Nurse practitioners
SOC Code: 29-1171
Nurse practitioners carries a 26% AI exposure score (Medium automation risk), with a median annual wage of $129,210 and +40.1% projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS), affecting approximately 320,400 workers. Full task breakdown, skills, and employer data are below.
Proportion of tasks susceptible to AI automation (O*NET analysis)
At 26% AI exposure, Nurse practitioners sits 11 points below the 37.2% average across 832 U.S. occupations - more exposed than 18% of them. Most of its core tasks still require human judgment.
Career outlook score
93/100
Nurse practitioners, weighted across 3 of 3 tracked dimensions
A weighted composite of median wage, projected growth, and AI-automation security (inverted exposure), each benchmarked against every other tracked occupation. It describes this occupation's standing across those three dimensions, not a guarantee of future outcomes.
- Median wage A+ $129,210
Annual median wage, percentile rank vs all tracked occupations
- Projected growth A+ +40.1%
Projected employment change, 2024-2034, BLS Employment Projections
- AI exposure (inverted) A- 26% exposure
Lower O*NET task-automability scores lower risk; this dimension scores security, not exposure
Home health and personal care aides is #1 of 832 occupations by employment (4.3M, AI exposure rank #392 at 35%) vs. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks #1 by AI task exposure (95%, employment rank #17 at 1.6M).
Automation-risk inventory
Exclusive cut of 832 occupations by PlainWorkforce automation-risk band. Orthogonal to the continuous AI-exposure distribution chart below and to this occupation's single risk badge, this is the corpus band mix, with Nurse practitioners in the Medium band.
Credential × growth standing
Graduate credential among the thinner entry shelves
Nurse practitioners is in the Graduate band (113 of 832) with BLS pace Much faster (31/832). Graduate entry is a minority shelf - pairing it with much faster growth is the standing that separates this SOC from bachelor-dominated neighbors.
Where Nurse practitioners sits among all occupations
AI-exposure score distribution across 832 U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis). This occupation is marked in rose.
Where Nurse practitioners sits by AI exposure
AI-exposure score distribution across U.S. occupations (O*NET task analysis)
26% Among the lowest lower than 82% of 832 occupations
Occupations, banded by AI-exposure score
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more occupations. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor) · BLS 2024–2034
Source: O*NET task data (U.S. Department of Labor); AI-exposure scores are PlainWorkforce's analysis. As of BLS 2024–2034.
Nurse practitioners vs. its occupational neighbors
AI exposure (horizontal) vs projected 2024–2034 growth (vertical) for occupations in the same SOC group. Nurse practitioners is marked in rose; the top-left corner is the most future-proof.
Source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 (growth) and O*NET (AI-exposure analysis by PlainWorkforce).
Employment Projections
Where This Score Comes From
Nurse practitioners's Medium automation-risk tier is computed from O*NET Database 30.0 task-level analysis, where each documented task the occupation performs is evaluated against current generative AI, robotic process automation, and machine-learning capabilities. A score below 40% reflects tasks anchored in physical dexterity, unstructured environments, or high-touch human interaction that current AI cannot reliably replicate.
The employment, wage, and education figures above come from a second, separate federal source: BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, matched to the O*NET task data by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC 29-1171) code, with the wage figure cross-validated against the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 survey. BLS figures are presented exactly as published, with no adjustment on our part; the SOC-code match is what lets Nurse practitioners be compared directly against every other tracked occupation on the same basis, not just roles that happen to share a job title.
For career planners, this profile should be read alongside the task, skill, and knowledge breakdowns below and the list of employers whose workforce composition includes Nurse practitioners. Adjacent occupations shown further down offer lateral moves that preserve industry knowledge while potentially reducing exposure.
Education & Entry Requirements
Top Tasks (O*NET)
- 1. Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
- 2. Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
- 3. Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
- 4. Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
- 5. Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
- 6. Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
- 7. Diagnose or treat chronic health care problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
- 8. Prescribe medications based on efficacy, safety, and cost as legally authorized.
- 9. Recommend diagnostic or therapeutic interventions with attention to safety, cost, invasiveness, simplicity, acceptability, adherence, and efficacy.
- 10. Detect and respond to adverse drug reactions, with special attention to vulnerable populations such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women, or older adults.
Key Skills Required
- Reading Comprehension
- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Writing
- Speaking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Judgment and Decision Making
Knowledge Areas
- Medicine and Dentistry
- English Language
- Biology
- Psychology
- Customer and Personal Service
- Therapy and Counseling
- Education and Training
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Mathematics
- Chemistry
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace Nurse practitioners?
Nurse practitioners has an AI exposure score of 26%, indicating a medium level of automation risk. The majority of tasks in this role require human judgment, creativity, or physical presence that AI cannot easily replicate.
What is the job outlook for Nurse practitioners?
According to BLS Employment Projections 2024-2034, Nurse practitioners is projected to grow by 40.1% over the decade. Current employment stands at approximately 320,400 workers.
What skills are needed for Nurse practitioners?
Key skills for Nurse practitioners include Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Critical Thinking, and others. Typical entry-level education is Master's degree.
How much do Nurse practitioners earn?
The median annual wage for Nurse practitioners is $129,210, according to BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2024). Actual earnings vary by location, experience, industry, and employer. The BLS publishes detailed wage percentiles by region in its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
What education is required for Nurse practitioners?
The typical entry-level education for Nurse practitioners is Master's degree. Employers generally expect None of related work experience. On-the-job training typically involves None. Requirements can vary by employer and specialization.
Which companies employ Nurse practitioners?
Nurse practitioners roles exist across many industries and employers. Workforce composition is estimated from BLS industry-occupation employment distributions matched to SEC-registered public companies.
AI Exposure Rating
Medium automation risk based on 10 analyzed tasks. Most tasks require human judgment and are resistant to automation.
Nationwide occupations with similar workforce profiles
Two data-derived peer sets for Nurse practitioners: AI-exposure neighbors and BLS 2034 growth neighbors (distinct comparison neighborhoods, cross-occupation).
Similar AI exposure score
Nearest O*NET task-automability scores nationwide (26% here).
- Ambulance drivers and attendants, except emergency medical technicians · AI exposure 26%
- Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary · AI exposure 26%
- Forest and conservation technicians · AI exposure 26%
- Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers · AI exposure 26%
Similar projected growth (2024–2034)
Nearest BLS employment change rates nationwide (+40.1% here).
- Solar photovoltaic installers · growth +42.1%
- Data scientists · growth +33.5%
- Wind turbine service technicians · growth +49.9%
- Information security analysts · growth +28.5%
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on published BLS + O*NET metrics among occupations with ≥10,000 workers in 2024; corpus ranks above sort the full tracked set.
Related Occupations
Showing 6 of 45 occupations with a comparable automation-risk profile.
What to do with this
Use Nurse practitioners' numbers above to compare, not just read in isolation.
- Compare Nurse practitioners side by side against another occupation on wage, growth, and AI exposure. Workforce comparison tool
- Understand how the AI exposure score above is actually calculated before treating it as a verdict. Reading AI exposure scores
- See the full ranked list of occupations with the lowest automation exposure nationwide. Safest occupations from AI
AI exposure scores estimate task automatability from O*NET data; they are not a certainty of job loss, and BLS growth projections are estimates, not guarantees.
Data sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2024–2034 and O*NET Database 30.0. Employment figures are rounded. Wage data from BLS Occupational Employment Statistics (OES).