Nursing Practice Degrees (2026 stats)

Last updated: April 29, 2026 Source: College Scorecard

TL;DR

Nursing Practice maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $7,361; common paths include Teachers, Postsecondary and Secondary School Teachers.

Key Statistics

423
Total Degrees Awarded (2023)
$7,361
Median In-State Public Tuition
$34,090
Median Out-of-State Private Tuition
$64,987
Avg. Wage (related occupations)
1,596,050
Workers (related occupations)
51.9%
Median Graduation Rate (4-yr schools)
423
Bachelor's Completions (IPEDS 2023)

Nursing Practice: what the data shows

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

What is a nursing practice degree?

A Nursing Practice program is classified under NCES CIP 51.3818 in the Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing field family (51.38).

A practice-focused program that prepares registered nurses for increasingly complex evidence-based nursing practice, including translating research into practice, evaluating evidence, applying research in decision-making, and implementing viable clinical innovations to change practice. Includes instruction in healthcare delivery systems, health economics and finance, health policy, research methods, translating evidence into practice, concepts in population health, and nursing leadership

IPEDS counted 423 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.

Types of nursing practice 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 nursing practice degree?

Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.3818 in our file:

  • 133 Associate (9.9% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
  • 423 Bachelor's (31.4% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
  • 527 Master's (39.1% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
  • 266 Doctorate (19.7% 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 do you learn in nursing practice?

O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.

What degree do you need?

For Teachers, Postsecondary (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 nursing practice degree?

Our degree→occupation mapping links Nursing Practice 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
Teachers, Postsecondary1,500,000—
Secondary School Teachers1,072,540$64,580

See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.

Is a nursing practice 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 Nursing Practice 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 Nursing Practice majors are, on average, $7,361 for in-state public colleges, and $34,090 for out of state private colleges.

Tuition costs comparison for Nursing Practice programs.

Degrees Awarded Over Time

423 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Nursing Practice from 2015 to 2023.

Historical trend of degrees awarded in Nursing Practice.

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 Nursing Practice 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 Nursing Practice 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 Nursing Practice programs.

Graduation Rates

51.94% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)

51.72% Average Graduation Rate

1,267 Institutions Reporting

38.34% - 64.34% Interquartile Range

Graduation/completion rates for Nursing Practice programs across institutions.

Where students complete this major (IPEDS)

Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.

Geographic concentration

The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Nursing Practice is in CT (131 completions). That state represents about 31.0% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.

Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is CT (0.27% of that state's bachelor's completions).

Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).

State Bachelor's completions (this CIP) % of U.S. total (this CIP) % of state's all bachelor's
CT13131.0%0.27%
OH10725.3%0.08%
NY5813.7%0.02%
GA4410.4%0.04%
WI348.0%0.04%
MO276.4%0.04%
PR143.3%0.05%
VA40.9%0.00%
IA20.5%0.00%
PA20.5%0.00%

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 51.3818 in the survey year used in our extract (1,349 total across levels below).

  • 133 Associate (9.9% of IPEDS total)
  • 423 Bachelor's (31.4% of IPEDS total)
  • 527 Master's (39.1% of IPEDS total)
  • 266 Doctorate (19.7% 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 $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Nursing Practice graduates alone.

Related occupations (BLS OEWS)

Occupation Mean annual wage U.S. employment
Teachers, Postsecondary$36,5111,500,000
Secondary School Teachers$104,8131,072,540

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 Nursing Practice 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

$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce

The average salary for Nursing Practice majors is $40,621.

Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Nursing Practice majors.

Occupations by Share

1,596,050 2023 Workforce

The number of Nursing Practice graduates in the workforce has been growing.

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

Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Nursing Practice in the United States.

Workforce Age

N/A Average Age in 2023

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Nursing Practice.

Age distribution for Nursing Practice degree holders in the workforce.

Gender Distribution

Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).

423 Total Degrees Awarded

38 Male (8.98%)

385 Female (91.02%)

Gender distribution of Nursing Practice degree recipients.

Race and Ethnicity Distribution

Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).

283 White (66.90%)

56 Hispanic or Latino (13.24%)

32 Black or African American (7.57%)

25 Asian (5.91%)

11 Two or More Races (2.60%)

Racial and ethnic distribution of Nursing Practice degree recipients.

Degrees Awarded

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

Distribution of degree types awarded in Nursing Practice.

Skills

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

Required Skills

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

Rating of how necessary various skills are for Nursing Practice 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 Nursing Practice majors.

About

A practice-focused program that prepares registered nurses for increasingly complex evidence-based nursing practice, including translating research into practice, evaluating evidence, applying research in decision-making, and implementing viable clinical innovations to change practice. Includes instruction in healthcare delivery systems, health economics and finance, health policy, research methods, translating evidence into practice, concepts in population health, and nursing leadership

In 2023, 423 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Nursing Practice.

CIP Code

51.3818 - Nursing Practice

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 Nursing Practice graduate.

Women earned 86.6% of 9,206 Nursing Practice completions in the IPEDS file used here.

Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 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.