--- title: "How Much Does a CNA Make? What Hospitals Are Actually…" canonical: "https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-much-does-a-cna-make" language: "en" author: "drashtigarach" published: "2026-09-15T16:20:31.000Z" modified: "2026-09-29T16:26:44.107Z" --- [Back to Blog](/blog) [Salary](/blog/tag/salary)[Health](/blog/tag/health)[Career](/blog/tag/career) # How Much Does a CNA Make? What Hospitals Are Actually Advertising The government puts the CNA median at $42,260. Hospital systems are advertising $46,727. Here is what 437 live postings show and what the gap really means. [![Drashti Garach](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:40:40/q:72/plain/images/5719d740-e510-42bc-8017-e040d145f35f_1766029465094.png)Drashti Garach @DrashtiGarach](/blog/author/drashtigarach) [September 15, 2026](/blog/archive/2026/09)Updated September 29, 202616 min read ![An empty hospital wheelchair parked beside a sunlit wall](https://cdn.metaintro.com/rs:fill:1200:675/q:78/plain/images/how-much-does-a-cna-make-hero.png) [https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make](https://x.com/intent/tweet?text=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make)[http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make)[https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make&title=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make&title=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising)[mailto:?subject=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make](mailto:?subject=How%20Much%20Does%20a%20CNA%20Make%3F%20What%20Hospitals%20Are%20Actually%20Advertising&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.metaintro.com%2Fblog%2Fhow-much-does-a-cna-make) Most guides for this role quote one government figure and stop. That figure is national and careful, but it surveys people already on payroll and it lands months after collection. If you are deciding between a hospital and a nursing home, or wondering whether your current rate is fair, what you need is what employers are advertising right now. So we counted. What follows is both numbers, the gap between them, and what that gap does and does not tell you, which turns out to be the most useful thing on this page. The [Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm) remains the anchor everyone cites, and this guide sets our own measurement beside it. Certified nursing assistants do the closest work to the patient in almost every care setting, and demand has not softened. If you are researching this role you are probably weighing whether the certificate pays for itself, whether a hospital beats a nursing home, and what a fair rate looks like where you live. At [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com), we index 50M+ jobs, and for this guide we read the openings that were live on employers' own career sites, took the pay each one states in its own text, and built a band from it. The full method, including what we exclude and why, is on our [posted pay methodology page](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/posted-pay-methodology). ## What Does a CNA Actually Make Right Now? Start with the official anchor. The [BLS reports a median annual wage of $42,260 for nursing assistants (May 2025)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm). Now set our own count beside it. We read the openings for this role live on employer career sites in September 2026: 437 postings across 20 employers. The median posted pay was $46,727, and the middle half of advertised pay ran from $40,758 to $49,358. That is roughly eleven percent above the government median, and it is worth being careful about what explains it. > The median annual wage for nursing assistants was $42,260 in May 2025. Source: [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm). The employers in our count are hospital and health systems, with a dialysis provider appearing alongside them. That shapes how the number should be read, and it is the single most important thing to understand about this figure. ## Why Is the Hospital Number Higher Than the Government One? The government figure covers everyone in the occupation. That includes skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, home health agencies and hospitals, blended into one median. Those settings do not pay alike, but the pattern is not the one most people assume. The [BLS industry table for nursing assistants](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/nursing-assistants.htm) puts the May 2025 median at $43,000 in nursing care facilities, $42,310 in hospitals, $39,490 in continuing care retirement communities and assisted living, and $38,040 in home healthcare services. By the government's own count, nursing homes and hospitals pay nursing assistants at about the same level, and it is assisted living and home health that sit lower. So why does our hospital number sit above both? Part of the answer is what a posting is. An advertised rate is what an employer commits to for a new hire today, while the government survey measures people already on payroll and was collected well over a year earlier. Hospital systems also tend to run structured pay bands, staff around the clock so shift differentials are common, and publish those bands in their listings. The [American Hospital Association](https://www.aha.org/) is the national association for those hospitals and health systems, and the [posted pay methodology](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/posted-pay-methodology) sets out how our figure is built. Long-term care pay runs through a different constraint. Medicaid is the primary payer for nursing facility care, and states set nursing facility payment rates within federal Medicaid rules, with [considerable variation in those rates both within and across states](https://www.macpac.gov/subtopic/nursing-facilities/). That shapes what a facility has to work with on wages. The [Kaiser Family Foundation](https://www.kff.org/) is an independent source for health policy research that covers Medicaid, and the [American Health Care Association](https://www.ahcancal.org/) is the trade association for skilled nursing and assisted living providers. So the honest reading of the two numbers is this. The government tells you what the occupation pays on payroll across every setting. We are telling you what hospital employers are advertising to new hires right now. The distance between them is not simply what changing setting is worth, because the government's own table shows hospitals and nursing homes close together. It is better read as the difference between current advertised pay and an older payroll survey, plus whatever premium the hospital systems in our count chose to post. ## What Is the Realistic Range, Not Just the Midpoint? A median hides the spread, and the spread is where your own situation sits. Half of the postings we read advertised between $40,758 and $49,358. That puts about eight thousand six hundred dollars between the 25th and 75th percentile, and the [posted pay methodology](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/posted-pay-methodology) explains how the percentiles are built. Four things explain most of that. **Shift.** Nights, weekends and rotating shifts carry differentials, and in a role staffed around the clock those are a large share of real earnings rather than a rounding error. **Unit.** Intensive care, emergency and cardiac units generally advertise above general medical-surgical floors, because the pace is higher and the training transfers less easily. **Region.** Advertised rates vary sharply by metro. A number that reads well nationally can be ordinary in a high-cost city, which is why the [pay transparency laws](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/pay-transparency-laws-and-what-you-can-ask) now in force in many states are worth more to you than any national figure. **Title.** In the postings we read, hospital listings titled patient care technician and those titled certified nursing assistant advertised at effectively the same level. If you hold a CNA certificate, do not skip a patient care technician listing because the title is unfamiliar. It is frequently the same job at the same rate. ## Does the Certificate Or the Setting Move Your Pay More? Both matter, and the honest answer is that neither works the way most people are told. The certificate is the entry ticket. Most hospital postings we read require an active state certification or listing on the state nurse aide registry, and the requirement is usually stated plainly rather than as a preference. Without it, most hospital doors do not open at all. Requirements differ by state, and the BLS notes that nursing assistants often need a state-issued license or certification, usually earned by completing an approved education program and passing a competency exam. Before you pay for training, confirm the program is state-approved, because that is what makes you eligible to sit the exam and join your state registry. Programs are approved state by state under the [federal requirements for approving nurse aide training and competency evaluation programs](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/chapter-IV/subchapter-G/part-483/subpart-D/section-483.152), which sit in the rules administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The [National Council of State Boards of Nursing](https://www.ncsbn.org/) is the national organization for state boards of nursing. But once you hold it, the certificate stops differentiating you, because everyone else applying holds it too. What differentiates you after that is where you take it, which unit you work, and what you add on top. The [National Association of Health Care Assistants](https://nahcacna.org/) is the professional association for certified nursing assistants. That pattern matches what recruiters say about the first screen in general. A SHRM study of recruiters was not about CNA hiring, and it looked only at the initial application stage, but it points the same way. Experience gets read first and credentials second. > At the initial recruiter screen, across the jobs in SHRM's December 2022 survey of more than 1,030 recruiters, the factors most often cited were years of experience (84%) and type of experience (83%), with less weight on skilled credentials (37%) and education level (35%). Source: [Society for Human Resource Management](https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/talent-acquisition/recruiters-say-experience-top-factor-applicant-evaluation). That is why the employer is the practical lever. The government table shows assisted living and home health paying below both nursing homes and hospitals, so a move out of those settings can be worth real money. Between a nursing home and a hospital the government's figures are close, and the question becomes what a specific employer near you is advertising, which unit it is hiring for, and whether it funds your next credential. ## What Does the Day Actually Involve, and Why Does That Affect Pay? Pay for this role tracks acuity, so it helps to be concrete about what the work is. A nursing assistant handles the direct, physical, continuous side of patient care. Vital signs, mobility and transfers, bathing and toileting, feeding assistance, turning and repositioning, specimen collection, and the constant observation that catches a change in condition before anyone else sees it. The [full duty profile for this occupation](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/31-1131.00) is a good checklist of what employers expect you to evidence. Two things about that list drive the pay differences we see in the postings. The first is ratio. In a skilled nursing facility one assistant may cover a large number of residents across a shift. In a hospital intensive care unit the same certificate covers far fewer patients at much higher acuity. Those are different jobs, and within a hospital that difference is part of why unit matters to the advertised rate. The second is what the unit adds on top of the baseline. Cardiac units expect telemetry monitoring. Emergency departments expect rapid turnover and trauma exposure. Dialysis expects machine-specific competency, which is why an operator like a dialysis provider appears in our data alongside the hospital systems. Each of those is a skill the employer has to recruit for specifically, and specific recruitment is what moves an advertised rate. This is also why the same certificate produces such a wide band. The credential is uniform. The job it lets you do is not. ## Where Does This Role Lead, and What Is the Pay Step? Most people entering this occupation are not planning to stay in it at the same level, and the advertised numbers make more sense read as a starting point on a ladder. The most common next step is licensed practical nurse, which requires a further approved program of roughly a year and lifts pay above the assistant band. Confirm the program is state-approved, since that is what makes you eligible for licensure, and check whether it holds accreditation from a body such as the [Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing](https://www.acenursing.org/about), which accredits practical nursing programs along with diploma, associate and higher degree programs. Beyond that, registered nurse routes through either an associate or bachelor degree, and bachelor's programs may carry accreditation from the [Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education](https://www.aacnnursing.org/ccne-accreditation), which accredits baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs. The gap between an assistant and an RN is the largest single jump in this part of the workforce. Adjacent moves are common too, into surgical technology, medical assisting in an outpatient setting, phlebotomy, or imaging support roles. What is worth knowing before you commit money to any of it is that many hospital systems fund the step. Tuition assistance appears constantly in the postings we read, frequently at several thousand dollars a year, and it is a real part of the package rather than a perk. It is also the clearest reason the employer decision compounds. A system that advertises above the occupation median and funds your next credential is doing two things for your earnings at once. If you are weighing credentials outside the clinical ladder as well, read about [AI certifications in healthcare](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/ai-certifications-healthcare-careers-2026) before you pay for a program yourself. One practical note on employer-funded study. It usually carries a commitment period, and that period is worth reading closely, because it changes what leaving early costs you. That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to know the number before you sign. ## What Should You Do If You Are Paid Below the Posted Range? This is the situation the two numbers exist to reveal, and it is common, because pay inside a job drifts while pay advertised for that job moves with the market. Start with local advertisements rather than a national figure. A national median tells you the shape of the market. A posting near you tells you what an employer in your area has committed to in writing, and that written commitment is the strongest evidence you can bring to any conversation about your own rate. Then decide what you are actually doing. [Asking for a raise](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-to-ask-for-a-raise) where you are means arguing that replacing you costs more than paying you properly, and local advertised rates are exactly that argument. Testing the market means being prepared to move, and in this occupation a move to a better-paying employer or out of a lower-paying setting is where the larger step usually is. Lacey Kaelani, our CEO, puts it this way: Your salary is decided by the homework you do before the offer call, not the call itself. The posted range is that homework, and it is public. Be realistic about what one conversation changes. An employer paying well below market is often doing so structurally, because of what its budget or reimbursement allows, not through oversight. A structural gap rarely closes in a single meeting. What the conversation can do is put the number in the room and start a clock. One caution. An advertised range is what an employer offers a new hire, and new hires sometimes start above existing staff. That is uncomfortable and it is also the market working. It is not a reason to accept a gap, but a reason to know it is there. ## How Is the Wider Care Labor Market Affecting CNA Pay? Nursing assistant pay does not move on its own. It sits underneath nursing, and pressure above it travels down. Where nursing shortages force systems to redistribute work, more of the routine clinical load lands on assistants, which widens the role and slowly raises what employers have to pay for it. The [reshaping of healthcare careers by ongoing nursing shortages](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/coming-nursing-shortage-reshape-healthcare-careers-2026) is the clearest version of this, and the [broader hiring forecast for healthcare](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/healthcare-jobs-2026-forecast) shows demand is not narrowing. Supply pushes the other way. Faster training routes and [funded fast-track healthcare programs](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/stepful-55-million-healthcare-jobs-fast-track-2026) increase the number of certified candidates, which moderates pay growth. Both forces are live at once, which is part of why the middle half of our range is about eight thousand six hundred dollars wide rather than tight. Adjacent movement is worth watching too. Where [related clinical support roles see pay increases](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/lpn-medical-assistant-pay-increase-2026), CNA pay tends to follow, because employers cannot raise one rung of a ladder without the rungs beneath it coming under pressure. Hospital systems also recruit in visible bursts, and a [large system hiring event](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/novant-health-cna-hiring-event-october-2025) is often the moment local rates get tested. ## What Does This Number Not Tell You? Being straight about the limits matters more than the figure looking impressive. This is a hospital and health system number. The employers in our count are hospital and health systems, with a dialysis provider among them, so it does not describe skilled nursing, assisted living or home health, and those employ a large share of all nursing assistants. Read it as what hospital employers are advertising rather than the whole of the occupation, and not as proof that hospitals out-pay nursing homes. It is base pay only. Shift differentials and bonuses are real earnings this figure does not capture, and in a round-the-clock role they matter more than they would elsewhere. It reflects employers who publish pay, and those who do not are invisible here. It is one month, stamped with when it was collected, so treat it as a snapshot rather than a trend. If you think a figure here is wrong, tell us. We keep the record of every posting behind every number we publish, and our [posted pay methodology](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/posted-pay-methodology) sets out the whole approach. ## Related Articles - [How to Negotiate Salary](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-to-negotiate-salary) - [How to Negotiate Your Salary for a Higher Offer](/blog/how-to-negotiate-salary) - [Salary Negotiation Scripts for After a Job Offer](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/salary-negotiation-after-job-offer-scripts) - [Pay Transparency Insights](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/pay-transparency-insights) - [Hourly vs Salary](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/hourly-vs-salary) - [How Much Do Medical Assistants Make](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-much-do-medical-assistants-make) - [Registered Nurse Salary and How to Raise It](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/registered-nurse-salary) - [Highest Paying Nursing Careers With Salary and Path](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/highest-paying-nursing-careers-2026-salary-path-guide) - [High-Paying Hospital Jobs You Can Get With a High School Diploma](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/hospital-jobs-high-school-diploma-2025) - [How Many Hours a Week a Nurse Works](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/how-many-hours-a-week-does-nurse-work) - [What State Medicaid Cuts Mean for Healthcare Workers](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/state-medicaid-664b-cuts-healthcare-workers) - [Is Healthcare a Good Career Path](https://www.metaintro.com/blog/healthcare-jobs-2025) ## People Also Asked ### Q: How much does a CNA make a year in a hospital? A: The hospital and health system postings in our count advertised a median of $46,727 a year before shift differentials. Nights and weekends carry premiums on top of that, and in a round-the-clock role those are a meaningful part of real earnings. ### Q: Do hospitals pay CNAs more than nursing homes? A: Not by the government's count. The BLS industry figures for May 2025 put nursing care facilities at $43,000 and hospitals at $42,310, with assisted living and home health lower. The hospital postings we read advertised a higher median, which may reflect the difference between posted new-hire pay and older payroll data rather than a hospital premium. ### Q: Is a patient care technician the same as a CNA? A: Often it is the same work under a different title. In the postings we read the two advertised at effectively the same level, so do not skip a listing because the title is unfamiliar to you. If you want to see what CNA and patient care technician roles are actually advertising near you rather than reason from a national figure, [Metaintro](https://www.metaintro.com) reads the openings and the pay each one publishes. 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