Practical Nurse
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Practical Nurse occupation series (code 0620): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
Practical Nurse is a mid-sized federal occupation: 16,755 employees (0.9% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. At an average salary of $75,898 it pays below the federal average, and headcount edged up from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- +0.1%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 10.4 yrs
- Rank in family
- #5 of 45
FedScope read on Practical Nurse (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved up versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition.
The Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family (code 06) groups Practical Nurse together with 44 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Practical Nurse postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family. Across the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, 339,162 employees work in 45 occupations; Practical Nurse is 4.9% of that headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (31st percentile) of pay among Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group occupations.
Salary context · lean-pay series
How Practical Nurse pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$75,898
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
-35.3%
Where Practical Nurse ranks on lean federal pay
Practical Nurse earns more on average than 32% of federal occupation series (173 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Practical Nurse sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Practical Nurse.
Related Occupations in Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse | 106,218 | $132,267 | 10.2 yrs |
| Medical Support Assistance | 39,856 | $58,279 | 8.2 yrs |
| Medical Officer | 34,687 | $301,569 | 11.6 yrs |
| General Health Science | 17,434 | $133,765 | 11.9 yrs |
| Pharmacist | 14,529 | $167,390 | 11.1 yrs |
| Nursing Assistant | 14,498 | $55,851 | 7.8 yrs |
| Health Aid and Technician | 12,490 | $61,276 | 10.8 yrs |
| Health System Specialist | 7,966 | $110,534 | 15.9 yrs |
| Pharmacy Technician | 7,658 | $70,794 | 9.5 yrs |
| Medical Technologist | 6,123 | $117,456 | 12.2 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Practical Nurse outside the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (16,755 here).
Similar lean average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($75,898 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Practical Nurse pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Medical, Hospital, Dental, and Public Health Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Practical Nurse postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.