Nurse Anesthetist Degrees (2026 stats)

Last updated: April 29, 2026 Source: College Scorecard

TL;DR

Nurse Anesthetist maps to BLS occupations averaging about $184,661, with roughly 366,020 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $7,361; common paths include Nurse Anesthetists and Nurse Midwives.

Key Statistics

$7,361
Median In-State Public Tuition
$34,090
Median Out-of-State Private Tuition
$184,661
Avg. Wage (related occupations)
366,020
Workers (related occupations)

Nurse Anesthetist: what the data shows

Common questions about nurse anesthetist degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.

What is a nurse anesthetist degree?

A Nurse Anesthetist program is classified under NCES CIP 51.3804 in the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing field family (51.38).

A program that prepares registered nurses to administer anesthetics and provide care for patients before, during and after anesthesia. Includes instruction in the biochemistry and physics of anesthesia; advanced anatomy and physiology; clinical pharmacology of anesthetics and adjunctive drugs; pain management; acute care and operating room practice; clinical technology and procedures; emergency intervention; patient assessment and education; and legal issues

Types of nurse anesthetist degrees and related programs

Other NCES program codes in the 51.38 family with pages on EDsmart Data:

How long does it take to get a nurse anesthetist degree?

Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3804 in our file:

  • 362 Master's (95.5% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
  • 17 Doctorate (4.5% of IPEDS total)—varies by program

Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.

What degree do you need?

For Nurse Anesthetists (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).

O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.

What jobs can you get with a nurse anesthetist degree?

Our degree→occupation mapping links Nurse Anesthetist to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.

OccupationU.S. employmentMedian annual wage
Nurse Anesthetists50,350$223,210
Nurse Midwives8,280$128,790
Nurse Practitioners307,390$129,210

See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.

Is a nurse anesthetist degree worth it?

College Scorecard national medians for the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing bachelor's program family: median debt $21,490, median earnings $88,910 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.29.

About 1.2% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.

Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $7,361 and median net price is $16,419.

We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.

Institutions

Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Nurse Anesthetist and the types of students that study this field.

Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$7,361 Median In-State Public

$34,090 Median Out of State Private

Tuition costs for Nurse Anesthetist majors are, on average, $7,361 for in-state public colleges, and $34,090 for out of state private colleges.

Tuition costs comparison for Nurse Anesthetist programs.

Degrees Awarded Over Time

100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Nurse Anesthetist from 2015 to 2023.

Historical trend of degrees awarded in Nurse Anesthetist.

Top 5 Schools by Enrollment

# School State Enrollment
1 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
2 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
3 Southern New Hampshire University NH 163,164
4 Western Governors University UT 155,088
5 Western Governors University UT 155,088

Schools with the largest enrollment offering Nurse Anesthetist programs.

Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition

# School State Tuition
1 Antelope Valley Community College District CA $1,124
2 Woodland Community College CA $1,124
3 Yuba College CA $1,128
4 Yuba College CA $1,128
5 Compton College CA $1,142

Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Nurse Anesthetist programs.

Top 5 Lowest Net Price

# School State Net Price
1 College of the Sequoias CA $480
2 College of San Mateo CA $536
3 Wiregrass Georgia Technical College GA $614
4 Henry Ford College MI $660
5 North Florida College FL $804

Schools with the lowest average net price for Nurse Anesthetist programs.

Graduation Rates

Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.

Graduation/completion rates for Nurse Anesthetist programs across institutions.

Related specializations

Other NCES program codes in the 51.38 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.

Degree Levels (IPEDS)

Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3804 in the survey year used in our extract (379 total across levels below).

  • 362 Master's (95.5% of IPEDS total)
  • 17 Doctorate (4.5% of IPEDS total)

Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.

Careers & Jobs

Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.

Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $184,661. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Nurse Anesthetist graduates alone.

Related occupations (BLS OEWS)

Occupation Mean annual wage U.S. employment
Nurse Anesthetists$225,97950,350
Nurse Midwives$184,5128,280
Nurse Practitioners$177,897307,390

Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.

Program outcomes (College Scorecard)

National medians across bachelor's programs in the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing CIP family (602 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Nurse Anesthetist graduate.

  • $21,490 median federal loan debt among completers
  • $88,910 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
  • 0.29 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
  • 1.2% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)

Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.

Employment

Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.

Yearly Income for Common Jobs

$184,661 Average Wage in Workforce

The average salary for Nurse Anesthetist majors is $184,661.

Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Nurse Anesthetist majors.

Occupations by Share

366,020 2023 Workforce

The number of Nurse Anesthetist graduates in the workforce has been growing.

Various jobs filled by those with a major in Nurse Anesthetist by share of the total number of graduates.

Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Nurse Anesthetist in the United States.

Workforce Age

N/A Average Age in 2023

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Nurse Anesthetist.

Age distribution for Nurse Anesthetist degree holders in the workforce.

Gender Distribution

1,960 Total Degrees Awarded

731 Male (37.30%)

1,229 Female (62.70%)

Gender distribution of Nurse Anesthetist degree recipients.

Race and Ethnicity Distribution

1,266 White (64.59%)

235 Hispanic or Latino (11.99%)

155 Asian (7.91%)

140 Black or African American (7.14%)

55 Two or More Races (2.81%)

Racial and ethnic distribution of Nurse Anesthetist degree recipients.

Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Nurse Anesthetist are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.

Distribution of degree types awarded in Nurse Anesthetist.

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Nurse Anesthetist field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Required Skills

Nurse Anesthetist majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.

Rating of how necessary various skills are for Nurse Anesthetist majors.

Skills Bar Chart

This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.

Skill importance ratings for Nurse Anesthetist majors.

About

A program that prepares registered nurses to administer anesthetics and provide care for patients before, during and after anesthesia. Includes instruction in the biochemistry and physics of anesthesia; advanced anatomy and physiology; clinical pharmacology of anesthetics and adjunctive drugs; pain management; acute care and operating room practice; clinical technology and procedures; emergency intervention; patient assessment and education; and legal issues

In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Nurse Anesthetist.

CIP Code

51.3804 - Nurse Anesthetist

What the data shows

At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $21,490 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $88,910, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Nurse Anesthetist graduate.

Women earned 62.7% of 1,960 Nurse Anesthetist completions in the IPEDS file used here.

Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $184,661. The largest mapped role by headcount is Nurse Anesthetists (50,350 U.S. jobs in OEWS).

Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $7,361 in-state at public colleges and $34,090 at private institutions for programs in this field.

Data Sources

This page uses data from the following sources:

  • College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
    • Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
    • Data years: 2015-2024
    • Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
    • Employment and wage data by occupation
    • Latest data: May 2024
    • Source: bls.gov/oes
  • O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
    • Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
    • Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
    • Source: onetcenter.org
  • IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
    • Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
    • Data years: 2015-2024
    • Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
  • Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
    • Demographic and workforce data
    • Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
    • Source: census.gov/acs

Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.

Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.

Methodology

Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.

All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.