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Role hub · Nursing Assistants

CNA: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of cnas earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$42,260
Hourly
$20.32
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

CNAs provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. The median pay is $42,260 a year ($20.32 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (39% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$42,260
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
1,448,910
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
39% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Nursing Assistants (O*NET-SOC 31-1131.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Explore the role

Every page for CNAs

SalaryCNA salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeCNA how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeCNA resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsCNA interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What cnas do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
  2. Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
  3. Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
  4. Measure and record food and liquid intake or urinary and fecal output, reporting changes to medical or nursing staff.
  5. Provide physical support to assist patients to perform daily living activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, standing, walking, or exercising.
  6. Document or otherwise report observations of patient behavior, complaints, or physical symptoms to nurses.
  7. Remind patients to take medications or nutritional supplements.
  8. Review patients' dietary restrictions, food allergies, and preferences to ensure patient receives appropriate diet.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Service OrientationcoreSocial PerceptivenesscoreActive ListeningcoreMonitoringCoordinationReading ComprehensionSpeakingCritical ThinkingJudgment and Decision Making

Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, Administration and Management, English Language, Public Safety and Security, Medicine and Dentistry, Education and Training.

Tools and technology

Software cnas use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Epic SystemsMedical softwareHot technology
  • MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Billing softwareBilling and invoicing software
  • GE Healthcare Centricity EMRMedical software
  • Medical condition coding softwareMedical software
  • Medical procedure coding softwareMedical software
  • Medical record charting softwareMedical software
  • PointClickCare healthcare softwareMedical software
  • Telemetry softwareMedical software
  • YouTubeVideo creation and editing software
  • Apache SparkBusiness intelligence and data analysis softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft ExcelSpreadsheet softwareHot technology

Also called: Nursing Assistant, Certified Nursing Assistant, Certified Medication Aide (CMA), Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), Certified Nurses Aide (CNA), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA), Nurses' Aide.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).