Career Explorer Healthcare support
Human edge, steady
Nursing assistants
Provide or assist with basic care or support under the direction of onsite licensed nursing staff. Perform duties such as monitoring of health status, feeding, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, or ambulation of patients in a health or nursing facility. May include medication administration and other health-related tasks. Includes nursing care attendants, nursing aides, and nursing attendants.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 88% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.6% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on emotional intelligence.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $42,260
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.6%
- Openings a year
- 196,000
- People doing it (2025)
- 1.5 million
- Usual route in
- College certificate
Where people already use AI for this work
- Analyze health or medical data
- Explain medical information to patients or family members
- Provide information to guests, clients, or customers
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assist individuals with special needs
- Maintain health or medical records
- Assist healthcare practitioners during medical procedures
What the work looks like
- Turn or reposition bedridden patients.
- Answer patient call signals, signal lights, bells, or intercom systems to determine patients' needs.
- Feed patients or assist patients to eat or drink.
- Position or hold patients in position for surgical preparation.
- Measure and record food and liquid intake or urinary and fecal output, reporting changes to medical or nursing staff.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- Fewer of these jobs, as the type of care delivered in these settings translates into a reduced need for nursing assistants, relative to other occupations.
- More of these jobs, as growing demand for healthcare services by veterans results in more demand for nursing assistants.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- PhlebotomistsHuman edge, growing, Index 99, +6.8%
- OrderliesHuman edge, growing, Index 98, +4.0%
- Medical assistantsHuman edge, growing, Index 89, +12.9%
- Ophthalmic medical techniciansHuman edge, growing, Index 97, +21.4%
Also known as: Certified Nurses Aide (CNA), Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), Nursing Assistant, Patient Care Assistant (PCA), Certified Medication Aide (CMA), Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), Licensed Nursing Assistant (LNA), Nurses' Aide.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.