Throughline

Healthcare

Registered Nurse in the United States

200 postings read · sampled 2026-10-01 · source ats · 22 employers · largest 25% of it

What employers actually ask for

Credentials named in the 200 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
$200RN · ~300 hrs
asked for in 34 of 200 postings — 17%
If you earned all 2 of them
$270
fees checked 2026-08
305 hrs
305 hours — about 31 weeks 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 levels O*NET lists for this job
  • Bachelor’s degree
  • Post-secondary certificate
  • Associate’s degree or other 2-year degree

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

O*NET 29-1141.00 · pulled 2026-10-01 · O*NET publishes the levels but no shares for this occupation, so they are shown in its order without percentages

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.

$68,940
10th percentile
$97,550
median
$137,470
90th percentile

Every credential above costs $270 — less than a day's pay at the median.

Who was hiring

Employers with at least one matching posting in this sample.

BAYADA Home Health Care · Luminis Health · Otterbein SeniorLife · Integrated Resources Inc · Mission Healthcare · Optimal Care · Mental Health Center of Denver · W3R Consulting · Bosch · One Medical · Crestwood Behavioral Health · Infojini Inc · Enterprise Healthcare Resources · Sollis Health · 360 IT Professionals · Charlie Health · Galileo Health · Oscar Health · Perfect Staffing Solutions · Pierpoint · Specialty1 Partners · The Mather in Evanston

Next

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