2026 State of Nursing Survey: Stress, Pay, Safety & Beyond
- Job satisfaction fell from 55% to 47%, reversing gains made since 2022.
- 43% of nurses say they are likely to leave the bedside in the next year, up from 2025.
- Nearly 1 in 4 nurses (23%) say they are likely to leave the nursing profession within the next year.
- 52% of nurses experienced verbal threats or aggressive language at work in the past year.
- Only 25% of nurses are using AI tools at work; of those, 60% say their employer hasn't provided adequate training.
- 68% of nurses are happy they joined the profession, and 81% say their nursing education was "worth it."
For the fifth consecutive year, Nurse.org surveyed nurses across the country to find out how they're really doing. Our previous State of Nursing surveys — in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 — revealed a profession that was battered by the pandemic and then began, slowly and unevenly, to recover. The 2024 report was, in many ways, a story of hope: nurses were happier, more satisfied at work, and feeling better than they had in years.
The 2026 data tells a different story.
After three consecutive years of improvement across nearly every metric, this year's survey reveals that the recovery has stalled — and in some areas reversed. Job satisfaction is down. More nurses say they're likely to leave the bedside. And the share of nurses who say they're likely to leave the profession entirely jumped by nearly 50% in just one year.
Nurses aren't giving up on nursing. Their love for the profession is as strong as ever. But the conditions they're working in — staffing, financial pressure, violence, and lack of meaningful support from employers — are pushing the needle in the wrong direction again. Here's what 2,090 nurses just told us about their lives on the frontlines.
Recovery Is Stalling
When we first published the State of Nursing survey in 2022, the numbers were stark. Burnout rates were near 87%. More than 8 in 10 nurses said their mental health had suffered because of their job. Only about 1 in 8 said they were happy where they were professionally.
The years that followed brought gradual, real improvement. By the time our 2025 survey was completed, job satisfaction had more than doubled from 2022 levels, nurses were far less likely to say they were burning out, and the share of nurses considering leaving the profession had dropped significantly.
This year, several of those hard-won gains reversed. Job satisfaction dropped eight percentage points compared to 2025. The likelihood of leaving the bedside rose. The likelihood of leaving nursing entirely climbed by seven points. The share of nurses who would recommend a nursing career to a friend or family member slipped from 49% to 47%.
None of these shifts is catastrophic on its own. But taken together, they suggest that the structural problems facing nursing were not resolved by the brief period of recovery that followed the pandemic. They were, at best, partially and temporarily eased.
Job Satisfaction Drops After Three Years of Progress
In our 2022 survey, only 28% of nurses said they were satisfied at work. That figure climbed steadily to 46% in 2023 and 55% in 2025. This year, it fell back to 47%.
The drop is not uniform across specialties. Nurse educators (68%) and NICU nurses (66%) report the highest levels of satisfaction. At the other end, only 23% of progressive care nurses and 31% of geriatric nurses feel the same way. Emergency nurses (35%) and telemetry nurses (34%) also rate their satisfaction well below average, continuing patterns seen in prior years.
Education level also plays a role. Diploma nurses (60%), NPs (57%), and MSN holders (54%) rate their satisfaction above average, while ADN nurses (43%) and BSN nurses (45%) fall below the overall average of 47%. Nursing students currently in the workforce are the least satisfied group of all, with only 18% rating their job a 4 or 5.
Despite the dip in current job satisfaction, 68% of nurses still rate their decision to join nursing a 4 or 5 — a figure that has held remarkably steady over the past two survey cycles. Nurses are not losing faith in the profession. They are losing patience with the conditions.
Nurses Are Staying for the Paycheck, Not the Passion
We asked nurses what factors have kept them at the bedside despite their desire to leave. The most revealing thing about the answers isn't what tops the list — it's what doesn't.
The single most common reason nurses say they're still at the bedside is financial necessity, cited by 41% of respondents. That's more than four times the number who cite good management or leadership support (8%). Schedule convenience (32%) ranks second, followed by commitment to patient care (28%) and workplace relationships (24%). Personal satisfaction — the sense of fulfillment that draws most people to nursing in the first place — lands fifth at 24%.
Nearly a quarter of nurses staying at the bedside say they're waiting for a planned career transition or retirement (23%). The picture this creates is of a workforce that, for many, is staying not because they want to but because they have to. That's a fragile foundation for retention.
The Financial Squeeze Is Getting Worse
Nurses have received pay increases. In our survey, 55% said their compensation went up over the past year. But a pay increase, on its own, doesn't tell the whole story.
More than a quarter of nurses (25%) say their income barely covers or does not cover their essential monthly expenses. An additional 49% say they can cover most expenses but only with careful budgeting. Just 20% say they are financially comfortable. Perhaps most surprising: 37% of nurses could not cover an unexpected $1,000 expense without going into debt.
Financial stress is also driving career decisions. More than a third of nurses (37%) said financial pressure pushed them to work extra shifts or overtime in the past 12 months. Fifteen percent have taken a second job. And 8% said financial stress has led them to consider leaving bedside nursing entirely. About 25% of nurses reported having some secondary source of income — but most of that comes from doing more nursing work, not from building an independent income stream.
>> More details about this trend in: 55% of Nurses Got Small Raises in 2025—Many Can't Cover a $1,000 Emergency (Survey)
Workplace Violence Remains a Crisis
The numbers on workplace violence in nursing have not meaningfully improved since we began tracking them. This year, they remain alarming.
More than 1 in 4 nurses were physically assaulted at work in the past 12 months.
More than half of nurses (52%) experienced verbal threats or aggressive language in the past year. More than 1 in 4 (27%) were physically assaulted. Ten percent experienced sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact. And 34% of nurses say they do not feel safe from violence in their workplace.
The response from employers has been inadequate. Among nurses who experienced an incident and reported it, the most common outcome was no action taken. Many nurses choose not to report incidents at all, citing a belief that nothing will change. That fatalism — earned after years of inadequate institutional response — means the true scale of workplace violence in nursing is almost certainly larger than what survey data captures. Workplace violence in nursing has been a documented concern in our surveys since 2022, and it has not improved.
>> More details about this trend in: 27% of Nurses Were Physically Assaulted in 2025; Most Didn't Report It (Survey)
AI Is Arriving — But Nurses Don't Trust It and Aren't Being Trained
This is the first year we have included a dedicated section on artificial intelligence in nursing, and the results reveal a profession that is skeptical, underprepared, and largely excluded from the decisions being made on its behalf.
Nurses and AI: By the Numbers
- 25% of nurses are currently using AI tools at work
- 60% of nurses with AI exposure say their employer hasn't provided adequate training
- 22% of nurses trust AI tools to support safe patient care
- 40% say nurses have no meaningful input on how AI tools are selected
Only 25% of nurses say they have personally used AI-powered or automated tools as part of their nursing work in the past 30 days. Among those who do have exposure to AI tools, 60% say their employer has not provided adequate training. Only 22% trust AI tools to support safe patient care in their current work environment, while 40% say nurses have no meaningful input into how AI or automation tools are selected and used at their workplace.
A small but meaningful share of nurses — 18% — say AI has reduced the time they spend on documentation and administrative tasks, which is the most commonly cited benefit of clinical AI tools. But for every nurse who has seen that time savings, there are more than three who report no meaningful change.
The overall picture is of a technology rollout being driven by institutions rather than by nurses. AI is being deployed on the nursing workforce rather than with it, and the results — low trust, inadequate training, no meaningful voice in the process — are entirely predictable.
>> More details about this trend in: Nurses Are Being Asked to Use AI Tools They Don't Trust & Were Never Trained On (Survey)
An Aging Workforce and the Coming Transition
One demographic finding deserves particular attention: 44% of respondents in this year's survey are 55 or older with less than 15% under 35. While our survey audience skews toward more experienced nurses, this pattern is consistent with what we have seen in every prior year and reflects a real dynamic in the nursing workforce.
When combined with the finding that 23% of nurses say they are at least somewhat likely to leave the profession entirely within the next year — and that nearly a quarter of nurses staying at the bedside cite pending retirement as their primary reason for staying — the workforce math becomes concerning. The nurses who are leaving are often the most experienced, and the pipeline of new nurses entering the profession has historically struggled to replace them at scale.
The Passion for Nursing Runs Deep
It would be easy to read this report and conclude that nursing is a profession in crisis. In some ways, that framing is warranted. But the data also tells a more complicated story.
Despite the dip in job satisfaction. Despite the financial stress and the violence and the inadequate staffing and the AI tools being deployed without input from the people using them — the love of nursing has not gone away.
68% of nurses rate their decision to join the profession a 4 or 5 out of 5. 81% say their nursing education was worth it. And 47% say they would recommend a nursing career to a friend or family member — which, while lower than we'd like to see, still represents nearly half of all nurses actively advocating for the profession.
What nurses are asking for — what they have been asking for in every survey we have conducted over the last five years — is not sympathy. It's structural change: better staffing ratios, pay that keeps pace with the cost of living, employers who take workplace safety seriously, and a real seat at the table when decisions that affect how they do their work are being made. The passion is there. The profession just needs to meet it.
What Nurses Are Telling Us
As in every year, the optional comments section of our survey produced some of the most candid responses. Here is a sample of what nurses shared:
- "Nursing is not what I imagined it would be. Everything 'falls' on nursing and if something goes wrong, we are usually the ones who get blamed — even if others were part of the patient's care."
- "I just celebrated 59 years in October. I have seen a lot of changes — some good, some not so good. But I still believe in what we do."
- "There are channels to offer feedback, but nothing seems to be done about them. Opportunities for advancement are based on political decisions and who is going to be a 'yes' person, not who is going to do what is best for the staff."
- "The shortage is not due to a lack of nurses. It's due to nurses being fed up with current conditions."
Conclusions
The 2026 State of Nursing Survey paints a picture of a profession that loves what it does — but is running out of patience with the conditions it's asked to do it in.
After three consecutive years of improvement, the data has shifted. Job satisfaction is down. More nurses say they're likely to leave the bedside and the profession entirely. Financial stress is mounting despite pay increases. Workplace violence remains pervasive and underreported. And AI is arriving in clinical settings without the training, trust, or nurse input needed to make it work.
None of this erases the progress of the past few years. Burnout and mental health metrics improved dramatically between 2022 and 2024, and nurses' core love for the profession has remained steady. But the 2026 data is a clear signal that improvement is not inevitable — and that without meaningful, sustained action on staffing, pay, safety, and support, the gains of recent years will continue to erode.
Nurses have been saying the same things for five years. The question is whether the people and institutions with the power to act are finally ready to listen.
2026 State of Nursing Survey Data
n = 2,090 | February–March 2026 | Active nurses and nursing students currently in the workforce
Demographics
| What is your highest license or degree completed? | % |
|---|---|
| RN (BSN) | 41% |
| RN (ADN) | 19% |
| LPN/LVN | 12% |
| MSN | 12% |
| RN (Diploma) | 7% |
| NP | 3% |
| CNA | 2% |
| Nursing Student | 2% |
| DNP | 1% |
| PhD | 1% |
| What type of employee best describes you? (multi-select) | % |
|---|---|
| Full time | 72% |
| Part time | 15% |
| Per diem | 9% |
| N/A or None of the above | 8% |
| Contractor | 3% |
| Traveler | 3% |
| Agency | 2% |
| What is your primary specialty? | % |
|---|---|
| Other | 13% |
| Medical-Surgical | 8% |
| Geriatric | 6% |
| ER | 5% |
| Pediatric | 5% |
| OR-Perioperative | 4% |
| Educator | 4% |
| Psychiatric | 4% |
| ICU-Intensive Care | 3% |
| Administration/Leadership | 3% |
| Case Management | 3% |
| Home Health | 3% |
| Oncology | 3% |
| Long-term Care | 2% |
| Hospice | 2% |
| Cardiovascular/ICU | 2% |
| PACU-Recovery Room | 2% |
| Labor & Delivery | 2% |
| Neonatal ICU | 2% |
| Nurse Manager/Supervisor/Director | 2% |
| Rehabilitation | 2% |
| Telemetry | 2% |
| Obstetrics | 1% |
| Dialysis | 1% |
| Progressive Care (PCU) | 1% |
| What is your age group? | % |
|---|---|
| 18–24 | 1% |
| 25–29 | 6% |
| 30–34 | 8% |
| 35–39 | 9% |
| 40–44 | 10% |
| 45–49 | 10% |
| 50–54 | 12% |
| 55–64 | 25% |
| 65 or older | 19% |
Education & Debt
| What was the total amount of debt you owed from your nursing education? | % |
|---|---|
| I never carried educational debt | 24% |
| Less than $10K | 21% |
| $10K–$25K | 17% |
| $25K–$50K | 17% |
| $50K–$75K | 10% |
| $75K–$100K | 5% |
| $100K–$150K | 4% |
| More than $150K | 1% |
| Was your nursing education "worth it"? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – YES, absolutely worth it | 64% |
| 4 | 18% |
| 3 | 13% |
| 2 | 3% |
| 1 – NO, not worth it | 3% |
| Do you plan to further your education or credentials in the next year? | % |
|---|---|
| No | 64% |
| Yes – Nursing specialty certification | 8% |
| Yes – Bachelor's degree (BSN) | 7% |
| Yes – MSN (Nurse Practitioner) | 5% |
| Yes – Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) | 4% |
| Yes – Associate degree (ADN) | 3% |
| Yes – MSN (Nurse Educator) | 3% |
| Yes – MSN (Other) | 3% |
| Yes – Non-nursing master's degree | 1% |
| Yes – Post-graduate certificate or diploma | 1% |
| Yes – PhD | 1% |
| Yes – Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice (DNAP) | 1% |
Salary & Finances
| What is your current annual salary? | % |
|---|---|
| Less than $20K/yr | 6% |
| $20K–$40K/yr | 8% |
| $40K–$50K/yr | 6% |
| $50K–$60K/yr | 9% |
| $60K–$70K/yr | 11% |
| $70K–$80K/yr | 12% |
| $80K–$90K/yr | 13% |
| $90K–$100K/yr | 11% |
| $100K–$110K/yr | 9% |
| $110K–$120K/yr | 6% |
| Over $120K/yr | 10% |
| How has your salary changed over the past year? | % |
|---|---|
| Increased 1–5% | 44% |
| Stayed the same | 34% |
| Decreased | 11% |
| Increased 6–10% | 6% |
| Increased 11–15% | 2% |
| Increased 16–20% | 1% |
| Increased more than 20% | 1% |
| How would you describe your ability to cover your regular monthly expenses? | % |
|---|---|
| Covers most expenses, but requires careful budgeting | 49% |
| Comfortably covers all expenses | 20% |
| Barely covers essential expenses | 18% |
| Does not cover most expenses | 8% |
| Prefer not to answer | 5% |
| If you had an unexpected $1,000 expense, could you cover it without going into debt? | % |
|---|---|
| Yes | 46% |
| No | 37% |
| Not sure | 17% |
| Has financial stress caused you to consider any of the following? (multi-select) | % |
|---|---|
| Working extra shifts or overtime | 37% |
| It has not affected my career decisions | 27% |
| Taking a second job | 15% |
| Leaving bedside nursing | 8% |
| Switching employers | 7% |
| Delaying education or career advancement | 6% |
| Do you have a secondary source of income? | % |
|---|---|
| No | 69% |
| Yes | 31% |
Job Satisfaction & Career Plans
| How satisfied are you with your current job? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – Very satisfied | 19% |
| 4 | 28% |
| 3 | 32% |
| 2 | 10% |
| 1 – Not very satisfied | 11% |
| How likely are you to LEAVE THE BEDSIDE in the next year? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – Very likely | 32% |
| 4 | 11% |
| 3 | 20% |
| 2 | 9% |
| 1 – Not very likely | 28% |
| If thinking about leaving the bedside, what job would you most likely pursue? | % |
|---|---|
| I don't plan to leave the bedside | 32% |
| I don't plan to work / I'm retiring | 20% |
| Telehealth Nurse | 9% |
| Nurse Educator | 9% |
| Nurse Case Manager | 7% |
| Nurse Administrator | 4% |
| Public Health Nurse | 4% |
| Aesthetic/Cosmetic Nurse | 3% |
| Informatics Nurse | 2% |
| Medical Device or Pharmaceutical Sales | 2% |
| Forensic Nurse | 2% |
| Legal Nurse Consultant | 2% |
| Nurse Health Coach | 1% |
| Nurse Writer | 1% |
| Nurse Recruiter | 1% |
| What factors have KEPT YOU AT THE BEDSIDE? (multi-select, up to three) | % |
|---|---|
| Financial necessity | 41% |
| Convenient work schedule | 32% |
| Commitment to patient care | 28% |
| Workplace relationships | 24% |
| Personal satisfaction | 24% |
| Pending retirement or career transition | 23% |
| Lack of alternative job opportunities | 18% |
| Fear of change or uncertainty | 18% |
| Support from management or leadership | 8% |
| Lack of skills for non-bedside roles | 6% |
| How likely are you to leave the nursing profession ENTIRELY in the next year? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – Very likely | 17% |
| 4 | 7% |
| 3 | 14% |
| 2 | 7% |
| 1 – Not very likely | 56% |
| If thinking about leaving nursing entirely, what is your most likely career plan? | % |
|---|---|
| I don't plan to leave nursing | 54% |
| I don't plan to work / I'm retiring | 19% |
| Stay in healthcare but leave the bedside | 16% |
| Go back to school | 4% |
| Work in hospital/healthcare administration | 2% |
| Become a legal nurse consultant | 2% |
| Become a pharmaceutical sales rep | 1% |
| Become a physical therapist | 1% |
| Become a healthcare recruiter | 1% |
| Become a medical writer | 1% |
Working Conditions
| How has your unit's STAFFING changed over the past year? | % |
|---|---|
| Better since last year | 8% |
| About the same | 39% |
| Worse than last year | 42% |
| Unsure or decline to answer | 11% |
| How have your BENEFITS changed over the past year? | % |
|---|---|
| Better since last year | 5% |
| About the same | 50% |
| Worse than last year | 34% |
| Unsure or decline to answer | 11% |
| How has your MENTAL HEALTH/STRESS changed over the past year? | % |
|---|---|
| Better since last year | 11% |
| About the same | 37% |
| Worse than last year | 48% |
| Unsure or decline to answer | 4% |
| How have your WORKING CONDITIONS changed over the past year? | % |
|---|---|
| Better since last year | 8% |
| About the same | 43% |
| Worse than last year | 42% |
| Unsure or decline to answer | 7% |
Workplace Safety & Violence
| Workplace incidents experienced in the past 12 months (multi-select) | % |
|---|---|
| Verbal threats or aggressive language | 52% |
| Physical assault (hit, kicked, pushed, bitten, grabbed) | 27% |
| Sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact | 10% |
| Stalking or harassment outside of work | 4% |
| Threat involving a weapon | 4% |
| None of the above | 43% |
| "I feel safe from violence in my workplace." | % |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 25% |
| Somewhat agree | 41% |
| Somewhat disagree | 22% |
| Strongly disagree | 12% |
| Did you formally report the most serious incident to your employer? | % |
|---|---|
| Not applicable (no incident) | 40% |
| Yes – I reported it | 33% |
| No – I didn't believe anything would change | 9% |
| No – I handled it myself | 8% |
| No – Fear of retaliation or being blamed | 4% |
| No – Violence is considered "part of the job" | 3% |
| No – Reporting is too time-consuming or complicated | 2% |
| What was the outcome after you reported the incident? | % |
|---|---|
| Not applicable (no incident) | 47% |
| Reported, but no action was taken | 16% |
| Experienced an incident but didn't report it | 12% |
| Reported, but don't know what changed | 9% |
| Reported, but felt blamed or discouraged | 5% |
| Reported, and felt supported by leadership | 4% |
| Reported, and the patient/visitor faced consequences | 4% |
| Reported, and security measures were changed | 2% |
| Reported, and staffing/workflow was adjusted | 1% |
AI in Nursing
| Have you used AI-powered or automated tools at work in the past 30 days? | % |
|---|---|
| No | 68% |
| Yes | 25% |
| Not sure | 7% |
| How has AI or automation affected the time you spend on documentation and administrative tasks? | % |
|---|---|
| Not applicable (no AI use) | 51% |
| No meaningful change | 26% |
| Slightly reduced my time | 11% |
| Significantly reduced my time | 7% |
| Increased my time | 4% |
| "My employer has provided adequate training for any AI or automated tools I'm expected to use." | % |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 4% |
| Somewhat agree | 13% |
| Somewhat disagree | 11% |
| Strongly disagree | 15% |
| Not applicable (no AI use) | 57% |
| "I trust AI-powered tools to support safe patient care in my current work environment." | % |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 5% |
| Somewhat agree | 17% |
| Unsure | 39% |
| Somewhat disagree | 19% |
| Strongly disagree | 20% |
| "Nurses have meaningful input into how AI or automation tools are selected and used in my workplace." | % |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 6% |
| Somewhat agree | 12% |
| Not sure | 41% |
| Somewhat disagree | 15% |
| Strongly disagree | 25% |
Overall Sentiment
| How do you feel about your decision to join the nursing profession? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – Very HAPPY I joined nursing | 43% |
| 4 | 25% |
| 3 | 22% |
| 2 | 6% |
| 1 – Very UNHAPPY I joined nursing | 4% |
| How likely are you to recommend a nursing career to a friend or family member? (1–5 scale) | % |
|---|---|
| 5 – Very LIKELY to recommend | 26% |
| 4 | 21% |
| 3 | 25% |
| 2 | 11% |
| 1 – Very UNLIKELY to recommend | 17% |
About the State of Nursing Survey
Nurse.org's 2026 State of Nursing Survey was conducted between February and March 2026. We received 2,194 total responses, and our cleaned dataset includes 2,090 responses from active nurses and nursing students currently in the workforce.
Respondents were recruited through Nurse.org's website, email list, and social media channels. The survey was fielded using an online survey platform. Because respondents are drawn from our audience, results should not be taken as a nationally representative probability sample; they reflect the views of nurses who engage with Nurse.org's content and community.
We have now published this survey annually since 2022, using a consistent methodology across all five years to enable year-over-year trend comparisons.
Nurse.org Annual State of Nursing Survey
