Gitnux/Report 2026

Nursing Industry Statistics

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November 10, 2026Updated
Nursing Industry Statistics
Helena KowalczykWritten by Helena Kowalczyk·Edited by Peter Sandoval·Fact-checked by Astrid Bergmann
Published ·Updated
How this report is researched
01Editorial Scope

Before any source is gathered, an editor locks the question, what qualifies, and how the piece will be judged.

02Source Research

Search agents collect the source set and pull each data point out with its provenance attached.

Read our full methodology →

Search agents attach provenance to every extracted figure.

Next review: within 39 days

01 Industry overview

The nursing industry at a glance

Nursing is a globally expanding but unevenly distributed health workforce: 29.8 million nurses were estimated worldwide in 2023, while U.S. registered-nurse employment reached 3.47 million in 2025.

29.8 million[18]
Global nurses, 2023
3,465,400[56]
U.S. RN employment, 2025
$97,550[56]
U.S. RN median pay, 2025
6%[56]
U.S. RN growth, 2025–35
Market size
The global nursing workforce was estimated at 29.8 million nurses in 2023, up from 27.9 million in 2018. In the United States, registered nurses held 3,465,400 jobs in 2025.[18][56]
Forecast & CAGR
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects registered-nurse employment to increase 6% from 2025 to 2035, adding 194,700 jobs and generating approximately 180,800 openings per year. This is an employment-growth rate rather than a market-revenue CAGR.[56]
Market share & regions
Nursing capacity is concentrated in higher-income regions: countries representing 49% of the world’s population employ approximately 78% of the world’s nurses. High-income countries contain 17% of the global population but 46% of nurses; nurse density in high-income countries is more than ten times that of low-income countries.[18]
Segmentation
In the United States, hospitals employed 59% of registered nurses in 2025, ambulatory healthcare services employed 19%, nursing and residential care facilities 6%, and government employers outside state and local education and hospitals 5%. Nursing also segments by role, including registered nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives.[56]
Key players & concentration
Nursing is a highly fragmented labor market rather than a concentrated product market: the workforce spans hospitals, outpatient providers, home-health agencies, nursing facilities, government employers, schools, and staffing firms. No reliable current source identified a consolidated global market-share measure for nursing employers.[56]
Pricing
U.S. registered nurses had median annual pay of $97,550 in May 2025. Median pay varied by setting, from $100,220 in hospitals to $91,230 in ambulatory healthcare services and $84,300 in nursing and residential care facilities.[56]
Trends, drivers & challenges
Demand is being supported by population aging, chronic disease, outpatient care, and home-based care. The global nursing shortage declined from 6.2 million in 2020 to 5.8 million in 2023 but remains material; WHO projects 4.1 million by 2030 if current trends continue, with about 70% concentrated in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions.[18][56]
Consumer behavior & competition
Nursing services compete primarily on access, staffing availability, quality, location, and compensation rather than on consumer product pricing. Press Ganey reported that 17% of nurses left their roles in the prior year in its 2025 nurse-experience analysis, while 24% of Gen Z registered nurses left in 2024, intensifying competition for retention and recruitment.[26]
M&A
M&A activity includes consolidation of nursing-facility assets: National HealthCare Corporation announced in July 2026 that it completed the acquisition of real estate associated with 32 skilled-nursing facilities and three independent-living facilities for $560 million. This transaction concerns facility assets rather than a nursing-labor market share.[57]
Regulation
U.S. federal long-term-care staffing policy changed in 2026: CMS’s December 2025 interim final rule, effective February 2, 2026, repealed the suspended 2024 standards requiring 3.48 total nursing hours per resident day, including 0.55 RN hours and 2.45 nurse-aide hours. The rule restored the statutory baseline of at least eight consecutive RN hours per day, seven days per week, subject to applicable waivers.[58][38]
Latest news
WHO’s August 2026 nursing fact sheet reports 29.8 million nurses worldwide in 2023, a global shortage of 5.8 million, and continuing regional inequities. It also reports that 62% of countries had advanced-practice nursing roles in 2023, up from 53% in 2020.[18]

02 Ranking

Top 10 Companies in the Nursing Industry

The leading companies in the nursing industry, ranked on market impact, performance, momentum, innovation and brand popularity.

Updated November 7, 2026 · Next review December 7, 2026

Verdict

Sunrise Senior Living and Bupa are tied at the top of Gitnux's 2026 nursing ranking with an Overall score of 9.0 each.

Ranked by Overall score · How we score ↓

Editor's top 3 picks

Where to start, by need.

  1. #1 Overall · Leader in skilled nursing & post-acute care

    Sunrise Senior Living

    US

    Ranked #1 · 9.0 · Skilled nursing & post-acute care

    Why we picked it: Scale across senior living and skilled nursing supports consistent service availability and staffing needs.

    See in ranking ↓Visit sunriseseniorliving.com ↗

  2. Leader in aged-care

    Bupa

    GB

    Ranked #2 · 9.0 · Aged-care operators

    Why we picked it: Its aged-care and nursing-home footprint sits inside a set of operating results tracked as a healthcare group.

    See in ranking ↓Visit bupa.com ↗

  3. Leader in medicalized nursing homes

    Clariane

    FR

    Ranked #4 · 8.9 · Medicalized nursing homes

    Why we picked it: Bed-level scale anchors care delivery planning for medicalized long-term settings.

    See in ranking ↓Visit clariane.com ↗

Pick 1 is the #1 company overall. Picks 2 and 3 are the highest-ranked companies in the top 5 that add a new segment.

Full ranking

Sort by
Top 10 companies in the nursing industry, 2026 – Gitnux ranking
#CompanyOverall ↓Company snapshot
1

Sunrise Senior Living

Skilled nursing & post-acute care · US

9.0
2

Bupa

Aged-care operators · GB

9.0
3

emeis

Skilled nursing & post-acute care · FR

8.9
4

Clariane

Medicalized nursing homes · FR

8.9
5

PACS Group

Skilled nursing & post-acute care · US

8.7
6

Extendicare

Long-term care and home healthcare, Canada · CA

8.5
7

Life Care Centers of America

Skilled nursing and rehabilitation, United States · US

8.5
8

Genesis HealthCare

Skilled nursing and senior living, United States · US

8.5
9

PruittHealth

Skilled nursing and post-acute care, Southeast US · US

8.0
10

Brookdale Senior Living

Senior living and nursing care, United States · US

8.0

How we score

  • Impact (30%): scale and weight in the market (revenue, market share, employees, market position).

Popularity (brand search demand, 15%) counts toward Overall but is not published as a column. Overall leaves out what is not known.

Scale Scores are shown on a 7–10 scale with one decimal; bars start at 7.0.

Cadence Recalculated when new figures are published; next review December 7, 2026.

Independence. Rankings are editorially independent. Scores, ranks, picks and the verdict follow the method above; no company can pay to change them.

Cite this ranking

APA

Helena Kowalczyk. (2026, February 13). Top 10 companies in the nursing industry. In Nursing Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/nursing-industry-statistics/#top-companies

report visual · Comparison

Revenue of the largest nursing companies

Bupa leads with $23.1B in annual revenue (group level, converted to USD).

Bupa$23.1B
emeis$6.4B
Clariane$5.7B
PACS Group$5.3B
Brookdale Senior Living$3.2B
Extendicare$1.2B
source-verifiedbupa.com · businesswire.com · clariane.com · ir.pacs.com · sec.gov · extendicare-1c124.kxcdn.com2025

04 Statistics

Technology & Innovation

Most adoption is framed through EHR integration and patient access interfaces. Examples include 71% predictive AI integrated into electronic health records in 2024 and 81% API-based patient access in 2024.

AI in the nursing industry

  • 63.3% of Wisconsin registered nurses using AI reported applying it to assessment tasks in 2024.[1]
  • 64% of U.S. nurses said they wanted more AI tools incorporated into their work in 2024.[2]
  • 4.6% of Wisconsin registered nurses reported using AI in their primary position in 2024.[1]
  • 18% of Massachusetts registered nurses said AI was used in their workplace in 2025.[3]

Digital Transformation in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 71% used predictive AI integrated into electronic health records in 2024.[4]
  • Across surveyed healthcare practitioners, 60% believed their organizations’ digital experiences met or exceeded customer needs in 2025.[5]
  • Among healthcare respondents to KPMG’s global technology survey, 49% were adopting DevSecOps approaches to adapt digital-transformation strategies.[6]
  • About 90% of surveyed global healthcare C-suite executives expected digital technology use to accelerate in 2025, including 50% anticipating a significant impact.[7]
  • About 70% of surveyed healthcare executives said investing in technology platforms for digital tools and services would be important or very important in 2025.[7]

Technology Adoption in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 70% enabled patient access through applications using HL7 FHIR specifications in 2024.[4]
  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 99% enabled patients to view health information electronically in 2024.[4]
  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 92% enabled patients to securely message providers in 2024.[4]
  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 81% enabled patient access through applications using application-programming-interface specifications in 2024.[4]
  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 96% enabled patients to download health information electronically in 2024.[4]
  • Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 84% enabled patients to transmit health information to a third party electronically in 2024.[4]

Cloud Computing in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across surveyed healthcare organizations globally, 8% reported minimal cloud adoption without formal strategy or governance at the end of 2025.[8]
  • Across surveyed healthcare organizations globally, 15% reported that cloud adoption was fully integrated into business strategy at the end of 2025.[8]
  • Across surveyed healthcare organizations globally, 18% had started adopting cloud services but lacked a comprehensive cloud strategy at the end of 2025.[8]
  • Across surveyed healthcare organizations globally, 27% reported that cloud operations were well managed and integrated into overall IT strategy at the end of 2025.[8]
  • Across surveyed healthcare organizations globally, 31% had a formal cloud strategy and governance framework that was not yet integrated into IT strategy at the end of 2025.[8]

Big Data in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities conducting Big Data analytics, 72% used data from smart devices or sensors in 2024.[9]
  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities conducting Big Data analytics, 65% used patient demographics, forms, or medical-record data in 2024.[9]
  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities conducting Big Data analytics, 48% used social-media data in 2024.[9]
  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities conducting Big Data analytics, 38% used geolocation data from mobile phones, wireless connections, or GPS in 2024.[9]
  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities conducting Big Data analytics, 77% used in-house staff rather than external providers in 2024.[9]

IoT in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among Brazilian inpatient healthcare facilities with more than 50 beds and internet access, 19% used IoT in 2024.[10]
  • Across Brazilian healthcare facilities with internet access, 4% used IoT in 2024.[10]
  • Among Brazilian private healthcare facilities with internet access, 6% used IoT in 2024.[10]
  • Among Brazilian outpatient healthcare facilities with internet access, 3% used IoT in 2024.[10]
  • Among Brazilian inpatient healthcare facilities with up to 50 beds and internet access, 5% used IoT in 2024.[10]

05 Statistics

Data & Analytics

The data model is performance and governance driven, with explicit impacts on registries and workforce planning. In 2024, 40% of clinical data abstractors cited incomplete data, and 50% cited data inaccuracies.

Business intelligence in the nursing industry

  • 22% of nursing informatics professionals reported using artificial intelligence and machine learning for care decisions and operational planning in 2022.[11]
  • 38% of nursing informatics professionals reported using analytical and business-intelligence data to report outcomes in 2022, according to a survey of the nursing informatics workforce.[11]
  • 34% of nursing informatics professionals reported using telenursing visits or care to transform care models in 2022.[11]
  • 36% of nursing informatics professionals reported ensuring every nurse had a mobile device with work-related applications in 2022.[11]

Data analytics in the nursing industry

  • 41% of nursing informatics professionals identified clinical informatics as an area they wanted to learn more about in 2022.[12]
  • 29% of nursing informatics professionals identified nursing informatics as a professional discipline as an area they wanted to learn more about in 2022.[12]
  • 13% of nursing informatics professionals identified big data and data governance as an area they wanted to learn more about in 2022.[12]
  • 33% of nursing informatics professionals identified clinical analytics as an area they wanted to learn more about in 2022.[12]
  • $2.5 million was the estimated annual saving from an analytics-supported nurse-deployment pilot at Indiana University Health, conducted in 2023.[13]

Data Quality in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 40% of U.S. healthcare clinical data abstractors reported that incomplete data hampers clinical registry efforts in 2024.[14]
  • 8% of U.S. healthcare organizations rated their provider data as excellent in 2022.[15]
  • 50% of U.S. healthcare clinical data abstractors reported that data inaccuracies hamper clinical registry efforts in 2024.[14]
  • 75% of U.S. healthcare organizations represented in the survey predominantly used clinical registry data for quality and process improvement in 2024.[14]
  • 40% of U.S. healthcare clinical data abstractors reported that manual data entry hampers clinical registry efforts in 2024.[14]

Data Governance in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 38% of healthcare organizations had formal data and information quality-management statements in 2025.[15]
  • 10% of healthcare organizations managed data governance exclusively within IT in 2025.[15]
  • 39% of healthcare organizations reported having a formally chartered data-governance function in 2025.[15]
  • 66% of healthcare organizations reported multidisciplinary representation in governance, including patient or consumer representatives, in 2025.[15]
  • 77% of healthcare organizations reported that their governance functions met at least quarterly in 2025.[15]
  • 72% of healthcare organizations operated governance using approved policy and standards frameworks in 2025.[15]

KPIs in the nursing industry

  • 25,076 inpatient admissions were recorded annually at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whose nursing platform integrated staffing and patient-outcome indicators in 2024.[16]
  • 5,000 nurses were covered by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia nursing analytics platform for workforce metrics and patient outcomes, according to the 2024 implementation report.[16]
  • 29% was the response rate in the usability assessment of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia nursing analytics dashboard among primarily senior directors and managers in 2024.[16]
  • 1,286,513 outpatient visits were recorded annually at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, whose nursing platform integrated workforce and patient-experience indicators in 2024.[16]

06 Statistics

Strategy & Growth

Supply growth continues alongside persistent shortages and expansion of advanced-practice roles. The global nursing workforce is projected to reach about 36 million by 2030 if current trends continue.

Growth in the nursing industry

  • 35.5% was the increase in U.S. advanced-practice registered nurses between 2019 and 2023.[17]
  • The global nursing shortage declined from 6.2 million in 2020 to 5.8 million in 2023.[18]
  • The global nursing workforce is projected to reach about 36 million by 2030 if current trends continue.[18]
  • 62% of reporting countries had advanced-practice nursing roles in 2023, up from 53% in 2020.[18]
  • The global nursing workforce grew from 27.9 million nurses in 2018 to 29.8 million in 2023.[18]

Differentiation in the nursing industry

  • More than 73% of U.S. registered nurses held a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2024.[19]
  • 59% of reporting countries had protections against attacks on nurses in 2023, globally.[18]
  • 42% of reporting countries had provisions supporting nurses’ mental health in 2023, globally.[18]
  • Data from 31 countries identified a 7% gender pay gap in nursing.[18]

07 Statistics

People & Workforce

Workforce constraints show up as recruitment cycle time and vacancy risk. U.S. acute-care RN vacancy was 8.6% in 2025, and the average recruitment time for an experienced RN was 56 to 102 days.

Hiring in the nursing industry

  • 56 to 102 days is the average time required to recruit an experienced registered nurse in U.S. acute-care settings.[20]
  • 80,000 qualified nursing applicants were reportedly turned away by U.S. nursing programs in 2024 because of limited capacity.[21]
  • 377,650 registered nurses were hired by U.S. hospitals in 2025, producing a 2.9% workforce add rate.[22]
  • 189,000 annual registered-nurse job openings are projected in the United States through 2034.[20]

Employee retention in the nursing industry

  • More than 138,000 U.S. nurses left the workforce between 2022 and 2024.[23]
  • 17.6% was the U.S. hospital registered-nurse turnover rate in 2025.[20]
  • 40% of U.S. registered nurses reported plans to retire or leave nursing within five years in the 2024 workforce data.[20]
  • $60,090 was the average cost of nurse turnover for U.S. health systems in the 2026 NSI report.[22]
  • 8.6% was the U.S. acute-care registered-nurse vacancy rate in 2025.[20]

Remote Work in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. health care and social assistance, 18% of full-time employees worked fully from home during December 2024–March 2025.[24]
  • Across U.S. medical groups, 52% reported that 1%–25% of their workforce worked remotely at least 50% of the time.[25]
  • Across U.S. medical groups, 22% of leaders expected their organization’s share of remote or hybrid jobs to increase during 2024.[25]
  • Across U.S. medical groups, 18% of leaders expected their organization’s share of remote or hybrid jobs to decrease during 2024.[25]

Hybrid Work in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Across U.S. healthcare support roles, 14% had part-time remote availability, equivalent to hybrid availability, in the 2022 McKinsey American Opportunity Survey.[25]
  • About 6% of U.S. healthcare jobs were hybrid in a 2024 Robert Half survey cited by the Medical Group Management Association.[25]
  • Across U.S. healthcare practitioners and technical roles, 16% had part-time remote availability, equivalent to hybrid availability, in the 2022 McKinsey American Opportunity Survey.[25]
  • About 12% of nonclinical healthcare administrative and customer-support jobs were hybrid in a 2024 Robert Half survey cited by the Medical Group Management Association.[25]
  • Across U.S. health care and social assistance, 24% of full-time employees were in hybrid arrangements during December 2024–March 2025.[24]

Employee Engagement in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. healthcare advanced practice providers, 52% felt heard in 2024.[26]
  • Across U.S. healthcare organizations, employee turnover fell from 20% to 18% in 2024.[26]
  • Across 2.3 million U.S. healthcare workers, employee engagement declined by 0.02 points in 2024.[26]
  • U.S. registered nurses with low teamwork scores were 1.53 times more likely to leave their healthcare organization in 2024.[26]
  • Across NHS staff, the national staff-engagement theme score was 6.64 in the second quarter of 2024/25.[27]

DEI in the nursing industry

  • 7.2% of the U.S. registered-nurse workforce reported Hispanic ethnicity in 2024.[20]
  • 76.6% of U.S. registered nurses identified as White or Caucasian in 2024.[20]
  • 8.6% of U.S. registered nurses identified as Black or African American in 2024.[20]
  • 70% of Massachusetts registered nurses said their workplace workforce reflected the racial and ethnic diversity of its community in 2025.[3]
  • 7.9% of U.S. registered nurses identified as Asian in 2024.[20]

Change Management in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • Among U.S. healthcare transformation studies, 88% reported successful transformation.[16]
  • Across healthcare transformation studies using staff surveys, 78% reported successful transformation and 83% reported either success or partial success.[16]

08 Statistics

Customer & Sales

Customer experience in the nursing industry

  • The largest driver of a patient's likelihood to recommend a hospital or provider was the perceived teamwork of the care team in 2024.[19]
  • 85.3 was the highest 2024 patient Likelihood-to-Recommend score reported across the Press Ganey care settings shown by the American Hospital Association.[19]

09 Statistics

Marketing & Brand

Marketing activity concentrates on digital presence for senior-living audiences, with measurable channel shares in home care. Home-care revenue had 22.1% from word-of-mouth in 2023.

Marketing in the nursing industry

  • 22.1% of home-care revenue came from past or current customer and family word-of-mouth referrals in 2023.[28]
  • 9.3% of home-care revenue came from internet lead sites in 2023.[28]
  • 33.1% of home-based care providers prioritized building relationships with referral sources in 2024, according to an industry benchmarking report covering home care, home health and hospice providers.[29]
  • 7.4% of home-care revenue came from search-engine optimization in 2023.[28]

Digital marketing in the nursing industry

  • 72% of senior-living marketers planned to increase their social-media presence in 2024.[30]
  • 58% of senior-living marketers were only somewhat confident in their organizations’ ability to market to prospects online in 2024.[30]
  • 3.6% of home-care revenue came from Google AdWords or pay-per-click advertising in 2023.[28]

Influencer Marketing in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 33% of U.S.-focused health and wellness influencers promoted a product, service or subscription in more than half of their posts in 2026.[31]
  • 50% of healthcare and pharmaceutical marketers reported dedicated, growing creator/influencer budgets in 2026, compared with 58% globally.[32]
  • 50% of U.S. physicians surveyed had changed prescribing choices based on healthcare influencer or KOL content on social media in 2024.[33]
  • 92% of U.S.-focused health and wellness influencers included product or service promotions at least occasionally in 2026.[31]
  • 8.57 million influencer posts about the health industry generated a 1.07% average engagement rate globally in 2023.[34]

10 Statistics

Operations & Execution

Operational outcomes tie to staffing churn and staffing requirements in long-term care. Nursing staffing turnover was 43.6% in nursing homes in March 2025.

Process optimization in the nursing industry

  • 83 nursing homes, or 1.1% of the 7,842 operating facilities, terminated services between 2018 and 2020 in a study of nursing-home operating systems.[35]
  • 89.1% of nursing homes in the study reported reimbursed operating-system improvements in nutritional management.[35]
  • 91.1% of nursing homes in the study reported reimbursed operating-system improvements in working conditions.[35]
  • 84.4% of nursing homes in the study reported reimbursed operating-system improvements involving sufficient night-shift staffing.[35]

Operational efficiency in the nursing industry

  • 46.4% was the total nursing-staff turnover rate in nursing homes in March 2025.[36]
  • 64% was the 75th-percentile 12-month nursing-staff turnover rate for skilled nursing facilities in 2023.[37]
  • 43.6% was the registered-nurse turnover rate in nursing homes in March 2025.[36]
  • 53% was the median 12-month nursing-staff turnover rate for skilled nursing facilities in 2023.[37]

Quality management in the nursing industry

  • Approximately 1.0 licensed-nurse hour per resident day was associated with clinical-care delays or omissions falling below 10% in CMS simulation models.[38]
  • 3.48 hours per resident day is the total nurse-staffing standard finalized by CMS for long-term-care facilities in 2024.[38]
  • 2.45 hours per resident day is the minimum direct nurse-aide staffing component finalized by CMS in 2024.[38]
  • 0.55 hours per resident day is the minimum direct registered-nurse staffing component finalized by CMS in 2024.[38]

Outsourcing / Offshoring in the healthcare services sector (sector benchmark)

  • 20% of U.S. medical-group leaders planned to outsource or automate some revenue-cycle-management activities in 2024, according to an MGMA poll with 262 responses.[25]
  • 46% of global healthcare providers used third-party providers for customer-experience services in 2024, based on a survey of 28 healthcare-provider executives.[39]
  • 54% of global healthcare providers used third-party providers for supply-chain services in 2024, based on a survey of 28 healthcare-provider executives.[39]
  • 18% of U.S. medical-group leaders planned to outsource or automate patient communications in contact centers in 2024, according to an MGMA poll with 262 responses.[25]
  • 43% of global healthcare providers used third-party providers for payroll services in 2024, based on a survey of 28 healthcare-provider executives.[39]

11 Statistics

Finance & Pricing

Financial pressure is visible in nursing-home margins and related cost structures. In 2019, total net revenue for 11,752 U.S. nursing homes was $126 billion.

Cost reduction in the nursing industry

  • $1,103,291 in additional revenue was associated with offering at least eight orientation hours and 12 hours of ongoing training in home-based care benchmarking data.[29]
  • $208 was the one-year increase in customer-acquisition cost for home-based care providers, bringing the total to $800 per customer in 2024.[40]

Profitability in the nursing industry

  • 0.58% was the reported profit margin for U.S. nursing homes in 2019.[41]
  • $730 million was the aggregate reported profit of 11,752 U.S. nursing homes in 2019.[41]
  • 8.84% was the nursing-home profit margin in 2019 after excluding disallowed costs and non-cash depreciation expenses.[41]
  • 7.0% was the average reported net-income margin for California skilled nursing homes in 2020.[42]
  • 2.26% was the average reported net-income margin for California skilled nursing homes in 2019.[42]

Financial planning in the nursing industry

  • 9.54% of U.S. nursing-home net revenue represented payments to related-party organizations in 2019.[41]
  • $126 billion was the total net revenue of 11,752 U.S. nursing homes in 2019.[41]
  • 66% of U.S. nursing-home net revenue was spent on direct care in 2019, including 27% on nursing.[41]
  • 77% of U.S. nursing homes reported $11 billion in payments to related-party organizations in 2019.[41]
  • 34% of U.S. nursing-home net revenue was spent on administration, capital, other expenses and profits in 2019.[41]

12 Statistics

Sustainability & Ethics

Ethics and sustainability commitments are measured through training needs and workload barriers. Work overload was identified by 72.2% as a barrier to sustainable healthcare practice in 2026.

Sustainability in the nursing industry

  • 77.7% of surveyed nurses, midwives and students supported including sustainability in nursing and midwifery curricula in 2026.[43]
  • 53.5% of surveyed nurses, midwives and students reported applying sustainability principles in their nursing or midwifery practice in 2026.[43]
  • 87.1% of surveyed nurses, midwives and students in Europe agreed that sustainability is an important issue for nursing and midwifery in 2026.[43]
  • 78.1% of surveyed nurses, midwives and students in Europe agreed that climate change is an important issue for nursing and midwifery in 2026.[43]

Ethics in the nursing industry

  • 28.9% of surveyed primary-healthcare nurses reported encountering ethical or legal dilemmas weekly in 2025.[44]
  • 81.9% of surveyed primary-healthcare nurses correctly identified the nursing code of ethics in 2025.[44]
  • 33.1% of surveyed primary-healthcare nurses reported encountering ethical or legal dilemmas monthly in 2025.[44]
  • 49.5% of surveyed nurses reported needing additional ethics education in 2025.[45]

Carbon footprint in the nursing industry

  • 72.2% of nurses responding to a multi-country survey identified work overload as a barrier to sustainable healthcare practice in 2026.[45]
  • 76.9% of nurses responding to a multi-country survey identified inadequate implementation of environmental policies as a barrier to reducing healthcare emissions in 2026.[45]
  • 86% of nurses responding to a multi-country survey reported awareness of the anthropogenic causes of climate change in 2026.[45]
  • 33% of nurses responding to a multi-country survey reported awareness of the term net-zero healthcare in 2026.[45]
  • 51% of surveyed oncology nurses reported conserving energy at work to address climate concerns in 2025.[46]

14 Statistics

Globalization & Expansion

International workforce movement remains material and concentrated in destination countries. One in seven nurses worldwide worked in a country other than their country of birth in 2023.

Globalization in the nursing industry

  • 29.8 million nurses were in the global nursing workforce in 2023.[18]
  • The 10 main destination countries accounted for 92% of foreign-trained nurses in OECD countries in 2023.[55]
  • 23% of nurses in high-income countries were foreign-born in 2023.[18]
  • More than 800,000 foreign-trained nurses worked in OECD countries in 2023, up 69% from 2010.[55]
  • One in seven nurses worldwide worked in a country other than their country of birth in 2023.[18]

Cultural adaptation in the nursing industry

  • 85% of the global nursing workforce was female in 2023.[18]
  • 1% of nurses in lower-middle-income countries were foreign-born in 2023.[18]
  • 8% of nurses in upper-middle-income countries were foreign-born in 2023.[18]
  • 3% of nurses in low-income countries were foreign-born in 2023.[18]

Distribution channels in the nursing industry

  • U.S. continuing-care retirement communities and assisted-living facilities employed 981,000 people in 2024.[56]
  • Home health care services accounted for 1.8 million U.S. jobs in 2024, reflecting nursing-care delivery through home-based channels.[56]
  • U.S. home health care services added 1.5 million jobs between 1990 and 2024.[56]
  • U.S. skilled nursing care facilities employed 1.5 million people in 2024.[56]

Key questions about the Nursing Industry

How big is the nursing workforce market?
The global nursing workforce was estimated at 29.8 million nurses in 2023. In the United States, registered nurses held 3,465,400 jobs in 2025.
How fast is nursing employment expected to grow?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects registered-nurse employment to increase 6% from 2025 to 2035. The projection adds 194,700 jobs and generates approximately 180,800 openings per year.
Which companies lead the nursing industry?
Sunrise Senior Living and Bupa are tied at the top of Gitnux's 2026 nursing ranking with an Overall score of 9.0 each.
Where is technology adoption changing nursing operations?
Across U.S. non-federal acute care hospitals, 71% used predictive AI integrated into electronic health records in 2024, and 81% enabled patient access through applications using API specifications in 2024. U.S. acute care hospitals also reported 99% enabling patients to view health information electronically in 2024.
Is nursing concentrated among a few employers or highly fragmented?
Nursing is described as a highly fragmented labor market rather than a concentrated product market. Employers span hospitals, outpatient providers, home-health agencies, nursing facilities, government employers, schools, and staffing firms.
What staffing policy change affects long-term-care nursing hours in 2026?
CMS’s December 2025 interim final rule, effective February 2, 2026, repealed suspended 2024 standards requiring 3.48 total nursing hours per resident day. The restored baseline is at least eight consecutive RN hours per day, seven days per week, subject to applicable waivers.
Reference

Cite This Report

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APA
Helena Kowalczyk. (2026, February 13). Nursing Industry Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/nursing-industry-statistics
MLA
Helena Kowalczyk. "Nursing Industry Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/nursing-industry-statistics.
Chicago
Helena Kowalczyk. 2026. "Nursing Industry Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/nursing-industry-statistics.

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