Which practical nursing associate's program pays the most?

Unitek College (Fremont, California) in California reports the highest first-year pay of the 20 programs ranked here, $72,368. Its median federal debt is $22,848.

How much debt do practical nursing associate's graduates have?

The median program leaves its graduates with $18,807 in federal debt. Across programs, the median debt is 39% of first-year pay.

Highest-Paying Practical Nursing (Associate's) Programs in the US

21 programs report first-year pay
1 state ranking
Associate's in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median practical nursing associate's program in the US pays its graduates $47,902 in their first year and $57,610 five years after. California is the only state with enough programs to rank, with a median of $59,213. The median program leaves its graduates with $18,807 in federal debt.

Median first-year pay$47,902Across 21 programs

Median pay after 5 years$57,610Across 26 programs

Median federal debt$18,807Across 23 programs

Debt-to-earnings39%Across 16 programs

All 20 programs, ranked by graduate pay

Each program is ranked by the median pay of its graduates one year after they finished, from College Scorecard. This measures what graduates earn, not how good the teaching is. Pay also depends on where graduates live and work. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	After cost of living	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Unitek College (Fremont, California)Fremont, CA · private for-profit	$72,368	$65,361	$109,213	$22,848	32%
2	Butte CollegeOroville, CA · public	$65,467	$59,128	Not reported	$13,382	20%
3	Carrington College-SacramentoSacramento, CA · private for-profit	$65,035	$58,738	$89,259	$32,832	50%
4	Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette, AL · public	$63,125	$71,068	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
5	Cossatot Community College of the University of ArkansasDe Queen, AR · public	$62,501	$71,892	$47,544	Not reported	Not reported
6	Pacific CollegeCosta Mesa, CA · private for-profit	$59,213	$53,480	Not reported	$16,125	27%
7	Gurnick Academy of Medical ArtsSan Jose, CA · private for-profit	$56,700	$51,210	Not reported	$20,594	36%
8	Hennepin Technical CollegeBrooklyn Park, MN · public	$54,376	$55,136	$63,918	$24,682	45%
9	San Joaquin Valley College-VisaliaVisalia, CA · private for-profit	$51,744	$46,734	$59,073	$20,000	39%
10	Fortis Institute-ScrantonScranton, PA · private for-profit	$51,603	$52,887	$48,989	$26,749	52%
11	Arkansas Tech UniversityRussellville, AR · public	$47,902	$55,100	$52,338	$23,983	50%
12	ATA College (Kentucky)Louisville, KY · private for-profit	$47,266	$52,425	$54,464	$32,477	69%
13	Merced CollegeMerced, CA · public	$47,114	$42,552	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
14	Grayson CollegeDenison, TX · public	$45,363	$46,739	Not reported	$17,675	39%
15	Miller-Motte College-ChattanoogaChattanooga, TN · private for-profit	$45,301	$49,310	$46,702	$21,879	48%
16	North Dakota State College of ScienceWahpeton, ND · public	$41,956	Not adjusted	$59,092	$24,385	58%
17	Trinity Valley Community CollegeAthens, TX · public	$39,356	$40,549	$42,192	$14,250	36%
18	Coconino Community CollegeFlagstaff, AZ · public	$36,719	$36,472	$64,848	$14,487	39%
19	New Age TrainingNew York, NY · private for-profit	$25,034	$23,197	Not reported	$8,127	32%
20	Universal Technology College of Puerto RicoAguadilla, PR · private nonprofit	$16,236	Not adjusted	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Pay after cost of living divides first-year pay by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price level of the school's state, where the US average is 100. It is shown for 18 programs where at least half of the graduates who work are working in the school's state. The other 2, whose graduates mostly work in other states or whose state has no price level, are listed last when you sort by it.

4 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

College Scorecard withholds pay for programs with too few graduates, to protect their privacy, so those programs can't be ranked. One more program reports pay but isn't listed, because College Scorecard's school file doesn't name its school. The national medians above still count them.

Practical Nursing (Associate's) programs by state

Each row is the median across the state's practical nursing associate's programs. State names link to the full ranking of that state's programs.

State	Programs	Year 1 pay	Debt
California	7	$59,213	$20,297

Programs in 11 more states and territories report pay, but too few to rank. A state ranking needs at least five programs that report both pay and debt.

Quick picks nationwide

Lowest median debt

Butte College, CA$13,382
Pacific College, CA$16,125
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia, CA$20,000
Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts, CA$20,594
Unitek College (Fremont, California), CA$22,848
Carrington College-Sacramento, CA$32,832

Lowest debt for the pay

Butte College, CA20%
Pacific College, CA27%
Unitek College (Fremont, California), CA32%
Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts, CA36%
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia, CA39%
Carrington College-Sacramento, CA50%

Only the 6 programs with their own page here are included. "Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay.

What licensed practical and vocational nurses earn

Pay for licensed practical and vocational nurses across the US, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$64,400

Median pay in the US. 648,410 people work in this job in the US. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.

Bottom 10%: $49,740Top 10%: $83,440

Common questions

The median practical nursing associate's program in the US pays its graduates $47,902 in their first year and $57,610 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses earn a median of $64,400 across all experience levels.

Practical Nursing (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked633 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Medians are across programs, not students: each program counts once, however many graduates it has.
National medians include every program in the 50 states, DC, and US territories, including schools that have since closed. Schools with several campuses that report one combined figure are counted once.
Programs are ranked by College Scorecard median pay one year after graduation. Pay after cost of living uses the price level of the school's state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025. Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities for 2024.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024