This is an old, 2017 survey analysis. See the most recent analysis.
There are approximately 76,000 nurses in Connecticut. 64,000 are Registered Nurses (RNs) and 12,500 are Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs). About 60,000 nurses live in Connecticut, and 15,000 live outside of the state. Of those, more than a third (5,700) live in the nearby states—Massachusetts, New York or Rhode Island. Of the nurses that are currently licensed in Connecticut and live in Connecticut, around 48,000 are RNs and 12,000 are LPNs.
The data used in this Nursing Workforce Supply Report was extracted from the 2017 Connecticut Nurse Licensure System Dataset collected by the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CT DPH) via the online NurSys Annual Licensing System using the Minimum Data Set for Nursing SUPPLY created by the National FORUM. The CT DPH, CCNW and the CT Data Collaborative (CDC) aggregated and analyzed these data for reporting purposes.
Not all data are required to be entered in the survey, so each data point could have a different sample size. This data story focuses on nurses who are licensed in Connecticut and who are actively working in or around Connecticut.
The vast majority, or 92% of licensed nurses in Connecticut are female. The same is true of Registered Nurses (92%) and Licensed Practical Nurses (91%).
The age of Registered Nurses who work in Connecticut range from 20 to 93, and the median is 50. Licensed Practical Nurses are from 20 to 90 years old, and the median age is 47.
The chart below shows a histogram of ages of RNs and LPNs currently working in Connecticut.
In the survey, races were not mutually exclusive, meaning that nurses could select more than one race. Therefore, the counts do not add up to the total count of nurses who responded to the question.
Approximately 47,000 Registered Nurses identified their race. 81% of the respondents identified as White, 7% identified as African American, 5% identified as Asian, 4% identified as Hispanic, and 2% identified as other. Less than 1% identified as American Indian or as Pacific Islander.
About 12,000 LPNs identified their race. 60% of the respondents identified as White, 25% identified as African American, 8% identified as Hispanic, 2% identified as Asian, 3% identified as other. Less than 1% identified as American Indian or as Pacific Islander.
There is more racial diversity among the LPNs than the RNs.
Of the nurses who are licensed in Connecticut, nearly half (about 37,000) were educated in Connecticut. Of all the nurses educated in Connecticut, 76% were RNs and 24% were LPNs.
Because of how the data was collected using the survey, we got over 3,500 different spellings of educational institution names where nurses received their licenses, when in fact there are only several dozen instututions that issue nursing licenses. In addition, some programs were merged or closed in the past. After dataset cleanup, we ended up with about 1,300 spellings of schools, and in the tables below we report the lower boundary for nursing licenses awarded by those institutions. The true number would be slightly higher for all programs.
University of Connecticut, CT State University System, Quinnipiac, and Hartford's Capital Community College, among other universities, community colleges, and hospital-affiliated nursing schools are the major suppliers of RNs in Connecticut.
| Program | Nurses Licensed |
|---|---|
| University of Connecticut | 2800+ |
| Capital Community College | 2000+ |
| Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing | 1700+ |
| Saint Vincent's College | 1700+ |
| Southern Connecticut State University | 1600+ |
| Naugatuck Valley Community College | 1200+ |
| Quinnipiac University | 1200+ |
| Goodwin College | 1200+ |
| Western Connecticut State University | 1000+ |
| Three Rivers Community College | 900+ |
| University Of Saint Joseph | 900+ |
| Saint Francis Hospital | 900+ |
| Fairfield University | 800+ |
| Norwalk Community College | 800+ |
| Gateway Community College | 600+ |
| University Of Bridgeport | 600+ |
| St Mary's | 500+ |
| Wilcox College of Nursing | 500+ |
| Yale School of Nursing | 400+ |
| Mattatuck Community College | 300+ |
| Sacred Heart University | 300+ |
| Central Connecticut State University | 200+ |
| Hartford Hospital | 200+ |
| Mohegan Community College | 100+ |
Licensed Practical Nurses get their licenses awarded primarily by technical high schools and for-profit vocational institutions.
| Program | Nurses Licensed |
|---|---|
| Lincoln Technical Institute | 1900+ |
| Stone Academy | 1000+ |
| New England Technical Institute | 400+ |
| AI Prince Technical High School | 400+ |
| WF Kaynor Technical High School | 400+ |
| Eli Whitney Technical School | 300+ |
| Bullard-Havens Technical High School | 300+ |
| Porter and Chester Institute | 300+ |
| Vinal Technical High School | 300+ |
| EC Goodwin Technical High School | 200+ |
| Norwich Technical High School | 200+ |
| Henry Abbott Technical High School | 200+ |
| Windham Technical High School | 200+ |
| JM Wright Technical High School | 100+ |
| Howell Cheney Technical High School | 100+ |
Most Registered Nurses have a Bachelor's degree (38%), followed by an Associate's degree in nursing (21%). 13% have a Master's in nursing, 1% have a Doctorate in nursing. Less than 0.1% have a vocational certificate.
Of the LPNs who reported their educational attainment (about 6,000), 91% have a vocational certificate in nursing. 7% have an Associate's degree, 1% have a Bachelor's in nursing. Less than 1% have a Master's degree in nursing, and less than 0.1% have a Doctorate degree.
Most nurses that work in clinical settings are employed in a position that requires their license. Most of these nurses work full time.
Approximately 22% of licensed nurses did not disclose their work setting. 39% of CT's Registered Nurses work in hospitals.
16% work in nursing homes/extended care/assisted living facilities,
9% work in ambulatory care setting,
8% work in home health,
4% work in school health service,
4% work in insurance claims/benefits,
3% work in community health,
2% work in academic settings,
1% work in public health,
1% work in correctional facilities,
1% work in occupational health and
<1% work in a policy/planning/regulatory/ licensing agency.
12% of RNs work in "other" settings.
Approximately 28% of LPNs did not disclose their work setting. Almost 40% of CT's LPNs work in nursing home/extended care/assisted living facilities.
10% work in home health settings,
5% work in ambulatory care settings,
3% work in hospitals,
3% work in community health,
2% work in public health,
1% work in school health services,
1% work in insurance claims/benefits,
<1% work in correctional facilities,
<1% work in academic settings,
<1% work in occupational health and
<1% work in a policy/planning/regulatory/licensing agency.
8% of LPNs work in "other" settings.
| RNs | LPNs | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Actively employed in nursing or in a position that requires a nurse license (Full-time) | 82% | 18% | 48,773 |
| Actively employed in nursing or in a position that requires a nurse license (Part-time) | 80% | 20% | 7,578 |
| Actively employed in nursing or in a position that requires a nurse license (Per diem) | 80% | 20% | 3,209 |
| Working in nursing only as a volunteer | 84% | 16% | 546 |
Most RNs indicated that they were staff nurses.
| Position | # | % |
|---|---|---|
| Staff Nurse | 35,059 | 64% |
| Nurse Manager | 6,021 | 11% |
| Nurse Researcher | 271 | 0.5% |
| Nurse Faculty | 1,355 | 2.5% |
| Advance Practice Nurse | 3,994 | 7.3% |
| Other – Health Related | 5,176 | 9.4% |
| Nursing Consultant | 1,567 | 2.9% |
| Nurse Executive | 1,094 | 2.0% |
| Other – Not Health Related | 250 | 0.5% |
Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Haven, Milford, Hamden, and Stratford all house over 1,000 nurses. Most Registered Nurses live in Milford, West Hartford, Hamden, and Stamford. Most Licensed Practical Nurses live in Bridgeport and Waterbury (both over 500), followed by New Haven and West Haven.
Some of the biggest clusters of primary work location for Connecticut nurses are New Haven, Hartford, Middletown, Bridgeport, and Danbury.
In Connecticut, certain towns have higher % of elderly population or more opioid deaths than others. Use the map below to explore such places. Each circle represents a town. Diameters correspond to values. The background color represents how many nurses work in the zip-code area.