Licensed Practical Nurse Salary: National Pay, by State, City & Real Value (2026)

A licensed practical nurse in the United States earns a median of $64,400 a year, about $30.96 an hour, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2025). Pay runs from roughly $49,740 at the 10th percentile to $83,440 at the 90th, and where you work changes the number sharply. About 648,410 licensed practical nurses work nationwide. This page breaks pay down by state, city, and experience, and shows what it is worth after cost of living and tax.

National pay overview

The national median for licensed practical nurses is $64,400. The full national wage curve, from entry to senior:

Percentile	Annual	Hourly
10th (entry)	$49,740	$23.91
25th	$59,000	$28.37
50th (median)	$64,400	$30.96
75th	$76,030	$36.55
90th (senior)	$83,440	$40.12

The spread from the 10th to 90th percentile is about $33,700, driven mainly by state, metro, setting, specialty, and experience. That range is what makes a single national average misleading: the same role pays very differently depending on where and how you work. The sections below break each driver down with real BLS figures, then translate the headline number into real, cost-adjusted, after-tax terms.

Licensed Practical Nurse salary by experience

BLS does not publish pay by years worked, but the percentiles track a career arc. A rough national timeline:

Stage	Typical percentile	Annual
Entry / new to the role	10th to 25th	$49,740 to $59,000
Established (mid-career)	~50th	around $64,400
Experienced	~75th	around $76,030
Senior / specialized	90th	$83,440+

The climb from new to senior is about $33,700. Experience matters, but so do specialty, setting, and the state and metro you work in, which is why two licensed practical nurses with the same tenure can earn very differently.

Licensed Practical Nurse salary by state

State pay varies widely. Nationally the highest-paying states are Washington ($83,150), Alaska ($80,800), and Oregon ($80,470); the lowest sit near $50,220. The table below ranks the states we cover in depth by real value, the median adjusted for each state’s cost of living (BEA, 2024). Tap any state for the full local breakdown.

State	Median (nominal)	Cost level (US=100)	Real value	Employed
Arizona	$77,070	100.7	$76,552	6,530
Illinois	$75,000	100.0	$75,032	17,440
California	$79,750	110.7	$72,029	82,850
North Carolina	$63,270	94.3	$67,076	18,010
Ohio	$61,950	92.8	$66,775	39,900
Pennsylvania	$63,940	97.6	$65,531	38,260
Georgia	$62,030	96.3	$64,418	21,060
Texas	$62,240	97.1	$64,127	57,560
New York	$67,180	107.9	$62,249	39,400
Florida	$61,770	103.4	$59,731	38,620

Adjusted for cost of living, Arizona delivers the most real buying power of the states we track, at $76,552. A higher-sticker state often ranks lower once its prices are counted, the recurring lesson on every state page.

Across all 51 states with data, the highest and lowest payers:

Highest-paying states	Median
1. Washington	$83,150
2. Alaska	$80,800
3. Oregon	$80,470
4. Massachusetts	$80,220
5. Rhode Island	$80,090
6. California	$79,750
7. New Hampshire	$77,110
8. Arizona	$77,070
9. Nevada	$76,160
10. District of Columbia	$75,740

Lowest-paying states	Median
Alabama	$57,030
Arkansas	$56,620
West Virginia	$55,360
South Dakota	$52,750
Mississippi	$50,220

The spread between the top and bottom states is more than $32,930, one of the widest of any healthcare role. The high payers cluster on the West Coast, in the Northeast, and in a few mountain and Pacific states, while the lowest sit across the South. But high-paying states are also high-cost, so a top sticker rarely means the top standard of living. The cost-adjusted real-value column in the table above, and the full breakdown on each state page, is the number that actually reflects how far the pay goes.

Highest-paying metros

Pay concentrates in large metros. The biggest LPN job markets by employment, with median pay:

Metro	Median	Employed
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$79,310	33,590
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY	$75,910	32,410
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA	$70,710	15,920
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$64,370	12,590
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL	$78,070	11,420
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$63,670	10,730
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$65,060	9,710
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$62,610	8,900

Within a single state the metro can swing pay by thousands, and the cost-of-living adjustment often reorders which is genuinely best, a higher-paying big city frequently loses to a cheaper mid-size one once housing is counted. The largest metros also hold the deepest job markets, so they pair the most pay with the most openings. Each state page works the metro and cost-of-living math out city by city.

Salary by work setting

Where licensed practical nurses work shifts pay too. National medians by employer type:

Setting	Employed (U.S.)	Median
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities)	188,210	$70,430
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals	89,620	$60,590
Home Health Care Services	80,990	$63,580
Offices of Physicians	69,250	$59,520
Continuing Care Retirement Communities and Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly	44,100	$65,710
Outpatient Care Centers	38,950	$69,900

Outpatient and hospital settings tend to pay more than physician offices, while the specialty and acuity of the work matter as much as the employer category. State pages break the same split down locally where the data supports it.

The nursing and clinical pay ladder

The biggest pay differences in clinical care come from the license. The national ladder around this role:

Role	National median	vs this role
Nursing Assistant	$42,260	-$22,140
Licensed Practical Nurse (this role)	$64,400	—
Registered Nurse	$97,550	+$33,150
Nurse Practitioner	$132,300	+$67,900

Each rung is a different license, not a promotion. The numbers above show exactly what the move up or down is worth, and most of the state pages put the same comparison in local dollars.

Scope of practice and what it means for pay

An LPN’s scope is narrower than a registered nurse’s and is set by state law. LPNs provide basic and routine care, monitor patients, and support RNs and physicians, but many states limit what they can do independently, such as certain assessments, IV-push medications, or care planning. Those limits, more than anything, explain why LPN pay sits below RN and why so many LPNs bridge up. Verify your state scope with its board of nursing.

Scope is not a footnote to pay, it is one of its drivers. The more a state lets licensed practical nurses assess, prescribe, and bill independently, the more revenue they generate and the more bargaining power they hold. Two licensed practical nurses with identical credentials can earn very differently depending only on what their state allows, which is why scope belongs in any serious comparison of where to work. Each state guide flags the local rules and how they shape the pay you can realistically command.

Specializations and where the pay is

LPNs raise pay through setting and certification: skilled nursing and long-term care are the largest and often best-paying employers, and IV therapy, gerontology, or wound-care certifications add value. But the single largest lever is not a specialty at all, it is the LPN-to-RN bridge, which roughly closes the gap to the RN median.

The practical point: within licensed practical nurses, the choice of specialty and setting often moves pay more than another year of general experience does. The highest earners in the role are rarely just the most tenured, they are the ones who moved into the higher-paying focus areas and the settings that reward them.

What moves the pay

The wide percentile spread comes from a handful of factors that compound:

• State and metro. The single biggest geographic lever, and the cost-of-living adjustment can flip which state actually leaves you better off.
• Experience. Pay climbs steadily with tenure, though it plateaus in the upper percentiles without a specialty or a license change.
• Work setting. Outpatient and hospital roles tend to pay more than office settings, as the setting table shows.
• Specialty and acuity. Higher-acuity and in-demand specialties carry clear premiums over general practice.
• Scope and autonomy. The more your state lets licensed practical nurses practice independently, the more billable value you can generate.

Salary, hourly, and total compensation

The headline median of $64,400 is base pay. Real total compensation often runs higher. At an hourly equivalent of $30.96, overtime, extra shifts, and call pay add meaningfully for those who want them, and many employers layer on signing bonuses, productivity or RVU bonuses, shift differentials, and benefits worth thousands more. When comparing offers, weigh the full package, base, bonus structure, differentials, retirement match, and paid time off, not just the salary line. The state pages translate the base figure into real take-home after federal tax, FICA, and state tax.

Hourly pay, overtime, and shift premiums

At a median of $30.96 an hour, the role rewards extra hours. Overtime at time-and-a-half runs about $46.44 an hour, so a single extra eight-hour shift a week adds on the order of $19,319 a year in gross pay. Hospital and acute settings also pay night, weekend, and on-call differentials on top of base, and per-diem or agency work trades benefits for a higher hourly rate. For anyone willing to add hours, total pay can sit well above the salary median, the limit is schedule and burnout rather than opportunity.

How to maximize earnings

• Work in a top-paying, lower-cost state or metro. The real-value table above shows where pay stretches furthest.
• Move toward the higher-paying setting and specialty for your role.
• Negotiate the whole package, including bonus and differentials, not just base.
• Take the next license step when the math works, the ladder above shows what each move up is worth.

Take-home pay and the no-tax states

Two licensed practical nurses earning the same salary keep different amounts by state. Nine states, including Texas and Florida, have no state income tax, so a LPN there keeps several thousand dollars more a year than one on the same gross in California or New York. Combined with cost of living, that is why a moderate-sticker, no-tax state can beat a high-sticker one in real terms. Every state page includes a full take-home breakdown across the career and a paycheck calculator to run your own number. The gap is real money: on a six-figure salary, the difference between a no-tax state and a high-tax one can run several thousand dollars a year, before cost-of-living differences are even counted.

How it compares to related clinical careers

It helps to see a licensed practical nurse next to the roles people most often weigh against it, with pay set beside the education each requires:

Role	National median	Education
Nursing Assistant	$42,260	Weeks of training
Licensed Practical Nurse (this role)	$64,400	~1-year certificate
Registered Nurse	$97,550	2 to 4-year degree (ADN/BSN)
Nurse Practitioner	$132,300	Master’s or doctorate (MSN/DNP)

Compared with nursing assistant at $42,260, this role pays about $22,140 more for the added training. The next step up, registered nurse at $97,550, adds roughly $33,150 but requires more schooling and licensure. The right move depends on how much additional education you are willing to take on for the pay step, which is exactly the trade the ladder above quantifies.

Job outlook

Demand for licensed practical nurses is steady, driven by an aging population and heavy use in nursing and residential care, though it grows more slowly than the advanced-practice roles above it. A large share of annual openings comes from replacement, as many LPNs use the role as a paid stepping stone and bridge into registered nursing. With more than 640,000 LPNs employed nationally, it remains one of the largest licensed healthcare workforces in the country.

For context, the average growth rate across all U.S. occupations through 2034 is about 3%, and registered nursing is projected near 5%. Whatever the headline rate, a large share of yearly openings also comes from replacing workers who retire or move up, so real-world hiring tends to run ahead of the net-growth figure. Demand is also uneven by geography: shortage areas, rural regions, and states expanding LPN scope often hire hardest and pay most aggressively.

How to become a licensed practical nurse

LPN is the fastest licensed nursing role to enter, often in about a year:

1. Complete a practical nursing program. A state-approved program, usually about one year, at a community college or vocational school.
2. Pass the NCLEX-PN. The national licensing exam for practical nurses.
3. Get state licensure to practice as an LPN or LVN.
4. Bridge to RN (optional). Many LPNs use LPN-to-RN or LPN-to-BSN programs to step up, where the largest pay jump on the ladder waits.

Weigh the time and cost of each step against the pay it unlocks, which the ladder and comparison tables above put in exact dollars. For many people the deciding factor is how quickly they can be licensed and earning, and how much debt the path requires, more than the headline salary itself. The state pages then show what the pay becomes after tax in the specific place you plan to work.

Frequently asked questions

Popular state guides and calculators

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 and Occupational Outlook Handbook (SOC 29-2061 and related codes), national, state, and metro estimates. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024. Last updated 2026. See our methodology.