What nurse practitioner specialty is the highest paid, is a common question asked by every candidate who wants to pursue their career as a nurse practitioner. The nurse practitioner is one of the most reputed and decent paid jobs in the healthcare sector. This back-end job gives structure to all medical facilities and ensures that the patients only get the best treatment. But it depends on your smart planning and informed decision-making, how much you finally earn from it. This is why you need to know what nurse practitioner specialty is the highest paid. One may also visit our page medical school near me for having more ideas on medical school related topics.

what nurse practitioner specialty is the highest paid
What Nurse Practitioner Specialty Is The Highest Paid – Have a brief idea
The best way to make your choice is by going through a detailed nurse practitioner specialties list. Once you know who the highest paid nurses in the world are, you can easily align your interests with the field and make the right career decision. To help you and provide easy accessibility, we have collated everything that you need to know about nurse practitioners to make good money in the field.
There are different specialties in nurse practitioners as well that define their career and domain of their work. We will discuss about types of nursing jobs and salaries also.
What is the difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner?
The nurse practitioner coordinates and manages all the nurses, along with several other important job roles. The difference between a nurse and a nurse practitioner begins with the education standards itself. While nurses are highly educated in the healthcare sector, nurse practitioners require continuing education standards. Having a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and finally, a Ph.D. with Doctorate of Nursing Practices (DNP) bring a significant difference.
Along with knowing what is the highest paid nurse practitioner specialty, we will also have a look on with different qualifications, come a variation in job roles. Therefore, the common distinction between a nurse and a nurse practitioner is seen in the following categories:
- Salary
- Demand
- Level of autonomy
- Permission to diagnose patients
- Continuing education, i.e., renewal of certificate every year
In all these categories, nurse practitioners leverage the most out of their qualifications and get better opportunities than nurses.

Nurse Practitioner Specialties List
American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) has found in a survey that a family nurse practitioner is the most common specialization that people go for. There can be multiple reasons for it, like the desire to comfort a family, the ability to build quick interpersonal connections, etc. It takes up to 55.1% of all nurse practitioner specializations. We have provided a guide to palliative and end of life care
Other specializations like psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, women’s health nurse practitioners, adult-gerontology nurse practitioners, neonatal nurse practitioners, and pediatric nurse practitioners are the most sought-after choices. To list down some of the widely preferred specializations, here they are:
- Allergy & immunology
- Cardiac
- Dermatology
- Geriatric
- Emergency room
- Endocrinology
- Holistic
- Hospice
- Gastroenterology
- Pediatric oncology
- Surgical
- Neurology
- Occupational health
- Orthopedics
- Pulmonology & respiratory
- Sports medicine
- Travel
- Urology
Highest Paid Nurse Practitioners
Your answer to the question what nurse practitioner specialty is the highest paid is as clear as its concept that is based on the salary. As we said that your specialty regulates your annual payment as a nurse practitioner, here is a detailed description of the job roles under different specialties and their subsequent salaries. This way, you can easily understand what nurse practitioner specialty is the highest-paid and make your final choice as a career path.

Nurse Practitioner Specialties Salary – Along with their profession
Here are the types of nursing Jobs and Salaries.
- Pediatric nurse practitioner
As you already guessed, the most important aspect of being a pediatric nurse practitioner is loving kids. Your job role will not only circle about the paperwork and back end tasks, but you also need to interact with the patients. Here, your skills with a child can help you excel in your profession. We will discuss here about nurse practitioner salary. However, if you go for higher studies, you can practice it in depth. In the undergraduate degree, you can opt for subjects like pediatric rehabilitation or pediatric intensive care, which are somewhat similar to the field. You can also take an exam to be a Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPN).
MEDIAN SALARY: $89,000
- Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner
Psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners deal with patients who are suffering from a range of psychiatric issues and potential behavioral challenges. These ailments differ from regular medical needs and require great compassion and patience.
Best nurse practitioner specialty in this profession are expected to offer wholesome support to the patients, from physiological and mental to emotional and spiritual. They may also work in close collaboration with the family and friends to provide the best care to the patient. Mentally, you must be a strong individual who does not break down quickly to successfully serve as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
MEDIAN SALARY: $102,000
- Family nurse practitioner
As said above as well, family nurse practitioners have great potential to make long-term relationships in a short span of time. They work with primary care physicians which means that they are always in close contact with an entire family, whoever falls sick.
In some states, family nurse practitioners can even practice independently, depending on their degree and certification. This gives them a higher level of autonomy, and thus, increased preference towards the stream. In general, their job role includes consultation, assessing prescriptions, or providing necessary medication. They are very high in demand, all round the year.
MEDIAN SALARY: $95,350
- Gerontological nurse practitioner
Do you have a strong affinity towards the elderly? Many nurses feel a special calling to be there for the senior citizen and talk at length about life and their experiences. What can be better than to take good care of those that you love spending time with? Moreover, gerontological nurse practitioners are high in demand with the increase in life expectancy, and they are doing wonders in caregiving.
A gerontological nurse practitioner can choose to work in a hospital or clinic or nursing home. They are trained to understand the different needs of the elderly and serve them accordingly, as a part of this specialization. The greatest challenge here is putting up with the mood changes, which gerontological nurse practitioners are perfect at.
MEDIAN SALARY: $64,906
- Neonatal nurse practitioner
The neonatal term refers to infants less than 28 days old and are in critical care. The neonatal nurse practitioners have to take higher responsibility to handle the neonatal cases and properly assess their conditions. They help the doctors create treatment plans, prescribe care methodology, and medicines to neonatal patients.
Simultaneously, they also have to address the family’s sentimental and psychosocial needs of the family and, most importantly, the mother. They may have to deal with various health conditions like GI reflux, jaundice, neurological disorder, and several other issues arising with premature births. This time can get very stressful, and a neonatal nurse practitioner has to manage it all very well. The National Certification Corporation (NCC) offers Certification for Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP).
MEDIAN SALARY: $100,473
- Acute care nurse practitioner
Acute care nurse practitioners are trained in various disciplines like cardiology, interventional radiology, neurology, gastrointestinal, internal medicine, etc. Based on their interests, they can choose to specialize in even more focused areas, like in neurology, they can go to the depths of running an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit.
Acute care nurse practitioners work in close collaboration with physicians and formulate different treatment plans for caring for the patients. After your education, you can apply for the position of an acute care nurse practitioner. However, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) offers a certification exam for acute care nurse practitioners, which you may take if desired.
MEDIAN SALARY: $105,085
- Women’s health nurse practitioner
Nurse practitioners who are working in the fields of gynecology and obstetrics are commonly considered the women’s health nurse practitioners. They have to collaborate with doctors, surgeons, and midwives to ensure that the new mothers only get the best treatment plans and medications. The National Certification Corporation (NCC) allows one to become a certified women’s health nurse practitioner.
The main tasks include health screenings such as pelvic exams, Pap smear test, contraception education, breast examination, prenatal counseling, postpartum concern, and geriatric gynecological care. Thus, they need to be very patient with expecting mothers and explain certain situations to the father-to-be and immediate family.
MEDIAN SALARY: $91,407
- Dermatology nurse practitioner
While this may seem to be a simpler discipline, dermatology, or the treatment of skin disorders are a vital stream of healthcare. The dermatology nurse practitioners assist the patients in both acute care and outpatient settings, which include every skin disease, no matter the magnitude.
Common tasks include the treatment of melanoma (skin cancer), acne, impetigo, psoriasis, and also the handling of small lesion clinics. Some dermatology nurse practitioners also have a specialization in Cosmetic Dermatology. Most of them are also capable of performing laser treatments and even inject Botox fillers. They also make sure that the pre-op and post-op examinations of plastic surgeries are apt.
MEDIAN SALARY: $113,720
- Emergency nurse practitioner
Probably the highest level of critical skill holders, emergency nurse practitioners have in-depth clinical expertise. They mostly care for the patients brought in to the emergency department for urgent care. Nurse practitioners with experience of handling and looking after trauma cases are most suited for this job.
As the emergency department can have diverse patients, the skill set required for being an emergency nurse practitioner is also varied. They have to be good with different age groups and care for patients without any cultural or religious prejudice. The life of these nurse practitioners is very fast-paced and so, confidence is a key attribute to succeed as an emergency nurse practitioner. This is one of the best highest paid nurse practitioner specialties which one can take if desired.
MEDIAN SALARY: $153,500
While this list shows the job roles and salaries of 9 different but common nurse practitioner specialties, one can explore around the field and serve the healthcare sector as they find fit.
So, the above information have been provided to you for having a clear concept on the job role of a nurse practitioner, their job profile, salary, specialties etc. that has cleared your views on what nurse practitioner specialty is the highest paid. If you have any query regarding this or highest paying plasma donation center near me, then feel free to contact us at online Schools.