How much do LPNs make, and is the career worth it?

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

LPNs earn a national median of $62,340 a year, or $29.97 an hour, but that single figure hides a spread of more than $32,000 between the highest and lowest-paying states. There’s also the potential for thousands more every year riding on your work setting, the shifts you take, and the certifications on your license.

This guide breaks pay down by each of those factors, compares it to what you might earn as a CNA or RN, and covers how to move up the range without going back to school. If you’re still deciding whether to pursue the license, read our guide to becoming an LPN to cover the training side in depth.

Nurses on Sermo talk openly about pay, from what a first offer looked like in their state to which certifications are worth pursuing. Join the community to see what your peers are earning and what they negotiated to get there.

Average LPN salary: What the national data shows

Here are the baseline national figures.

	Annual Salary	Hourly Rate
National median	$62,340	$29.97
National average	$67,050	$32.24
Lowest 10% earn	Under $47,960	About $23.06
Highest 10% earn	Over $80,510	About $38.71

The median and percentile figures come from the BLS May 2024 release, while the average comes from the May 2025 national update. The average runs higher than the median because a smaller group of top earners bump it up. New LPN graduates typically start under $23 an hour while experienced nurses and those in high-demand settings can clear $35 an hour and up.

The national median of LPN wages climbed from $54,620 in May 2022 to $62,340 in May 2024, about 14% in two years, as staffing shortages, inflation adjustments, and retention pressure pushed employers to raise their rates.

Different sources measure differently, which is why the numbers move around depending on where you look. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects its figures from employers, Glassdoor relies on employee submissions, and ZipRecruiter scrapes job postings. BLS tends to be the most conservative and the most reliable of the three. Note that medians and averages differ too, and the state figures below are averages.

LPN salary by state: Where can LPNs earn the most?

Geography moves LPN pay more than any other single factor. Two nurses doing identical work in different states can be separated by tens of thousands in annual income.

Highest-paying states for LPNs

Washington leads the country with an average of $83,900 a year, followed by California at $82,340, Oregon at $81,420, Rhode Island at $80,120, and Alaska at $80,000. Massachusetts lands just outside the top five at $79,270. All of these regions can be expensive places to live, which explains much of the premium.

Lowest-paying states for LPNs

Mississippi pays the least at roughly $51,450, with South Dakota ($54,990), Alabama ($55,310), Arkansas ($55,690), and West Virginia ($56,190) close behind. These states share cheaper housing and a job market weighted toward long-term care.

Why cost of living matters more than the top number

Adjusted for regional price parity, states like Nevada, Arizona, and Texas often deliver better real purchasing power than California or Massachusetts. Before you relocate for a raise, check what nurses at your experience level are actually being offered in your target city, not just the statewide figure. Statewide averages blend rural clinics with major metros and can be well off the mark for any one place.

Best-paying compact nursing states for LPNs

One license through the Nurse Licensure Compact covers every participating state, which widens your options considerably if you’re open to travel assignments or a move.

Washington is both the highest-paying state overall and the highest-paying compact state, followed by Rhode Island ($80,120), New Hampshire ($76,570), Arizona ($76,120), and New Jersey ($74,600). Arizona is the standout, pairing strong wages with living costs close to the national average, which gives it the best salary-to-cost-of-living ratio in the compact.

Only two of the six highest-paying states belong to the compact. California, Oregon, and Alaska all remain outside it, and Massachusetts enacted the legislation but hadn’t finished implementing it as of writing this article, so each of those still requires its own license.

LPN salary by work setting

After location, employer type is the second-biggest lever on your paycheck. Across the five industries that employ the most LPNs, BLS finds a little under a $9,000 difference between the highest and lowest median.

• Government facilities ($66,370): The top of the scale, covering federal agencies, Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, state facilities, and public health departments, though these account for only about 6% of LPN jobs and rarely open up.
• Nursing and residential care facilities ($64,170): Slightly above the national median, and by a wide margin the largest employer of LPNs at 37% of the workforce.
• Home health services ($61,300): A little under the national median, with more independence and more driving between patients.
• Hospitals ($59,200): Below the national median, though differentials and overtime close part of that gap. LPNs are a small share of hospital nursing staff, since hospitals have shifted the work toward RNs.
• Physician offices ($57,660): The lowest-paying setting, with predictable daytime hours and no weekends as the tradeoff.

So do LPNs make more in hospitals or nursing homes? Federal data shows that nursing homes pay about $5,000 a year more, which runs against long-term care’s reputation for low wages. Hospitals hire relatively few LPNs and use them in narrow roles, while long-term care is built around practical nurses who run a med pass for dozens of residents, handle wound care, and supervise aides. As one Sermo member and nurse described it, “LPNs in long-term care operate in a uniquely intense clinical ecosystem.”

How do experience & certifications affect LPN pay?

Two LPNs in the same building can be several dollars an hour apart based on experience, credentials, and the shifts they’re willing to take.

Experience level

New graduates start near the bottom of the national range, around $47,960 a year or $23 an hour, and pay climbs quickly over the first five years. Changing jobs tends to move pay faster than staying put, since annual raises rarely keep pace with what a new employer will offer to fill an open position. Experienced LPNs earn toward the upper end of the range, especially in charge nurse or supervisory roles.

Specialty certifications that increase pay

Certifications in IV therapy, wound care, gerontology, pharmacology, or long-term care can add $2,000 to $5,000 a year. The National Association for Practical Nurse Education and Service (NAPNES) and the National Association of Licensed Practical Nurses (NALPN, formerly the NFLPN) both offer credentials employers know by name. Most take weeks rather than years and cost a few hundred dollars, which makes them one of the more accessible raises in nursing. But check local job postings before enrolling since a credential nobody in your market screens for won’t improve your pay.

Shift differentials and overtime

Night, evening, weekend, and holiday shifts usually pay 10% to 20% above your base hourly rate, and weekend-only schedules known as Baylor plans can pay close to full-time wages for two long shifts. Overtime at time and a half can add thousands to your annual total.

Stacking premium shifts raises income quickly, but it also drives burnout if you’re not building in enough recovery time to keep the pace sustainable.

LPN salary compared to CNA and RN: Where you stand on the career ladder

The LPN credential falls between two other nursing roles:

• CNA median: $39,430 a year
• LPN median: $62,340 a year
• RN median: $93,600 a year

An LPN program takes 12 to 18 months and costs $10,000 to $20,000 in tuition. Against a CNA salary, the credential is worth close to $23,000 more a year, so the investment pays for itself very quickly.

Moving up again with the LPN-to-RN bridge adds one to two years of school and another $31,260 a year at the median. Over a 20-year career that gap compounds to more than $400,000, even before factoring in the higher ceiling for overtime, differentials, and retirement contributions.

The math doesn’t make bridging right for everyone. Plenty of LPNs build long careers in the role because they like the patient contact, the schedule, or the specific work they do.

Practical strategies to maximize your LPN income

Almost everything that moves an LPN’s pay happens without going back to school. These are the levers with the fastest payoff:

• Negotiate with real numbers: Bring state and setting-specific data to the conversation instead of a general sense that you’re underpaid.
• Add a certification with a market behind it: IV therapy, wound care, and gerontology are the credentials most likely to carry a differential.
• Build your schedule around premium pay: Nights, weekends, and holidays carry differentials, and a Baylor plan can be worth close to full-time money for two shifts.
• Try travel or agency work: Short assignments can pay well above local staff rates, especially in hard-to-fill markets, in exchange for less stability and thinner benefits.
• Target the better-paying settings: Government roles pay the most, including VA and other federal facilities, and long-term care pays better than its reputation.
• Add flexible outside income: Paid medical surveys, telehealth, utilization review, and chart abstraction all fit around a bedside schedule.

Remote clinical work often pays at rates comparable to bedside work, so even a few hours a week adds up to a substantial boost over a year. A specialist nurse on Sermo put it this way, “Gigs like telehealth, UR, abstraction, etc. are paying just as well as bedside positions but with a lot less stress.”

Another nurse on Sermo described how they decide which side gigs are worth keeping, “I have several side gigs, the main reason I do it is for the extra money. If the job becomes too stressful or the patient load is ridiculous then I’m out. I want flexibility and reliability with the side gigs and lower stress then my full time day job.”

Whichever mix of strategies you land on has to be sustainable. Income earned at the expense of your health rarely lasts long enough to be worth it.

Key takeaways

• The national median is $62,340 a year, or $29.97 an hour, with eight in ten LPNs earning between $47,960 and $80,510.
• State is the biggest single factor in LPN pay, with more than $32,000 separating the top of the map from the bottom, and cost of living narrows that gap without closing it.
• Long-term care employs the most LPNs and pays second-best among the major settings, while physician offices pay the least.
• Certifications, differentials, overtime, and negotiation all raise pay without a return to school, while the LPN-to-RN bridge is worth about $31,260 a year.
• Sustainable side gigs like paid medical surveys on Sermo can help boost your income without moving up the career ladder. 

Are you getting paid fairly?

LPN pay swings by more than $32,000 between the highest and lowest-paying states, and by thousands more depending on setting, certifications, shifts, and experience. Beyond relocation, getting toward the top of that range comes down to several strategies that may be available to you right now, like negotiating your rate with real data, changing your setting, adding a certification your market pays for, or taking on premium shifts on your own terms.

Every one of those moves is easier when you can see what other nurses are actually earning. As one Sermo member and General Nurse put it, “I wanted to help create a space where nurses could have honest, peer-to-peer conversations without judgment. Nursing can be incredibly rewarding but also isolating at times, and I saw the potential for Sermo to bring us together — to share insights, support one another, and elevate the collective voice of nurses in healthcare discussions.”

Find out what nurses in your state and setting are really earning. Join Sermo to swap salary numbers and negotiation strategies with verified peers, and earn supplemental income through paid medical surveys.