Key Takeaways
- A 2026 survey found that job satisfaction among nurses dropped for the first time since the pandemic.
- Contributing to a drop in satisfaction, more than half of nurses experienced verbal threats or aggressive language in the past year.
- Nearly half of nurses—41%—said “financial necessity” kept them on the job and in the specialty.
After nursing job satisfaction reached a low during the pandemic before rebounding, nurses are once again raising alarm bells in a survey on their attitudes toward the profession.
The data come from the 2026 State of Nursing Survey, which is conducted by Nurse.org. This year’s survey found that after three consecutive years of gains on most metrics, growth in satisfaction levels among nurses has stalled or reversed.
The number of nurses who said they’re likely to leave the bedside has grown, for example, and the number of nurses who say they are likely to leave the profession entirely jumped by nearly 50% in the last year.
Here’s a look at the main findings from the 2026 State of Nursing Survey.
Nursing job satisfaction
In 2025, the survey found that following the pandemic, job satisfaction nearly doubled from 28% in 2022 to 55% in 2025. This year, that number dropped to 47%.
The highest levels of nurse job satisfaction were seen among nurse educators (68%) and NICU nurses (66%). At the low end, 23% of progressive care nurses and 31% of geriatric nurses said they were satisfied with their job. Low satisfaction ratings also came from emergency nurses (35%) and telemetry nurses (34%).
The survey also noted that 2026 marked the first time since 2022 that nursing job satisfaction hadn’t improved on the survey.
Will you leave the bedside in the next year?
Nearly half (43%) of nurses in the survey said they are likely to leave the bedside in the next year. That’s an increase from 39% in last year’s survey.
Will you leave nursing in the next year?
Nearly one-quarter (23%) of nurses in the survey said they’re likely to leave the profession within the next year. That’s up from 15% in last year’s survey, or a jump of nearly 50%.
Why are nurses staying on the job?
Nearly half of nurses—41%—said “financial necessity” kept them on the job and in the specialty. Schedule convenience was identified by 32% of nurses as a motivating factor, while 28% said commitment to patient care kept them going. Only 8% of nurses said they stayed on the job because of support from management/leadership.
Are you happy with your decision to become a nurse?
The percentage of respondents who said they were happy with their decision to become a nurse—68%—remained the same as in last year’s survey.
Would you recommend a career in nursing?
The number of nurses who said they would recommend a nursing career to friends or family remained steady at 47%.
Has staffing on your unit improved?
When it came to staffing issues, 42% of nurses said staffing had worsened in their unit over the past year. By comparison, 8% said it had improved,
Working conditions for nurses
Just under half of nurses in the survey (42%) said their working conditions had worsened, while 8% reported conditions had improved.
Threats in the workplace
- More than half of nurses (52%) said they experienced verbal threats or aggressive language in the past year.
- More than one in four nurses (27%) reported being physically assaulted.
- 10% of nurses said they experienced sexual harassment or unwanted sexual contact.
- 34% of nurses said they do not feel safe from violence in their workplace.
Financial outlook for nurses
- One-quarter of nurses (25%) said their paycheck barely covers or doesn’t cover their “essential” monthly expenses.
- Just under half (49%) of nurses said their paycheck barely covers essential expenses, but only with careful budgeting.
- Only 20% of nurses said they are financially comfortable, and 37% said they couldn’t cover an unexpected expense of $1,000 without going into debt.
- 37% of nurses said financial pressure forced them to work extra shifts or overtime in the previous 12 months.
- About 25% of nurses said they had a secondary source of income, typically from additional nursing jobs.
