Louisiana has about 4.6 million residents. Registered nurses average $84,190 a year, 44th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
The Louisiana State Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. Practical nurses come under a separate board. The registered nurse board is on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge, telephone (225) 755-7500. Rules and applications are at lsbn.state.la.us.
Louisiana implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact in 2019. A nurse living in Louisiana holds one multistate license good in every other compact state, including all three of its neighbors: Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.
Nurse practitioner practice
Louisiana is in the reduced practice group. A nurse practitioner must keep a collaborative practice agreement with a physician, setting out the scope of prescribing and the arrangements for consultation. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing is the state's academic nursing school. Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond runs one of the largest baccalaureate programs in the region, Southern University in Baton Rouge is among the historically Black nursing programs, and Nicholls State, McNeese State and Loyola University New Orleans carry further programs, with the community and technical college system supplying practical nurse and associate degree graduates.
Pay and workforce
New Orleans and Baton Rouge hold the largest concentrations of hospital nursing work. Ochsner Health is the biggest employer in the state, followed by LCMC Health, the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System and Willis-Knighton in Shreveport.
Hurricane response is a standing part of hospital planning here: staff are held over for storms, facilities evacuate patients inland, and the state regularly brings in nurses from other compact states during recovery, which is one of the clearest practical arguments for compact membership. See travel nursing.
Louisiana also carries some of the highest rates of diabetes, heart disease and obesity in the country, which is visible in the caseload of every hospital and clinic in it. Rural parishes in the north and along the Atchafalaya depend on critical access hospitals.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Nurse practitioner practice authority
- Collaborative practice agreements
- Travel nursing
- Nursing by state
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, state population estimates for July 1, 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, registered nurses (29-1141), May 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Louisiana State Board of Nursing, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.