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There are currently around *** million registered nurses in the United States. Yet there are significant regional disparities, with California leading the pack in 2024. With over ** registered nurses, the Golden State outpaces its closest competitors, Texas and Florida, by a considerable margin. This concentration of nursing professionals in populous states underscores the complex relationship between healthcare demand and population density.

Diverse employment settings for nurses

While the distribution of registered nurses varies widely across states, their employment settings also show interesting patterns. In 2023, hospitals remained the primary employer for registered nurses, accounting for nearly of all nursing positions. Ambulatory healthcare services emerged as the second most common workplace, while educational services employed only a small fraction of the nursing workforce. This distribution highlights the critical role of nurses in various healthcare settings beyond traditional hospital environments.

Specialized nursing roles across states

The nursing profession encompasses various specialized roles, each with its own unique distribution across the country. For instance, nurse anesthetists showed significant variation in employment numbers, ranging from as few as ** to as many as per state in 2024. Interestingly, Delaware led in nurse anesthetist employment, while Vermont and Alaska had the lowest numbers. Similarly, nurse midwives exhibited a wide range of employment figures, with California boasting the highest count and South Carolina the lowest.