Careers: MSN Nursing Education

Careers: MSN Nursing Education
03.15.2025
30
05.12.2025
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Money Icon Career Outlook

Career opportunities for Nurse Educators are likely to be very strong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the nurse educators workforce will grow by 8 percent from 2022 to 2032, which is much faster than the average for all occupations. About 118,800 openings for postsecondary teachers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

What You Can do with a Nurse Educator MSN Degree

A Master of Science in Nursing Education is needed, because the U.S. is experiencing a healthcare crisis nationwide with a shortage of nurses in all settings. Many factors have compounded this crisis such as student dropout, nurse burnout, rapid turnover, a retiring nursing workforce, and a lack of qualified nurse educators.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 500,000 more nurses are expected to retire in 2022. The shortage is estimated to last through 2030. There needs to be sufficient number of nursing faculty to teach the nursing students required to mitigate the nursing shortage as they become professional nurses.

Becoming a nurse educator is the main goal for graduates of a Master of Science in nursing education program. Nurse educators are registered nurses who hold an advanced degree and have completed advanced clinical training. They are the professionals with education in training and mentoring nursing students from different professional, life, and clinical backgrounds. Nurse educators also may teach in academic settings, clinical settings, or a combination of both. They are employed by a variety of organizations including colleges and universities, hospital-based schools of nursing, technical colleges,

The Bureau of Labor projects 203,200 vacancies for registered nurses each year through 2031 when nurse retirements and workforce exits are factored into the number of nurses needed in the U.S The projected growth of the nurse workforce will drive the need for more nurse faculty as well, with an estimated needed increase of 24% to meet workforce demands (16,000 new faculty) between 2016 and 2026. However, nursing schools have struggled to keep pace with growing enrollment demands and faculty retirements.

Graduates earning their MSN Nurse Educator degree have the potential to move on to successful careers in various roles. Below you’ll find data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reports job outlook and salaries based on national data.

The careers listed below are examples of employment and wages within the nurse educator field. Salaries and job titles may vary depending on previous career experience, place of employment and the state you reside in.

Occupation Median Wage Projected Growth
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary $80,780 9%