How To Become A Licensed Nurse Practitioner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a licensed nurse practitioner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a licensed nurse practitioner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.19 an hour? That's $56,564 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 41,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreLicensed Nurse PractitionerUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,564

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.83%

Asian 6.65%

Black or African American 15.02%

Hispanic or Latino 16.41%

Unknown 4.40%

White 56.69%

Gender

female 90.38%

male 9.62%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.0

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.9

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a licensed nurse practitioner

Explore licensed nurse practitioner education requirements

Most common licensed nurse practitioner degrees

Bachelor's

56.8 %

Master's

27.0 %

Diploma

10.8 %

Start to develop specific licensed nurse practitioner skills

Skills	Percentages
BLS	28.91%
Medication Management	16.27%
Vital Signs	15.28%
HIPAA	14.81%
IM	11.50%

Complete relevant licensed nurse practitioner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New licensed nurse practitioners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a licensed nurse practitioner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real licensed nurse practitioner resumes.

Research licensed nurse practitioner duties and responsibilities

Assist with obtaining proper DME and permanent services which permit patients to safely manage their medical treatment from their own home.
care, colostomy care and wind care.
Set up and operate specialized medical equipment such as resuscitators, cardiac monitoring devices, EKG units, and oxygen analyzers.
Maintain and record vital statistics, nursing assessment and electronically document in EMR.

Prepare your licensed nurse practitioner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your licensed nurse practitioner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a licensed nurse practitioner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable licensed nurse practitioner resume templates

Build a professional licensed nurse practitioner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your licensed nurse practitioner resume.