Mid-Level

Nurse

Nurse covers a remarkable range — bedside acute care, outpatient clinics, schools, occupational health, public health, telephone triage — and the daily texture varies enormously by setting. As a Nurse, the common thread is patient assessment, intervention, education, and coordination with the broader care team.

Career Level
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
VP
Executive
Work Personality
S
I
C
R
E
A
Socialhelping, teaching
Investigativeanalytical, curious
Based on Holland Code framework
Job markets for Nurses
Employment concentration · ~400 areas
Based on employment in related occupations
Mapped SOC categories:
BLS Occupational Employment Statistics
What it's like

What it's like to be a Nurse

A typical shift tends to involve patient assessments, medication and treatment administration, education, documentation, and coordination with physicians and other team members — with the specifics shaped almost entirely by setting. A clinic day looks nothing like a hospital floor or a school nurse's office, but the underlying clinical reasoning is recognizable across them.

Coordination tends to span physicians and advanced practice providers, other nurses, ancillary staff, patients, and families. What surprises new nurses is how much of the work is communication and judgment rather than tasks — knowing when to call, what to prioritize, how to advocate. Documentation requirements have grown faster than the time at the bedside.

Nurses who tend to thrive across settings are clinically curious, organized, emotionally durable, and skilled at communication with patients and providers. The career has unusual breadth — the same license opens dozens of paths. If you find meaning in patient outcomes that move because of the care you provided, the role can offer both depth and the option to pivot when the current setting stops fitting.

RelationshipsHigh
SupportAbove avg
AchievementAbove avg
IndependenceAbove avg
Working ConditionsAbove avg
RecognitionModerate
O*NET Work Values survey
✦ Editorial — written by Truest from industry research and career patterns
Career Paths

Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.

$239K$179K$119K$60K$0KLower paying387 metro areas, sorted by salary level
All experience levels1
This level's estimated range
INDUSTRIES PAYING ABOVE AVERAGE
1 BLS OEWS May 2024 covers all Nurses (SOC 29-1141.00, 29-1141.01, 29-1141.03), not just this title · BEA RPP 2023
* Top salaries exceed this figure. BLS caps reported wages at ~$240K to protect individual privacy in high-earning roles.
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✦ Editorial — career progression and interview guidance based on industry patterns
The Broader Landscape

Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.

$66K–$135K
Salary Range
10th – 90th percentile
9.8M
U.S. Employment
+4.9%
10yr Growth
567K
Annual Openings

How this category is changing

$74K$71K$68K$65K$62K201920202021202220232024$62K$74K
BLS OEWS May 2024 · BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034

Skills & Requirements

Social PerceptivenessService OrientationCritical ThinkingSpeakingReading ComprehensionMonitoringSpeakingCritical ThinkingActive ListeningWriting
O*NET OnLine · Bureau of Labor Statistics
29-1141.0029-1141.0129-1141.03

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Federal data: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (May 2024) · BLS Employment Projections · O*NET OnLine
Truest editorial: Fit check, role profile, things that vary, advancement analysis, lateral moves, interview questions.