge, skills, and abilities — derived from O*NET surveys of workers in occupations that Registered Nursing graduates commonly enter.

Knowledge Areas

According to O*NET, a major in Registered Nursing emphasizes the following knowledge areas:

• Psychology — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 6.0 / 7.
• Medicine and Dentistry — Importance 4.5 / 5; level 4.7 / 7.
• English Language — Importance 4.3 / 5; level 4.5 / 7.
• Customer and Personal Service — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 5.3 / 7.
• Therapy and Counseling — Importance 3.8 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.

^{Importance is rated 1–5; level is 1–7. Source: ONET Online — weighted across related occupations.*}

Skills

Skills developed in a Registered Nursing program reflects the day-to-day work of related occupations:

• Social Perceptiveness — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.4 / 7.
• Speaking — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Active Listening — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.2 / 7.
• Critical Thinking — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Reading Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.

Abilities

Abilities most relevant to Registered Nursing careers — again drawn from O*NET surveys of related occupations:

• Problem Sensitivity — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Comprehension — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.8 / 7.
• Oral Expression — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.6 / 7.
• Deductive Reasoning — Importance 4.1 / 5; level 4.1 / 7.
• Written Comprehension — Importance 4.0 / 5; level 4.3 / 7.

Common Job Activities

Day-to-day, Registered Nursing graduates report doing:

Activity	Frequency / Importance
Assisting and Caring for Others	4.9 / 7
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge	4.7 / 7
Documenting/Recording Information	4.6 / 7
Getting Information	4.6 / 7
Making Decisions and Solving Problems	4.6 / 7
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates	4.5 / 7
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships	4.5 / 7
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work	4.4 / 7
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards	4.3 / 7
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events	4.3 / 7

Technology Skills Used on the Job

Most frequently-cited tools used by Registered Nursing professionals:

Tool / Software	Category	In-Demand
Microsoft Office software	Office suite software	✓
Microsoft Word	Word processing software	—
Microsoft Outlook	Electronic mail software	—
Microsoft Excel	Spreadsheet software	—
Microsoft PowerPoint	Presentation software	—
eClinicalWorks EHR software	Medical software	—
Microsoft Access	Data base user interface and query software	—
Medical condition coding software	Medical software	—
MEDITECH software	Medical software	—
Web browser software	Internet browser software	—
Google Docs	Word processing software	—
Google Drive	Cloud-based data access and sharing software	—

^{Source: ONET Online technology skills, weighted across related occupations.*}

Sample Job Titles

Real job postings for Registered Nursing graduates include:

• Pediatric Oncology Nurse
• Psychiatric RN (Psychiatric Registered Nurse)
• Staff Nurse
• Nurse
• Registered Nurse (RN)
• PACU RN (Post Anesthesia Care Unit Registered Nurse)
• Charge Nurse
• Receptionist Nurse
• Home Health RN (Home Health Registered Nurse)
• Triage RN (Triage Registered Nurse)
• Registered Public Health Nurse
• Nurse Clinician
• Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse (Med-Surg RN)
• Discharge Planner
• Med-Surg Telemetry RN (Medical Surgical Telemetry Registered Nurse)

What Can You Do With a Registered Nursing Degree?

Graduates with a degree in Registered Nursing commonly enter the following occupations:

Occupation	Job Growth	Median Salary	25th–75th Pctile
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	5.7%	$69,718	$58,585–$80,852

^{Job-growth = projected employment change for the parent occupation. Source: ONET / BLS Employment Projections.*}

Education Typically Required

Across the occupations open to Registered Nursing graduates, the typical level of education actually held by current workers is distributed as:

Education Level	Share of Workers
Master’s degree	39.4%
Bachelor’s degree	29.2%
Associate’s degree (or other 2-year)	11.1%
Postsecondary certificate	9.7%
Doctoral degree	6.0%
First professional degree	1.8%
Post-master’s certificate	1.6%
Post-doctoral training	0.6%
High school diploma or equivalent	0.3%
Post-baccalaureate certificate	0.2%

^{Source: ONET Online education / training / experience requirements.*}

Who Is Earning a Degree in Registered Nursing?

Gender Distribution

This field skews predominantly female, with women earning 86.5% of Registered Nursing degrees.

Gender	Graduates	Share
Women	222,225	86.5%
Men	34,740	13.5%

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the national level, the racial-ethnic distribution of Registered Nursing graduates is as follows:

Race / Ethnicity	Graduates	Share
White	135,462	52.7%
Asian	19,020	7.4%
Hispanic or Latino	43,096	16.8%
Black or African American	37,119	14.4%
American Indian / Alaska Native	1,364	0.5%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander	693	0.3%
Two or More Races	8,446	3.3%
Race Unknown	9,410	3.7%
International Students	2,355	0.9%

^{See minority definition below.}

How Much Do Registered Nursing Graduates Earn?

Federal data tracks median earnings of Registered Nursing graduates 1, 4, and 5 years after completion. Earnings tend to climb steadily as graduates gain experience and move into mid-career roles.

Years Out	Median Earnings
1 year	$83,453
4 years	$80,149
5 years	$90,156

By year 5 out, median earnings rise to $90,156 — roughly 8% above the 1-year mark.

^{Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings tracker.}

Online Registered Nursing Programs

Online study are documented by IPEDS for Registered Nursing. The table below shows how many graduates earned at least some of their coursework online (Distance-Ed Available) versus completing the entire program online (Distance-Ed Only).

Award Level	Distance-Ed Available	Distance-Ed Only
Associate’s	15	68
Bachelor’s	194	345
Master’s	113	70
Doctoral (Research)	6	9

^{Distance-Ed Only = degrees completed entirely online; Distance-Ed Available = degrees including at least some online coursework. Source: IPEDS Completions by Distance Education status.}

Is a Degree in Registered Nursing Worth It?

Looking purely at the federal earnings tracker, Registered Nursing graduates earn a median of $80,149 four years after completion — roughly 111% above the national median for workers with only a high school diploma (~$38,000).

^{ROI estimate compares the program’s 4-yr median earnings against the 2023 BLS CPS median earnings for high-school-only workers. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + BLS Current Population Survey.}

Related Programs

You may also be interested in these closely related fields of study:

Program	Annual Degrees Awarded
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	311,372
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	14,847
Nursing Practice	9,206
Nursing Administration	7,911
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	4,379
Nursing Science	4,245
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing, Other	4,125
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	2,457
Nurse Anesthetist	1,960
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing	1,505
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	641
Critical Care Nursing	596

References

The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students and international students. This number is then divided by the total number of students to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics (IPEDS)
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard

More about our data sources and methodologies.