Nurse Midwives
Health ScienceO*NET 29-1161.00United States
Diagnose and coordinate all aspects of the birthing process, either independently or as part of a healthcare team. May provide well-woman gynecological care.
- Median annual earnings
- $132,753
- Projected change
- +12.5%
- Typical education
- Master's or Professional degree
- Employment
- 9.07K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
96.9% of the workforce
Growing to 10.21K by 2035
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These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.
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The work
What nurse midwives do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Provide prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, or newborn care to patients.
- Monitor fetal development by listening to fetal heartbeat, taking external uterine measurements, identifying fetal position, or estimating fetal size and weight.
- Document patients' health histories, symptoms, physical conditions, or other diagnostic information.
- Provide patients with direct family planning services, such as inserting intrauterine devices, dispensing oral contraceptives, and fitting cervical barriers, including cervical caps or diaphragms.
- Develop and implement individualized plans for health care management.
- Prescribe medications as permitted by state regulations.
- Explain procedures to patients, family members, staff members or others.
- Initiate emergency interventions to stabilize patients.
- Order and interpret diagnostic or laboratory tests.
- Educate patients and family members regarding prenatal, intrapartum, postpartum, newborn, or interconception care.
- Perform physical examinations by taking vital signs, checking neurological reflexes, examining breasts, or performing pelvic examinations.
- Document findings of physical examinations.
- Write information in medical records or provide narrative summaries to communicate patient information to other health care providers.
- Provide primary health care, including pregnancy and childbirth, to women.
- Consult with or refer patients to appropriate specialists when conditions exceed the scope of practice or expertise.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in midwifery.
- Instruct student nurse midwives, medical students, or residents on the birthing process.
- Establish practice guidelines for specialty areas such as primary health care of women, care of the childbearing family, and newborn care.
- Plan, provide, or evaluate educational programs for nursing staff, health care teams, or the community.
- Conduct clinical research on topics such as maternal or infant health care, contraceptive methods, breastfeeding, and gynecological care.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $91,378
- 25th percentile
- $114,409
- 50th percentile
- $132,753
- 75th percentile
- $157,467
- 90th percentile
- $192,225
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $132,753 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+12.5%faster than average
20259,071 jobs
2035 projected10,205 jobs
1,134 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Master's or Professional degree
- 96.9%
- Bachelor's degree
- 3.1%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Certified Nurse Midwives2,381 postings
- 02Nurse Midwives300 postings
- 03Certified Nurse Midwives/Women's Health Nurse Practitioners122 postings
- 04OB/GYNs22 postings
- 05OB/GYN Nurses16 postings
- 06Advanced Practice Provider Nurse Practitioners7 postings
- 07Nurse Practitioners/Certified Physician Assistants6 postings
- 08OB/GYN Hospitalists5 postings
- 09OB/GYN Physicians5 postings
- 10Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioners4 postings
- 11Hospitalists3 postings
- 12Instructors/Professors3 postings
- 13Midwives3 postings
- 14Nurse Practitioners/Advanced Practice Registered Nurses3 postings
- 15OB/GYN Nurse Practitioners3 postings
- 16Anesthesiologists2 postings
- 17Nurse Practitioners/Physician Assistants2 postings
- 18Licensed Midwives1 postings
Top employers
- 01Practicematch257 postings
- 02Unified Women's Healthcare117 postings
- 03Kaiser Permanente66 postings
- 04Maine Medical Center58 postings
- 05AdventHealth47 postings
- 06K&A Recruiting37 postings
- 07Wellspan Health32 postings
- 08CHRISTUS Health29 postings
- 09Atlantic Health System28 postings
- 10University Of Maryland Medical System25 postings
- 11Indiana University-Bloomington24 postings
- 12Mednax23 postings
- 13Provider Solutions22 postings
- 14Women's Care21 postings
- 15Cambridge Health Alliance19 postings
- 16Denver Health19 postings
- 17Diana Health18 postings
- 18Jackson Physician Search17 postings
- 19Pediatrix Medical Group17 postings
- 20Allina Health16 postings
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