Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code SRC
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Care for ill, injured, or convalescing patients or persons with disabilities in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions. May work under the supervision of a registered nurse. Licensing required.
Also called: Charge Nurse, Clinic Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Pediatric LPN (Pediatric Licensed Practical Nurse), Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN), Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN), Office Nurse, Private Duty Nurse.
O*NET 29-2061.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $64,400
- Middle half earn $59,000 to $76,030. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Some College Courses
- 38% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
- US employment outlook, 2024 to 2034
- +3% · As fast as average
- 651,400 jobs in 2024, projected 668,500. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which groups this with similar roles as "Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses".
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
- 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 enemas or douches, rubbing with alcohol, massaging, or performing catheterizations.
- Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
- Provide medical treatment or personal care to patients in private home settings, such as cooking, keeping rooms orderly, seeing that patients are comfortable and in good spirits, or instructing family members in simple nursing tasks.
- Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
- Sterilize equipment and supplies, using germicides, sterilizer, or autoclave.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Monitoring3.9 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.8 / 5
- Critical Thinking3.8 / 5
- Active Learning3.4 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.0 / 5
- English Language3.9 / 5
- Psychology3.7 / 5
- Medicine and Dentistry3.7 / 5
- Administration and Management3.3 / 5
- Education and Training3.2 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic60
- Investigative45
- Artistic1
- Social75
- Enterprising19
- Conventional60
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- palliative care social worker · DE Sozialarbeiter im Bereich Palliativversorgung/Sozialarbeiterin im Bereich Palliativversorgung · FR assistant de service social dans une unité de soins palliatifs/assistante de service social dans une unité de soins palliatifs
- healthcare assistant · DE Pflegehelfer/Pflegehelferin · FR aide-soignant en institution/aide-soignante en institution
- nurse assistant · DE Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger/Gesundheits- und Krankenschwester · FR aide-soignant/aide-soignante
- home care aide · DE Haus- und Familienpfleger/Haus- und Familienpflegerin · FR assistant de vie/assistante de vie
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Social workers (2461)139,800 employed
- Probation officers (2462)11,900 employed
- Youth work professionals (2464)10,200 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “准看護師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥269,900
- Middle half earn ¥238,200 to ¥312,200 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 122,920
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Service and sales workers”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €32,957 |
| Sweden | €32,596 |
| Netherlands | €29,198 |
| Austria | €29,068 |
| Germany | €27,471 |
| Ireland | €26,978 |
| Italy | €24,995 |
| France | €24,971 |
| Spain | €18,303 |
| Portugal | €10,656 |
| Poland | €7,579 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.51. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (29-2061).
Related careers
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