Certified Nursing Assistant Statistics 2026: Job Market, Pay, Demand & Workforce

CaregiverHires had 6,265 open certified nursing assistant listings from 763 employers on November 6, 2026.

977 were first posted in the previous 14 days and 2,917 in the previous 30 days.

At least 32.6% of certified nursing assistant listings were part-time on November 6, 2026.

Listings that name no schedule are counted as full-time, so the real part-time share is likely higher.

The benefit certified nursing assistant listings named most often on November 6, 2026 was health insurance, in 41.6% of listings, followed by paid time off (36.1%).

A listing that does not mention a benefit may still offer it.

To browse the openings themselves, see all certified nursing assistant listings.

The federal figure here is for nursing assistants (SOC 31-1131), the BLS occupation that includes certified nursing assistants.

The median wage for that occupation was $20.32 an hour in May 2025 (BLS OEWS, Nursing Assistants (SOC 31-1131), May 2025).

The middle half of workers in that occupation earned $17.91 to $22.70 an hour.

Employers hiring certified nursing assistants on CaregiverHires advertise a median of $19.50 an hour across 452 employers on November 6, 2026; this is advertised pay, not earnings.

Florida had the most open certified nursing assistant listings on November 6, 2026, with 510 (8.1% of the national total).

Pennsylvania followed with 450 (7.2%).

To browse the openings in one state, start with certified nursing assistant openings in Florida.

763 employers had open certified nursing assistant listings on CaregiverHires on November 6, 2026, and the five largest posted 27.9% of them.

332 employers (43.5%) had exactly one open certified nursing assistant listing.

Employers reported 1,448,910 nursing assistants, the BLS occupation that includes CNAs, on payroll in May 2025 at a median of $20.32 an hour ($42,260 a year); the count leaves out the self-employed (BLS OEWS, SOC 31-1131).

BLS projects employment of nursing assistants, self-employed included, to grow 2.6% from 2025 to 2035, from 1,505,900 to 1,544,900 jobs, with about 196,200 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections 2025-35).

Nursing assistants earned a median of $20.67 an hour in skilled nursing facilities (534,270 payroll jobs), $20.02 in general medical and surgical hospitals (442,820), $18.99 in continuing care retirement communities and assisted living (161,150) and $18.29 in home health care services (70,770) in May 2025 (BLS OEWS industry estimates).

In 2025 the largest employers of nursing assistants were nursing care facilities (36%), hospitals (32%), continuing care retirement communities and assisted living (11%) and home healthcare services (5%), according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.

BLS notes that nursing assistants who pass their state's competency exam are placed on a state registry, and that they must be on the registry to work in a nursing home (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025).

The highest state medians for nursing assistants in May 2025 were in Oregon ($23.96 an hour), Washington ($23.65) and New York ($23.36), and the lowest were in Louisiana ($14.67) and Mississippi ($15.15) (BLS OEWS state estimates).

PHI cites median turnover of nearly 100% among nursing assistants in nursing homes in 2017-2018 (PHI Key Facts and FAQ, accessed October 2026).

Listing figures are computed from every active, paid certified nursing assistant listing on CaregiverHires at the time shown, and refreshed every six hours.

Listings on a job board are not a random sample of all certified nursing assistant jobs, so read them as a picture of current hiring, not of total employment.

This page is published only while the live sample has at least 300 listings from 25 employers.

Advertised pay is the midpoint of the range an employer posts, or its single figure, and hourly and annual postings are never converted into each other.

The headline is the employer median: each employer’s own median, then the median across employers, so a group posting hundreds of openings counts once.

A pay figure needs at least 30 listings from 10 employers and is withheld when one employer posted more than half of them.

Federal figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the other sources listed below, quoted as published, with the year in each sentence.

The BLS figures on this page are for nursing assistants (SOC 31-1131), the occupation that includes certified nursing assistants; state titles for the credential vary. OEWS covers payroll employees only; BLS Employment Projections include the self-employed, so the 2025 projections base (1,505,900) is higher than the May 2025 payroll count (1,448,910).