7 in-demand nursing specialties to pursue in 2025

Why is the demand for a nursing specialty important?

The demand for a nursing specialty impacts pay and job security.

Registered nurses (RNs) who work in high-demand specialties also have more options to choose from.

Additionally, they may find a sense of fulfillment knowing that the healthcare services they provide are so greatly needed.

What type of nurse is in most demand?

This article covers the most in-demand nursing specialties in 2025 and beyond based on the latest industry research and expert opinions.

What type of nurses are there?

Nursing is an incredibly diverse profession, with seemingly endless nursing specialties to choose from. Furthermore, nurses can work as employees, travel nurses, freelancers, and PRN nurses, among other work models.

Although there are numerous types of nurses, in general terms, nurses can work in acute and post-acute care settings.

Acute care encompasses hospital fields of nursing, such as oncology, intensive care unit (ICU), and emergency room (ER) specialty nursing care.

Post-acute nursing fields refer to the care nurses provide in skilled nursing and rehabilitation, assisted living, memory care, and other long-term care settings.

What are the various nursing job categories?

Regardless of the nursing specialty, registered nurses fall into different job categories based on their level of education, experience, skills, certifications, etc.

New graduates fall into the RN I category. With experience and further education, RNs can climb the clinical ladder, entering higher job categories and top-paying RN positions.

Are RNs in high demand?

The demand for nurses has always been high. Nurse unemployment rates have rarely surpassed 1.5 percent, and RN employment has typically increased even during economic recessions.

Despite this growth, RN vacancies still exist, ranging from 10 to 31 percent in different states.

What factors contribute to the high demand for RNs?

The demand for healthcare services surpasses the availability of actively licensed professionals. Reasons nurses are in such high demand include an aging population, an aging RN workforce, and a shortage of physicians.

Aging population

By 2030, 73.1 million people (21 percent of the US population) will be over 65.

An older population implies a greater prevalence of multiple comorbid chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, cancer, and dementia, among others. These conditions increase the need for healthcare services and make care more complex.

Physician shortage

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects a need for 24,000 more primary care physicians by 2025. The physician shortage is also related to an aging population and population growth.

Since physicians cannot meet all healthcare demands, RNs will be increasingly relied on to provide care.

Aging RN workforce

The average age of the RN workforce recently dropped to about 44 years since an estimated 1.2 million RNs retired. An additional 600,000 RNs are expected to leave the workforce by 2030.

In many settings, RNs over 50 constitute over half of the workforce. Therefore, these settings are expected to be among the most acutely affected by the shortages.

The following settings have the highest percentages of RNs over 50:

Occupational health: 73.5%
Call centers: 60.3%
Hospital nursing home units: 57%
School health: 56.5%
Home health agencies: 55%
Hospital-sponsored ambulatory clinics: 50.5%
Nursing home units not in hospitals: 50%
Case management/disease management: 48.6%
Outpatient mental health/substance units: 47.5%
Inpatient mental health facilities: 43.7%

On average, hospital RNs are younger (42.3 years) than RNs in nonhospital settings (47 years). These average ages indicate that nonhospital settings will need to replace retired RNs at a faster rate.

The most in-demand nursing specialties

According to “The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity,” the number of RNs must increase over the following decade. Furthermore, increasing the number of RNs working in gerontology, primary care, mental and behavioral health, and maternal health is especially essential.

In addition to these specialties, the American Nurses Association (ANA) calls for more nurses in home health, long-term care and rehabilitation, and outpatient care centers.

Let’s take a closer look at these in-demand RN specialties.

1. Long-Term Care Nursing

Admittedly, there is some subjectivity to determining the most in-demand nursing specialties. However, when it comes to long-term care/geriatric nursing, there is no doubt.

Long-term care settings include adult day care centers, adult foster homes, assisted living facilities, memory care or Alzheimer’s care residences, and nursing homes. These settings primarily care for older adults, a growing percentage of the US population.

Why is the demand for long-term care RNs so great?

There is only one board-certified geriatrician for every 7,242 older Americans. Additionally, only 0.4 percent of RNs provide gerontology specialty care. The shortage of geriatricians only accentuates the need for RNs specialized in long-term care/geriatric nursing.

Workforce projections estimate that the senior care industry will need to fill over 20.2 million occupational openings between 2021 and 2040. This number includes replacing 18 million workers who will exit the labor force or transfer to another occupation. It also contemplates an additional 2,456,800 jobs, representing a 42.1 percent growth rate.

How does the growth of the sector impact RN jobs?

Here are some examples of the growth RN jobs will see in long-term care settings:

Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs) will need to replace 39,300 RN positions by 2040. There will also be 8,300 new RN jobs created in this work setting.
The workforce providing services for the elderly and persons with disabilities will need to replace 27,900 RN positions by 2040. There will also be 14,400 new RN jobs in this sector.

2. Home health nursing

Home health is another RN industry that will see marked growth.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly 90 percent of home health patients are 65 or older. Therefore, this industry will need more RNs for the same reasons as the long-term care industry.

Although the number of jobs in home health is lower than in long-term care, the growth rate will be faster. The sector will need to replace 4.4 million jobs by 2040. There will also be 692,000 new home health jobs, representing a 45.7 percent increase from 2021.

For RNs specifically, the sector will need to replace 230,800 jobs and create 79,400 new RN jobs by 2040.

3. Behavioral and mental health nursing

psychiatric nurse working in hospital unit — Psychiatric nurses spend a lot of time with patients and charting assessments.

In the United States, an estimated 44 million adults have a diagnosable mental health condition.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the US saw a marked increase in rates of suicide, substance abuse, gun violence, and severe depression. This upward trend in mental and behavioral issues has had a direct impact on the need for healthcare professionals working with these populations.

There is an increased demand for mental and behavioral health services. Simultaneously, there is a shortage of behavioral health professionals. The HRSA projects this shortage could reach 250,000 workers by 2025.

Amid a psychiatrist shortage, the RN workforce will be relied upon to address gaps in care. However, only about 3.5 percent of RNs provide care in mental health, psychiatric, or substance abuse settings.

Therefore, the need for behavioral and mental health RNs will increase significantly in the near future.

4. Primary care nursing

There is a concerning lack of access to primary healthcare services. The primary care physician shortage has led to recommendations to increase the number of RNs in primary care and community-based settings.

A report titled “Registered Nurses: Partners in Transforming Primary Care” recommends increasing the number of RNs in primary care and expanding their role in this setting.

RN duties in primary care are typically limited to tasks such as telephoning prescriptions to pharmacies and performing administrative duties.

The report advocates for allowing RNs to practice to the full extent of their education and training, including educating patients and managing stable patient panels with controlled diabetes, hypertension, and other conditions.

The report also recommends increasing coursework and student clinical experiences in primary care settings. A greater emphasis on primary care in nursing school could lead to more graduates choosing careers in primary care.

5. Maternal health nursing

The United States spends the most on healthcare yet has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates out of any other high-income country.

Furthermore, maternal morbidity and mortality rates disproportionately affect specific populations, including Black/African American and American Indian/Alaska Native women.

“The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a Path to Achieve Health Equity” claims that these inequities could be reduced by expanding the number of RNs prepared to provide women’s healthcare.

Although most labor and delivery RNs currently serving this population work in acute care hospitals, the report suggests that RNs could become valuable community resources in antenatal and postpartum maternity care.

Learn how to become a labor and delivery nurse in this comprehensive guide.

6. Ambulatory care nursing

According to the ANA, ambulatory care or outpatient care centers are among the settings that will need most RNs in the foreseeable future.

The 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses supports this claim. It found that 23 percent of RNs working in ambulatory, outpatient, and clinical settings have retired or planned to retire over the following five years.

The retirement of a large percentage of the ambulatory care RN workforce will urgently require new recruits.

7. Med-surg nursing

Med Surg nurse charting — MedSurg nurse charting patient assessments.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, most RNs work in hospitals. Furthermore, on average, acute care RNs are younger than those providing post-acute care.

However, many hospitals report RN shortages despite overall workforce growth in 2022 and 2023.

In search of greater work-life balance, better schedules, and reduced stress, many hospital RNs are moving to nonhospital settings. In fact, a study titled “Projecting the Future Registered Nurse Workforce After the COVID-19 Pandemic” found that workforce growth from 2018 to 2023 took place almost exclusively in nonhospital settings.

There are numerous reasons this hospital RN shortage falls heavily on medical-surgical units:

The medical-surgical nursing specialty is the largest in the nation.
Med-surg has the largest number of beds of all hospital units. Therefore, more RNs work in med-surg than in any other unit.
Many nurses see med-surg as a stepping stone to other specialties. Therefore, many RNs do not work in medical-surgical nursing long term.

Which of these in-demand nursing specialties speak to you?

RNs are in high demand throughout healthcare settings. However, these seven nursing specialties will see a pronounced demand in 2025 and beyond.

Do any of these nursing specialties stand out to you?

You can experience these nurse roles firsthand without making a long-term commitment by picking up PRN jobs. Sign up with Nursa and request PRN shifts in the most in-demand nursing specialties.

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