Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Also called: Charge Nurse, Clinic Licensed Practical Nurse (Clinic LPN), Clinic Nurse, Home Health Licensed Practical Nurse (Home Health LPN), Licensed Care Coordinator (LCC), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN), Long Term Care LPN (Long Term Care Licensed Practical Nurse)
Care for ill, injured, or convalescing patients or persons with disabilities in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions.
What licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses do
Typical tasks
- Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action.
- Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration.
- Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts.
- Provide basic patient care or treatments, such as taking temperatures or blood pressures, dressing wounds, treating bedsores, giving enemas or douches, rubbing with alcohol, massaging, or performing catheterizations.
- Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them.
- Supervise nurses' aides or assistants.
- Evaluate nursing intervention outcomes, conferring with other healthcare team members as necessary.
- Work as part of a healthcare team to assess patient needs, plan and modify care, and implement interventions.
- Record food and fluid intake and output.
- Assemble and use equipment, such as catheters, tracheotomy tubes, or oxygen suppliers.
- Collect samples, such as blood, urine, or sputum from patients, and perform routine laboratory tests on samples.
- Prepare or examine food trays for conformance to prescribed diet.
Typical path into the job (BLS)
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses salary
The median annual wage for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses is $64,400 (BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, national). The lowest 10 percent earn less than $49,740 and the highest 10 percent earn more than $83,440. The mean annual wage is $67,050.
The mean hourly wage of $32.00 is 4.4× the federal minimum wage of $7.25. State minimums are higher in most large states. Minimum wage by state →
How does your pay compare with people your age?
Your numbers are not sent or stored. The comparison uses this occupation's BLS wage percentiles, adjusted for age with BLS median weekly earnings by age group (Q3 2026).
Pay by percentile
Annual wage percentiles from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Percentiles are a good proxy for pay by experience.
Projected pay for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses (3, 5 and 10 years)est.
Today $64,400 → in 3 years $70,500 → in 5 years $74,900 → in 10 years $87,100 (10-year range $74,900–$101,100). The model assumes pay growth of +3.1% per year.
What drives the annual growth rate
Projected pay = current pay × (1 + annual growth)^years. The annual growth rate starts from a base wage-growth rate and adds or subtracts labor demand (BLS projected employment growth), wage momentum and AI replacement risk for each occupation. Projections are not guarantees. How it is calculated →
Outlook score for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Each component is a percentile rank among all occupations in the same country (0–100). Weights: labor demand 25, wage momentum / openings 15, pay level 15, AI resistance 25, aging workforce 10 (Japan only), entry barrier 10.
Will AI replace Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses? AI replacement risk
How AI is changing this job
A written analysis for this occupation is being prepared.
AI replacement risk compares the parts of a job that are easy to hand to AI or software (processing information, documentation, repetitive computer work) with the parts that are hard to automate (physical work, working closely with people, judgment in unpredictable settings), using O*NET work activities, work context, skills and knowledge. The result is a relative position among all occupations in the country, scaled to 0–100%. Methodology →
Labor demand for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Employment projections are from the BLS Employment Projections program (2025–35). Annual openings include both new jobs and replacement of workers who leave the occupation.
Skills, education and requirements for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
Key skills
O*NET skill level ratings (0–7).
Key knowledge areas
What the work involves
Important abilities
Education of workers
Training before entry
Related work experience
Job Zone 3 — medium preparation needed (O*NET)
Difficulty of entry: ★★☆☆☆ Fairly easy (from education, training, experience and Job Zone)
How to become licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses
A step-by-step guide for this occupation is being prepared. The education, training and experience data above show the typical path.
Career path and how to earn more as licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses
Career-path guidance is being prepared. Pay by percentile is shown in the Pay section.