Licensed Vocational Nurse: how many are there, and how many are in private practice?

National totals

What this specialty covers

An individual with post-high school vocational training and practical experience in the provision of nursing care at a level less than that required for certification as a Registered Nurse. [An alternate term for licensed practical nurse arising from difference in occupational titles between states and post-high school training programs and institutions.] Requirements for education, experience, licensure, and job responsibilities vary among the states.

Reading the sole-proprietor share

For Licensed Vocational Nurses, the sole-proprietor percentage indicates how many active NPI records are marked as sole proprietors in NPPES, not how many nurses work in private practice. Because this is a self-reported NPPES field, it is an imperfect proxy for private practice, ownership, employment arrangement, or independent practice.

By state

New NPI registrations by year

Counts reflect the year each NPI was first issued, among records still active today. The final year is partial: this data covers through 2026-01-11.

Data notes

• The sole-proprietor field is self-reported by the provider in NPPES and is an imperfect proxy for private practice.
• A sole-proprietor count shown as <11 is suppressed: the true value is below 11, which could include zero.
• - An active NPI is an administrative record and does not by itself establish current clinical work, full-time status, or the number of patients served.
• - Licensed Vocational Nurse and Licensed Practical Nurse are alternate terms used differently across states, so taxonomy-based comparisons may not capture equivalent professionals under another title.
• Providers are counted once, by their primary taxonomy code only.

Source: CMS National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) Data Dissemination file, FOIA-disclosable public data under CMS-6060-N. Aggregated by Hero EMR on 2026-08-03; deactivated NPIs excluded; specialty assigned from the primary taxonomy code (NUCC 25.1). Counts below 11 are suppressed. Individual providers are never published. All provider data pages.

Common questions