Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between health care assistants and certified nursing assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a health care assistant has an average salary of $34,892, which is higher than the $32,597 average annual salary of a certified nursing assistant.
The top three skills for a health care assistant include patients, customer service and healthcare. The most important skills for a certified nursing assistant are patients, vital signs, and home health.
| Health Care Assistant | Certified Nursing Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,892 | $32,597 |
| Hourly rate | $16.77 | $15.67 |
| Growth rate | 36% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 242,669 | 225,834 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3.12 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | High School Diploma, 29% |
| Average age | 50 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | 3 |
A health care assistant primarily performs support tasks to help nurses in providing care and assistance to patients. Their duties usually include assisting patients with their daily hygienic tasks such as bathing, going to the toilet, dressing, and brushing their teeth. They may also prepare meals according to protocols and guidelines, feed patients, assist them when walking, and run other errands as necessary. Most importantly, a health care assistant monitors the patients' condition and their treatment progress, coordinating with the nurses and physicians regularly.
A certified nursing assistant generally assists patients in their healthcare needs and medical procedures. They support patients in their daily activities by monitoring patients' temperature and food intake, ensuring the cleanliness of the patient's room, and keeping documentation of patients' conditions for reference of nurses and doctors. A certified nursing assistant should also communicate with patients' families and provide updates as often as needed. It is also important that a nursing assistant is patient and compassionate enough to attend to direct patient needs, which could get demanding or challenging at times.
Health care assistants and certified nursing assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Health Care Assistant | Certified Nursing Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,892 | $32,597 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $47,000 | Between $24,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | Antioch, CA | Portland, ME |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Medical University of South Carolina | Valley Presbyterian Hospital |
| Best paying industry | Education | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a health care assistant and a certified nursing assistant in terms of educational background:
| Health Care Assistant | Certified Nursing Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 37% | High School Diploma, 29% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between health care assistants' and certified nursing assistants' demographics:
| Health Care Assistant | Certified Nursing Assistant | |
| Average age | 50 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 18.8% Female, 81.2% | Male, 12.3% Female, 87.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 7% |