Male Nursing Statistics 2022-2023
- 333,350 nurses worldwide who identify as male
- 9% of the nursing workforce are men
- Male nurses in Earn about $60,700 annually
- By 2024, there will be over 735,000 male nursing jobs
- 11.4% of the students in BSN programs are men.
Nursing is a quickly growing industry that happens to be one of the most honorable lines of work in the entire country. Nurses frequently perform health assessments, administer medications and document important findings for long shifts at a time. This field also happens to be one that is female dominated, and has traditionally been the case since the days of Florence Nightingdale. However, a shift has begun in the industry, and more men have become encouraged to become a part of the nursing workforce. Here are some percentage of male nurses and their statistics on men in nursing.
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1. How Many Male Nurses Are There?
As of April 2017, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are 333,350 nurses who identify themselves as male. Of the total nursing workforce, this equates to just over 9% of the cumulative nursing workforce. It is widely known that women outnumber men in the field of nursing exponentially, and this fact is made more prominent with the women to men ratios per state. There are often many social stigmas placed against men entering a woman-dominated profession, and some of those perceptions potentially deter men from entering. However, for the males who do decide to become nurses, they may notice that they are one of a select few on their unit.
2. How Much Has Men In Nursing Increased?
While men are still the minority in the nursing workforce, the number of males who have become nurses has increased over time. As stated before, male nurses make up approximately 9 percent of the entire workforce. While this may seem like a miniature number, it may seem gargantuan when you consider that in the 1970s, male nurses only made up approximately 2.7 percent of the entire nursing population. As nursing schools across the country have become more inclusive, and as more educational opportunities have presented themselves, men have taken advantage of the opportunity, and has gradually increased their participation in the healthcare sector.
3. How Much Do Male Nurses Earn?
Perhaps one of the reasons why there are more men entering the nursing profession is because they are making more than their female counterparts, despite being in the minority of the workforce. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, despite being only 9% of the population, male nurses earn more than their female counterparts on average. Male nurses in America make approximately $60,700 annually, while females only earn 91 cents for every dollar than a man earns.
4. Number of Males Who Are LPN/VNs
Not only are there an increasing number of men entering the nursing workforce, but there are more men entering other subsidiaries as well. For LPNs and LVNs, the number of males entering those fields have increased from 7.5% to 7.8% since 2015. LPNs and LVNs both work under the supervision of physicians, and while the increase has been small, male nurses are slowly starting to gravitate towards other areas in the field.
5. Potential Male Nursing Increase
As of 2019, the current percentage of men in the nursing workforce is 12%. That number may continue to rise with the number of jobs expecting to be added to the nursing sector. By the year 2024, it is expected that there will be over 735,000 jobs added in nursing. These were projections made according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We have seen over time how men have made their presence felt in a female dominated profession. With thousands of jobs expected to be added across the country, the percentage of men in nursing will be expected to increase.
6. How Old Are Male Nurses?
Nurses come in many shapes and sizes, but also go across many ages. It turns out that male nurses tend to be a bit on the older side when compared to their female counterparts. The average median age for male nurses is 35, when compared to the average of 31 for female nurses. However, when compared to the average age of 44 for all nurses, male nurses can also be considered relatively young.
7. How Many Men Are Studying Nursing?
For men who are currently studying and working towards getting their Bachelor’s degree in Nursing, men are still in the minority. For those currently enrolled in a BSN program, approximately 11.4% of the students are men. The number is even lower when divided into more advanced degrees. For those in a Master’s program, men only make up 9.9% of the student population, and an even smaller 6.8% for those in a research-based doctoral program.
8. Which Field of Nursing Is Most Popular?
One of the most fabulous things about the field of nursing is that it is a diverse field which a lot of specialties. These specialties can accommodate certain skill or interests for nurses of any background or personality. However, it is clear that there are more popular fields of nursing than others. For men, it appears that the most popular are anesthetists. Men are most represented in this field of nursing at 41 percent. One of the most likely reasons why this is the field of choice for many male nurses is because male nurses in this field ($162,900) make more than double than a regular registered nurse ($60,700).
9. Male Nurse Ratios by State
Ratios of female nurses to male nurses vary across the entire country. Out of all of the states in the country, the state of Iowa has the largest female to male ratio on average. In Iowa, for every 16.5 female nurses, there will be 1 male nurse. As for the smallest female to male ratio in the United States, Nebraska has the smallest ratio of 3.9 to 1. The smallest amount male nurses in any state overall belongs to the state of Montana.