Compared with the local labor market
Licensed Practical Nurse pay vs. Minnesota
Across all employers in Minnesota, the median wage for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses — about 12,840 people — is $63,750. Veterans Affairs Department pays a median base salary of $58,008 for this role, 9% below that figure — about the 21st percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Veterans Affairs Department sits in the local pay range
$51,700
$59,960
$63,750
$71,270
$77,380
Veterans Affairs Department median · $58,008
The bar is the range of annual wages for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses across every employer in Minnesota, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Veterans Affairs Department’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses — about 648,410 people — is $64,400. Veterans Affairs Department’s median base salary is 10% below that national figure, about the 23rd percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$49,740
$59,000
$64,400
$76,030
$83,440
Veterans Affairs Department median · $58,008
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Minnesota range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 97 of 144 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Veterans Affairs Department is $57,444, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
Licensed Practical Nurse beyond Minnesota
This role is reported in 19 jurisdictions. In Minnesota, the median of $66,031 ranks #4 of 19. See Licensed Practical Nurse across all of Minnesota →
Highest-paying jurisdictions for this role
Median total compensation for comparable Licensed Practical Nurseroles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.