Can I Be a Male Nurse?

Yes, and the profession needs you. Nursing offers solid pay, job security, and room to advance, yet most men never consider it. That is a missed opportunity on both sides: many patients are more comfortable when they see themselves in the people caring for them.

How Many Nurses Are Men

The Journal of Nursing Regulation counted an estimated 4.1 million registered nurses and another million licensed practical nurses in the United States in 2021. Men made up 13.3% of each group, up 6.3 points since 2008. BLS data put men at roughly 12% of RN, NP, and LPN positions in 2023.

Michael Ward, MSN, APRN, AGACNP-BC, a hospitalist nurse practitioner in Texas and vice president of the American Association of Men in Nursing (AAMN), recruits male students through the association's FutuRN campaign. "The guys are almost always surprised to find out what nursing can give them," he says. The reason, he argues, is that guidance counselors rarely raise nursing with boys.

Jason Mott, PhD, RN, a nursing professor at the University of Wisconsin and incoming AAMN president, says the research backs that up. "When boys in high school and middle school take the tests to see what career fields they might be good at, and that comes up as a medical career, they are typically directed toward physician, physician assistant, physical therapy. Very rarely are they told about nursing." AAMN built FutuRN to close that gap, sending chapter members into local schools to pitch nursing to boys and girls alike.

Ward's own path fits the pattern. He expected to follow his family into medicine and treated nursing as a backup. Once he started practicing, that changed. "As soon as I started nursing in practice, I knew it was exactly the right thing for me." The pay held up too.

A Stable Profession With Room to Grow

Nursing has entry points at several education levels, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Licensed practical and vocational nurses (LPN/LVN) finish a program of about a year and provide basic care under RN and physician supervision. Median pay is $62,340, with job growth around 3% through 2034.

Registered nurses need an associate degree (two years) or a bachelor's (four years), deliver more complex care, and often supervise other nurses. Median pay is $93,600, with growth projected at 5% through 2034.

Advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) hold at least a master's and work as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse leaders, nurse anesthetists, or certified midwives, often with autonomy close to a physician's. A nurse practitioner's median salary is $129,210, and the BLS projects NP jobs to grow 35% through 2034, much faster than average.

Room to Specialize

Nurses work in hospitals, clinics, physician offices, and research labs, and most specialize after building general experience. You can chase the pace of an emergency room or settle into a physician's office, then move into supervision or management. Specialties run from oncology and geriatrics to trauma, pediatrics, and forensics.

Men Add Needed Diversity

Patients who see clinicians like themselves report higher satisfaction with their care, and male nurses can put some male patients at ease. "I've been a nurse since 2008 and had lots of experiences where men don't want to open up to a female as readily as they will to me," Ward says. Male patients often hold back with women. Ward wears cowboy boots to his Texas unit to signal he is one of them: "You can see them visibly relax."

Mott has seen the same. "I've had a few male patients who had Alzheimer's disease. They would often be hostile toward my female colleagues, but I was able to interact with them and get them to calm down. I've also had male patients ask for me to provide care, especially with intimate areas." He points to postoperative urological patients with catheters as a common example.

Mott, who studies how male nurses perceive caregiving, sees a gender difference in the concept itself. "Men view caring behaviors as being competent in providing care as well as looking out for their patients and the profession. Women value those traits too, but they view care more as being professional rather than as caring behaviors."

Scholarships for Men

Men exploring nursing can find scholarships aimed specifically at them through College Scholarships and the AAMN.

FAQ

What percentage of nurses are men?

About 12%.

Is there a stigma to being a male nurse?

Not really, but there are misconceptions, mainly the idea that nursing isn't a viable career for men. It traces back to counselors who never bring it up.

What are the most popular nursing specialties for men?

Men are more concentrated in nurse anesthesia, intensive and critical care, and administration.

Do male nurses make more money?

There's no evidence of a gender-based pay gap.

What is a male nurse called?

A nurse. Mott argues that labeling nurses by gender is itself a barrier: "As long as this form of 'othering' exists, and we use the term 'male' when a nurse isn't female, there won't be equal numbers of men and women in the profession."