Best Metro Areas for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in 2026

Across the top 10 metro areas for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, LaborCove’s 2026 data shows a mix of higher-than-national pay levels, varying employment counts, and different overall Geography Scores. Several metros combine median salaries above the $64,400 national median with substantial employment counts, while others pair especially high pay with smaller reported employment. The rankings and Geography Scores reflect LaborCove’s overall evaluation of each metro, which does not always follow salary levels alone.

In 2026, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses have a national median annual salary of $64,400. National employment stands at 648,410. LaborCove’s data also shows a national projected employment growth rate of 2.6% for this occupation. This projection applies to the occupation across the United States as a whole and does not provide metro-level growth rates. Against this backdrop, every metro in the top 10 has a reported median salary above the $64,400 national median. The national employment figure of 648,410 also provides scale for understanding how individual metro employment counts fit into the broader labor market for LPNs and LVNs.

LaborCove ranks New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ as the #1 metro for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in 2026, with a Geography Score of 77.68. This metro has a median salary of $75,910 and an employment count of 32,410. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 77.16, a median salary of $79,310, and an employment count of 33,590. Compared with New York-Newark-Jersey City, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim has a higher median salary and a larger employment count but a slightly lower Geography Score. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA is ranked #3 with a Geography Score of 63.96. It has a median salary of $94,310 and an employment count of 8,800. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont’s median salary is higher than that of both New York-Newark-Jersey City and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, while its employment count is smaller than each of those two metros.

California’s presence in the top 10 includes three metros: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim at rank #2, San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at rank #3, and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at rank #4. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has a median salary of $95,320, an employment count of 3,290, and a Geography Score of 61.64. Its median salary is higher than that in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, and New York-Newark-Jersey City. Despite having the highest median salary among these three California metros, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ranks below Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. All three California metros in the top 10 have median salaries that are above the $64,400 national median. Their Geography Scores and ranks show that LaborCove’s evaluation accounts for more than salary alone.

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD appears at rank #5 with a Geography Score of 56.20. It has a median salary of $70,710 and an employment count of 15,920. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH is ranked #6 with a Geography Score of 55.77, a median salary of $82,190, and an employment count of 8,410. Boston-Cambridge-Newton has a higher median salary than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and a smaller employment count. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN holds rank #8 with a Geography Score of 54.63. It reports a median salary of $78,070 and an employment count of 11,420. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin’s median salary is higher than that of Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington and lower than that of Boston-Cambridge-Newton, while its employment count is smaller than Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington’s and larger than Boston-Cambridge-Newton’s.

Fairbanks-College, AK ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 55.66 and a median salary of $76,690. Employment for Fairbanks-College is not supplied, so direct comparisons of employment with other metros are not available. Fort Collins-Loveland, CO is ranked #9 with a Geography Score of 54.30 and a median salary of $68,240. Like Fairbanks-College, its employment count is not supplied, which limits employment-based comparisons. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA rounds out the top 10 at rank #10 with a Geography Score of 52.72. It has a median salary of $85,690 and an employment count of 3,470. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s median salary is higher than the national median of $64,400. Among the metros with both salary and employment reported, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara’s employment count of 3,290 is smaller than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s 3,470, while its median salary of $95,320 is higher than Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue’s $85,690.

The top 10 metros for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in 2026 all show median salaries above the national median of $64,400, but they differ substantially in employment counts and Geography Scores. Some metros, such as Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim and New York-Newark-Jersey City, combine large employment counts with higher-than-national salaries and top Geography Scores. Others, such as San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, have especially high pay with smaller reported employment. LaborCove’s Geography Scores and rankings summarize how each metro compares within this occupation, but they do not capture every factor that may matter to an individual nurse. These results are best used as a structured starting point for comparing locations, alongside personal and professional considerations that fall outside of the supplied labor-market data.

LaborCove builds these metro rankings using authoritative labor-market data and its proprietary LaborCove Geography Score. For each metro area, LaborCove considers measures such as median annual salary and employment counts for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, then summarizes the results in a Geography Score and rank. The national median salary, total employment, and projected national growth provide overall context for the occupation. Because the Geography Score combines multiple factors, higher pay or a larger employment count does not automatically lead to a higher rank. Job seekers should view these rankings as structured comparisons of locations and weigh them alongside their own priorities, such as preferred region, commute patterns, and personal circumstances.