Bathe, feed, move, and monitor patients, taking vital signs and reporting changes to nurses.
Nursing homes, hospitals, and assisted-living facilities
Shift work, including nights, weekends, and holidays
May 2024–25 BLS wage data · 2024–34 BLS employment projections.
Openings a year counts new jobs plus the ones that open when people retire or move on — a truer picture of your odds than growth alone.
“Median” means half earn more and half earn less. Your city, employer, and years on the job move it a lot — that is what the 10th-to-90th range shows.
Certificate program
Training path: Short state course, then competency exam.
Requires passing a state competency exam and placement on the state nurse-aide registry.
You can earn while you train. This field has a genuinely paid pathway in — an apprenticeship, a paid academy, or employer-funded training — so you draw a paycheck instead of taking on debt to learn it.
The fastest paid entry into hospital and nursing-home work, and a proven first rung toward LPN and RN.
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Standard Occupational Classification 31-1131. Pay, employment, and outlook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wage survey and 2024–34 employment projections). See something off? Tell us.