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HealthcareTop JobColorado Talent Pipeline Report-aligned occupation with strong annual openings, growth, and wage signals.Critical OccupationOccupation identified by industry partners as critical to business success.

Nurse Practitioner

Diagnose and treat acute, episodic, or chronic illness, independently or as part of a healthcare team. May focus on health promotion and disease prevention. May order, perform, or interpret diagnostic tests such as lab work and x rays. May prescribe medication. Must be registered nurses who have specialized graduate education.

Annual openings

412

Median wage

$132,930

Typical education

Master's Degree

Growth 2026–2032

+25%

Median wage source: Colorado BLS OEWS (2025).

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Career requirements

What does this career require?

Explore education, required qualifications, voluntary credentials and employer preferences for this role. Check the details to see which apply.

Typical education

Master's Degree

Credential requirement

Credential requirements not reported

Nurse Practitioners have the ability to prescribe medication and can specialize in Behavioral Health.
This job is valued in Healthcare and Public Health settings.

Is this work a fit?

What the work actually feels like

How people in this career tend to spend their time, the interests it draws on, and a look at a typical day.

Automation exposure

Low exposure

Tasks here lean on judgement and people skills that are hard to automate.

A typical day

  1. Maintain complete and detailed records of patients' health care plans and prognoses.
  2. Develop treatment plans, based on scientific rationale, standards of care, and professional practice guidelines.
  3. Provide patients with information needed to promote health, reduce risk factors, or prevent disease or disability.
  4. Analyze and interpret patients' histories, symptoms, physical findings, or diagnostic information to develop appropriate diagnoses.
  5. Diagnose or treat complex, unstable, comorbid, episodic, or emergency conditions in collaboration with other health care providers as necessary.
  6. Prescribe medication dosages, routes, and frequencies, based on such patient characteristics as age and gender.
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