Gender ratio of nurses across 50 states

Women continue to outnumber men in nursing nationwide. Approximately nine percent of the professionally active nurse workforce in the U.S. is male, according to March 2015 data from The Kaiser Family Foundation.

Broken down by state, however, the ratio of male to female nurses looks much different. For example, in Hawaii there are five female nurses for every male nurse, while in Kentucky female nurses outnumber male nurses 12 to 1. The ratio of female to male nurses is greatest in Iowa, North Dakota and South Carolina, where there are more than 15 female nurses for each male nurse. No states have an equal distribution of gender in nursing.

Here is the gender ratio of nurses across all 50 states and Washington D.C., ranked in descending order by ratio of female to male nurses, based on data from The Kaiser Family Foundation.

Location

Ratio of females to one male

Female

Male

Unspecified

Total

United States

9.5 to 1

3,176,295

335,611

405,061

3,916,967

Iowa

16.5 to 1

42,712

2,590

5,419

50,721

North Dakota

15.9 to 1

10,193

641

1,275

12,109

South Carolina

15.1 to 1

37,809

2,503

4,433

44,745

North Carolina

14.7 to 1

73,002

4,977

7,407

85,386

Indiana

14.2 to 1

97,412

6,868

12,940

117,220

Minnesota

14.1 to 1

86,489

6,131

609

93,229

Virginia

13.6 to 1

95,119

6,996

15,035

117,150

Delaware

13.4 to 1

8,430

630

931

9,991

Massachusetts

13.3 to 1

92,342

6,953

10,034

109,329

Wisconsin

13.2 to 1

28,610

2,174

509

31,293

Illinois

12.8 to 1

133,790

10,413

20,032

164,235

Pennsylvania

12.7 to 1

186,866

14,729

20,586

222,181

New York

12.7 to 1

161,492

12,673

20,008

194,173

Connecticut

12.7 to 1

45,682

3,591

5,816

55,089

Rhode Island

12.1 to 1

10,916

899

1,047

128,62

Kentucky

12 to 1

54,659

4,573

7,316

66,548

Vermont

11.9 to 1

7,122

598

709

8,429

Kansas

11.7 to 1

29,043

2,490

3,272

34,805

Maine

11.7 to 1

18,051

1,540

1,720

21,311

Georgia

11.5 to 1

96,503

8,379

17,385

122,267

Missouri

11.4 to 1

75,724

6,625

10,495

92,844

Ohio

11.3 to 1

166,163

14,742

21,701

202,606

Tennessee

11.3 to 1

95,278

8,430

776

104,484

New Hampshire

11.3 to 1

8,353

736

783

9,872

South Dakota

11.2 to 1

12,408

1,111

1,565

15,084

Oklahoma

11 to 1

36,967

3,369

5,780

46,116

New Jersey

10.8 to 1

91,302

8,421

15,372

115,095

Michigan

10.6 to 1

117,326

11,039

15,173

143,538

Maryland

10.4 to 1

56,024

5,406

11,210

72,640

West Virginia

10.3 to 1

22,956

2,234

2,894

28,084

Alabama

10.2 to 1

59,567

5,844

9,368

74779

Washington

10.2 to 1

47,376

4,660

5,661

57,697

Mississippi

10.2 to 1

33,245

3,248

5,426

41,919

Colorado

9.7 to 1

50,001

5129

7,030

62,160

Arkansas

9.1 to 1

35,303

3882

5,990

45,175

Texas

8.9 to 1

268,922

30,131

2,753

301,806

Louisiana

8.8 to 1

39,838

4,551

5,219

49,608

Utah

8.7 to 1

13,671

1,576

1,840

17,087

Montana

8.7 to 1

2,019

232

264

2,515

District of Columbia

8.6 to 1

3,517

410

837

4,764

Arizona

8.4 to 1

50,411

5,987

6,529

62,927

Wyoming

8.4 to 1

2,694

320

372

3,386

Florida

8.2 to 1

211,661

25,716

37,360

274,737

Alaska

7.5 to 1

6,288

841

942

8,071

New Mexico

7.3 to 1

16,565

2,261

2,223

21,049

Idaho

7.3 to 1

13,935

1,911

2,236

18,082

Oregon

7 to 1

29,359

4,204

4,419

37,982

Nevada

6.7 to 1

18,737

2,791

3,593

25,121

California

5.8 to 1

266,634

45,971

59,387

371,992

Hawaii

5 to 1

1,858

374

375

2,607

Nebraska

3.9 to 1

23,111

5,951

1,005

30,067

Note: Female to male ratios are presented as X:1 to provide the clearest and most comparable values that illustrate the scale of the gender difference across various states. The ratio of female to male nurses was obtained by dividing both female and male numbers by the number of males, and rounding to the nearest tenth.

Data is based on March 2015 numbers of professionally active nurses. Professionally active nurses include currently working, state-licensed registered nurses and licensed practical nurses. Ratios are based on the gender information provided, and do not take unspecified gender numbers into account. The national percentage of male nurses mentioned above may be a slight underestimate and may not reflect the ratios in this table because it is a percentage of the total number of nurses, which includes those who did not specify gender.

 

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