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Role hub · Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

LPN: 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 lpns earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$64,400
Hourly
$30.96
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

LPNs care for ill, injured, or convalescing patients or persons with disabilities in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions. The median pay is $64,400 a year ($30.96 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is some college courses (38% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$64,400
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
648,410
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
Some College Courses
38% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses (O*NET-SOC 29-2061.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Explore the role

Every page for LPNs

SalaryLPN salary

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

Open →How to becomeLPN how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeLPN resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsLPN interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Career changeLPN career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What lpns do day to day

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

  1. Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
  2. Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
  3. Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
  4. Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
  5. Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
  6. Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
  7. Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.
  8. Record food and fluid intake and output.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

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

Service OrientationcoreSocial PerceptivenesscoreCoordinationcoreActive ListeningSpeakingMonitoringReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingJudgment and Decision Making

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

Tools and technology

Software lpns use

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

  • Epic SystemsMedical softwareHot technology
  • MEDITECH softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • eClinicalWorks EHR softwareMedical softwareHot technology
  • Diagnostic and procedural coding softwareCategorization or classification software
  • Electronic medical record EMR softwareMedical software
  • Google DriveCloud-based data access and sharing software
  • Healthcare common procedure coding system HCPCSMedical software
  • Infusion management softwareMedical software
  • Inventory tracking softwareInventory management software
  • MedicWare EMRMedical software
  • Medical condition coding softwareMedical software
  • Medical procedure coding softwareMedical software

Also called: Lvn, Licensed Practical Nurse, Charge Nurse, Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN), Clinic Nurse, Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Office Nurse.

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).