Throughline

Healthcare

Nurse Practitioner in the United States

113 postings read · sampled 2026-10-01 · source ats · 19 employers · largest 25% of it

What employers actually ask for

Credentials named in the 113 postings we read, ranked by how many mentioned each one.

What it costs

Exam and application fees plus typical self-study hours. Almost nobody needs every credential on this list — start with the top line.

Most-asked-for, on its own
$70BLS / CPR Certification · ~5 hrs
asked for in 7 of 113 postings — 6%
If you earned all 1 of them
$70
fees checked 2026-08
5 hrs
5 hours — about a week at 10 hrs/wk

Lower signal for this role

Credentials that barely appeared in this sample. That is not a claim they are worthless — plenty are valuable for a different job, a different city, or a promotion later. It is a claim that employers here mostly did not ask.

What the official taxonomy says

O*NET surveys people already doing this job. That describes who got hired over a long window, not what employers are asking for now — where it disagrees with the counts above, the counts are the more current answer.

Education reported by people doing this job
65%reported master’s degree
  • Master’s degree65%
  • Doctoral degree26%
  • Bachelor’s degree4%

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

O*NET 29-1171.00 · pulled 2026-10-01 · percentages are of surveyed workers, each rounded separately, so they need not total 100

What it pays

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. A different survey from the postings above, so the two do not share a sample.

$101,340
10th percentile
$132,300
median
$174,420
90th percentile

Every credential above costs $70 — less than a day's pay at the median.

Who was hiring

Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.

Lyra Health · One Medical · Luminis Health · Oscar Health · Tia · Clover Health · Galileo Health · Ophelia · Included Health · Sollis Health · Bicycle Health · Comprehensive Mobile Care · Parsley Health · Two Chairs · Boulder Care · City of New York · Headway · Optimal Care · Superpower

Next

  • Roast and Resolve — Now aim your résumé at this target. Free roast, paid rewrite.
  • Synap — Two-minute daily lessons to drill the skills underneath the credential.