Black nurses make up 12.4% of U.S. registered nurses but hold only about 4% of certified registered nurse anesthetist jobs, according to a Nov. 5 Nurse.org analysis of federal workforce data.
The report , written by Krista Walker, PhD, draws on Census American Community Survey data from 2020 to 2024 and the Health Resources and Services Administration’s 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. Black nurses’ share of CRNA jobs is 0.29 times their share of RN jobs, the steepest underrepresentation of any group. Hispanic and Asian nurses posted ratios of 0.67 and 0.55, respectively. The Black CRNA figure rests on 60 survey respondents and is reported as approximate.
The gap does not come from a lack of credentials. Black RNs hold nursing master’s or doctoral degrees at a higher rate than any other group: 26.4%, compared with 20.2% of white RNs. In the HRSA survey, 8.9% of Black RNs work as nurse practitioners, compared with 8.3% of white RNs.
The pay stakes are large. Full-time CRNAs earn a median $217,853 per year, compared with $125,126 for nurse practitioners, a difference of more than $90,000.
Dr. Walker identified cost as a compounding barrier. Students entering nurse anesthesia programs on or after Jan. 1, 2022, must earn a practice doctorate, programs commonly require three years of full-time study, and the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology reports average student debt above $200,000.
The analysis calls on CRNA and nurse practitioner programs to report applications, admissions, completion, withdrawal, dismissal and time to certification by race and gender.
The report is the final installment of a three-part Nurse.org series on race, representation and advancement in nursing.
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