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Registered nurse licence (RN)

The licence you cannot work as a registered nurse without. Two routes lead to the same exam and the same licence — a two-year associate degree or a four-year bachelor's — and they cost very different amounts.

$12,000–$26,320

Chii chinoda mari kuti uwane — pakati pegumi neshanu yemari.

24–48

Mavhiki edzidzo, nguva dzose. Part-time zvinotora nguva yakareba.

3–7

Zvita zvemubhadharo wepremiyamu zvinodarika kuti zvibhadhare mari iyi. Hapana mwedzi kusvika wasvika kumashure zvakakwana. Kudzidziswa kwenguva iri pamusoro kunotanga.

Musoro: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 · Kuona

Chii chinonzi chikwereti chinoratidza, uye chii chisiri

The low end is the 25th percentile across institutions offering the two-year associate route; the high end is the 75th percentile across institutions offering the four-year bachelor's. That range is median cumulative FEDERAL LOAN DEBT at completion, not a tuition sticker price and not total cost. It is what completers actually borrowed, so it excludes grants, savings, family money, employer funding and living costs — which makes it a FLOOR on what the credential costs, never a ceiling. The low and high figures are the 25th and 75th percentiles across the institutions that report a figure for this programme, so a quarter of institutions sit below the low end. College Scorecard pools two award years into each figure; the release used here is dated 10 June 2026.

Two years full time for the associate route, four for the bachelor's. Both end at the same NCLEX-RN exam and the same licence, and employers increasingly prefer the bachelor's — which is the reason the cheaper route is not automatically the better one.

The licence renews every one to three years depending on the state, with continuing-education requirements attached.

Ndezvipi zvikonzero zvakaita kuti vanhu vaite izvi, uye ndezvipi zvikonzero zvakaita kuti vanhu vaite izvi?

Ndezvipi zvinobhadharwa nevanhu vacho pagore

226,946 people who passed the NCLEX-RN licensing exam for US licensure — 2025, calendar year 2025.

Hatina kuchinja kuti muchikamu chemamiriyoni. Kushanda mazita ndivo vakamirira stock, vese vari kushanda mubasa pamwechete. Kuparadzaniswa kubuda mumusika unogadzira nhamba iyo inoverenga sechikwereti rate uye hachisi chimwe. Kwatiri kuchengeta vakamirira kuongorora kwechikwereti vamiri isu kuburitsa chikamu vanoshanda; pano isu hatina mumwe, saka isu kuburitsa kubuda uye kudzima.

Chii chinosanganisira: Everyone who passed the NCLEX-RN for US licensure during 2025 — first-time and repeat, US-educated and internationally educated. 328,443 people sat it and 226,946 passed, a 69.1% pass rate. A candidate can pass only once, so this is close to a count of nurses becoming licensable in that year. It excludes candidates sitting the exam for Canadian registration, whom NCSBN reports separately, and it is not a count of anyone holding a licence today.

NCSBN also publishes a count of active RN LICENCES — 6,062,790 as at 24 July 2026 — and we deliberately do not use it. That is licences, not nurses: a nurse holding single-state licences in four states appears four times, and NCSBN publishes no de-duplicated figure. Dividing employment into it would produce a share of about 56% that understates how many licensed nurses are working, so we publish the exam flow instead and no percentage at all.

NCSBN, 2025 NCLEX Examination Statistics, Research Brief vol. 96 (June 2026), Table 1 (People newly credentialed during one year) · Kuona

Chii chakaitika kune vanhu vakazodzokera kumusha mushure mekudzidza

Makore maviri mushure mekudzidza, kubva kuFederal Records

Of 177,214 vanhu vakagadzirira Registered nursing, bachelor's degree and were no longer studyingkudzidza fouryears makore maviri gare gare, 4,421 aiva nemari yakawandisa pabasa rake — 2.5%. Vaya vakashanda vakawana mari inosvika mamiriyoni maviri nemakumi mana nemana emadhora. $88,910, nepakati pegumi pakati $67,853 uye $114,470.

“Zvikwereti zvakaipa” hazvireve kuti “haasi kushanda”. Mubvunzo uyu unobvunza kuti vanhu vapi zvavo vanowana mari yemubhadharo kana kuti mari yemubhadharo yemubhadharo wemubhadharo wemubhadhar

Chii chinonzi code cheprogramme chinotaura: CIP 51.38 is registered nursing, together with nursing administration, nursing research and clinical nursing specialisms. At associate and bachelor's level it is almost entirely pre-licensure programmes leading to the NCLEX-RN, so the figure can fairly be read as being about becoming a registered nurse. At master's level and above it also carries nurse practitioners, nurse anaesthetists, nurse midwives, nurse educators and nursing administrators, which are different jobs with different pay.

This is the four-year bachelor's route. The two-year associate route is a separate federal row and comes out at 3.0% not working, against 2.5% here — the cheaper route does slightly worse on this measure, and both are among the best outcomes published.

Chii chiri mu cohort: completers vakagamuchira federal mwana anobatsira - pamusoro hafu yeUS vadzidzi, uye imwe hafu havachaongororwa pano. Vanhu vakaenda kudzidza zviri muzvinyorwa. The Department anobvisa zvikoro ne cohorts zvishoma zvikuru kuburitsa uye anowedzera statistical nyoro kune vamwe, saka izvi ndezvimwe mari pamusoro zvikoro zvikuru zvakakwana kuti vaongorore: 825 yevaviri ava, 97.1% ye Department's own national count for this program. Kubvisa zvidiki kuzivisa zvirongwa zvinofamba rate ne 0.0 muzana mapoinzi.

Musoro: US Department of Education, College Scorecard, Field of Study data, 2026 — release of 10 June 2026; measured four years after completion · Kuona · iyo imwecheteyo nhamba yese yezvirongwa zvatinogona kuburitsa

Chii chinokubvumidza kuita

Mari inobva kubasa, kwete kudzidziswa. Izvi ndizvo zvidzidzo zvaunogona kudzidza kana iwe ukawana chitupa chekudzidziswa.

Job Inofanira kuitwa here? Median Mushandisi
Registered Nurses Legally required to hold the job $97,550 3,379,720
Nurse Practitioners
Requires an active RN licence plus a master's or doctorate.
A step towards it, not sufficient on its own $132,300 323,040
Nurse Anesthetists
Requires an active RN licence, critical-care experience and a doctorate.
A step towards it, not sufficient on its own $236,590 51,840
Nurse Midwives
Requires an active RN licence plus a graduate midwifery programme.
A step towards it, not sufficient on its own $134,040 7,920

Median mari uye employment: BLS Occupational Kushanda uye Wage Statistics, May 2025.

Ichibhadhara here?

The basa izvi anovhura anobhadhara a median of $97,550. The employment-weighted median across every occupation we publish is $50,020, saka premium yekuchengeta izvi ndezve $47,530 a year before tax.

Ona kuti sekuenzanisa nechiyero basa, kwete kubasa rako. Chii chinonzi baseline, uye chii chinosiya kunze

Uye inofungidzira kuti iwe unowana basa. Kana iwe uchida kudzidza zvakawanda nezvekubhadharwa kwemari, tarisa kune yedu webhusaiti. Kana iwe uchida kuziva zvakawanda nezvekubhadharwa kwemari, tarisa kune yedu webhusaiti. Kana iwe uchida kuziva zvakawanda nezvekubhadharwa kwemari, tarisa kune yedu webhusaiti.

Chii chaunoda usati watanga

  • A place on an accredited nursing programme
  • A criminal background check — every state board runs one

Usaite izvi kana

  • you cannot pass a criminal background check, which every board requires
  • you are not prepared to work nights, weekends and holidays for years
  • you cannot physically lift, turn and move adult patients

All credentials, by payback nguva · Maitiro ekuishandisa · Tarisa chimwe chinhu chimwe