Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations
BLS May 2025 wages High openings flow SOC 29-2061

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

About 54,400 projected annual openings shape how to read Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses against Cardiologists, Orthodontists, Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric, Surgeons, All Other.

Full salary details → About this data

Same-major-group titles next to Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses: Cardiologists ($496K) , Orthodontists ($289K) , Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric ($300K) , Surgeons, All Other ($414K) . Hash-ordered per card so residual SOC siblings do not share an identical peer sentence.

What Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses publish as work

O*NET task statements for SOC 29-2061 - occupation-level descriptions, not every employer's posting. Sibling cards diverge here because the task set is entity-keyed.

  1. 1. Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and takin…
  2. 2. Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration
  3. 3. Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts
  4. 4. Provide basic patient care or treatments, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enem…
  5. 5. Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them
  6. 6. Provide medical treatment or personal care to patients in private home settings, such as cooking, keeping rooms orderly, seeing that pati…
  7. 7. Supervise nurses' aides or assistants
  8. 8. Sterilize equipment and supplies, using germicides, sterilizer, or autoclave
  9. 9. Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary
  10. 10. Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions
  11. 11. Record food and fluid intake and output
  12. 12. Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses: O*NET ranks Service Orientation first

Importance-ranked O*NET profile for SOC 29-2061 - lead skill Service Orientation at 4.1 ; lead knowledge Customer and Personal Service. Sibling cards diverge here even when peer titles overlap.

Top skills

  1. 1. Service Orientation 4.1
  2. 2. Social Perceptiveness 4.0
  3. 3. Coordination 4.0
  4. 4. Active Listening 3.9
  5. 5. Speaking 3.9
  6. 6. Monitoring 3.9
  7. 7. Reading Comprehension 3.8
  8. 8. Critical Thinking 3.8

Knowledge areas

  1. 1. Customer and Personal Service 4.0
  2. 2. English Language 3.9
  3. 3. Psychology 3.7
  4. 4. Medicine and Dentistry 3.7
  5. 5. Administration and Management 3.3
  6. 6. Education and Training 3.2
Projected annual openings
54,400
growth + transfers + exits
National median $64,400/yr
$64K
National median
↑ +3%
Growth 2024-2034
648,410
Estimated US jobs
Cardiologists
Highest-pay peer · $496K

Typical Entry and Preparation Assignments

Entry education Postsecondary nondegree award

Top Paying States for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

1. District of Columbia $75,740
2. Alaska $80,800
3. Nevada $76,160
4. New Hampshire $77,110
5. Massachusetts $80,220
6. California $79,750
7. Rhode Island $80,090
8. Washington $83,150
9. Oregon $80,470
10. Arizona $77,070

Other Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations titles

  1. 1. Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric $300,080
  2. 2. Cardiologists $496,010
  3. 3. Surgeons, All Other $414,010
  4. 4. Obstetricians and Gynecologists $292,910
  5. 5. Physicians, Pathologists $312,400
  6. 6. Orthodontists $289,140

Roughly 54,400 projected annual openings (growth, transfers, exits) are the scale signal for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses. Median pay is $64,400 in Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations.

Employment Projections expect +3% change between 2024 and 2034 (about as fast as average vs baseline 3.1%). BLS assigns Postsecondary nondegree award as typical education needed for entry. These are occupation-level assignments, not universal requirements. BLS does not publish a separate occupation-specific safety rate for this role; its broad SOC-group rate is excluded from this career card's grade.

Highest published state median in this ranking: District of Columbia at $75,740. The table records differences without proving causes. Highest-pay peer shown here: Cardiologists at $496,010. Compare the same statistic in the relevant local wage area before treating the national median as a personal benchmark; OEWS excludes employer benefits.

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses pay-rank #57 in Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations

On the Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations median table (71 detailed occupations with OEWS medians), Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses lands at #57, in the lower third. That rank is a table position, not a statement about individual workers.

Other lower-third titles · closest medians

Full Salary Details Compare this role

Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Projections from BLS Employment Projections program, 2024-2034.

A high-volume role means the state map matters more than the national median. Compare Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses against a named state, a tighter-labor peer, or another SOC.

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses salary map

State, metro, and percentile for SOC 29-2061

District of Columbia · top state for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$76K published median

Alaska · #2 state pay

$81K · behind District of Columbia

Cardiologists

Highest-pay peer vs Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses · $496K

Orthodontists

Lower-pay peer beside Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses · $289K

Compare Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

Head-to-head OEWS medians with another SOC
Compare Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses with another occupation →

Openings and labor-flow next reads

Most Openings Rankings

Labor-flow scale across occupations

Compare openings side-by-side

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where does Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses land on the Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations median table? ▼
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is pay-rank #57 of 71 in this major group, lower third of the median table. Closest lower-third titles: Surgical Technologists ($65K), Hearing Aid Specialists ($65K), Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other ($66K), Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians ($63K). That position is a table rank, not a worker percentile.
What do licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses do day to day? ▼
O*NET lists published task statements for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses. Leading ones include: Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and takin…; Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration; Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts; Provide basic patient care or treatments, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enem…. These are occupation-level task descriptions, not every employer's job description.
Which O*NET skills rank highest for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses? ▼
For SOC 29-2061, O*NET importance scores lead with Service Orientation (4.1), Social Perceptiveness (4.0), Coordination (4.0), Active Listening (3.9). Knowledge areas emphasize Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Psychology. These are occupation-level profiles, not a hiring checklist for every employer.
What is the OEWS national median for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses? ▼
May 2025 OEWS reports $64,400 as the national median for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses. The published 10th-90th range is $49,740 to $83,440. Beside Cardiologists ($496,010), this is the occupation-level national figure, not a local offer.
What employment change does BLS publish for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses? ▼
The 2024-2034 projection for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is +3%. Projected annual openings: about 54,400. Relative to the current all-occupations baseline of 3.1%: about as fast as average.
Which three states show the highest OEWS medians for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses? ▼
District of Columbia ($75,740), Alaska ($80,800), Nevada ($76,160) lead this ranking. The table does not identify why those state estimates differ.

Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Wage and state figures use BLS OEWS May 2025; growth and education use BLS Employment Projections for 2024-2034; safety fields cite BLS CFOI/SOII; task statements cite O*NET where shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.

Disclaimer: Wage and outlook figures on this page are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute career, financial, or salary-negotiation advice. Actual pay varies by employer, experience, and local conditions; consult a career counselor or the hiring employer for guidance specific to your situation.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OES Occupational wage estimates by area and industry · 2025

Federal sources on this Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses card
  • BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS / OES) - national median and percentiles for SOC 29-2061. bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET OnLine - task and skill statements for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses. onetcenter.org
  • BLS Employment Projections - 2024-2034 change and openings for this occupation. bls.gov/emp
  • U.S. Census Bureau ACS - demographic and labor-force context for state and metro geography. census.gov/programs-surveys/acs
  • IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) - payroll-tax aggregate context for wage comparisons. irs.gov/statistics