CNA Jobs Near Me: Find Local Openings and What They Pay
CNA jobs near me are posted on hospital and health system career pages, on job aggregators like Indeed and LinkedIn, and sometimes directly through your state CNA registry. The national median CNA wage is $19.05 per hour, but your local rate depends heavily on state, county, and employer type.
This guide covers where to search, which local employers hire the most CNAs, how to read job postings without getting burned, and what to know before you negotiate your first offer.
By Anna, Career Advisor at CNAJobPath.com
On this page
- Where CNA jobs are found locally
- Top employers hiring CNAs
- Salary by state
- Local job demand and what drives it
- How to search effectively
- Job posting red flags to know before you apply
- Skills employers actually look for
- What to know before you negotiate your first CNA offer
- External job search resources
Where CNA Jobs Are Found Locally
CNA jobs are concentrated wherever healthcare facilities and patient populations overlap. In practice, that means most openings cluster around:
- Hospital campuses and health system affiliates. Large health systems like HCA Healthcare, Ascension, and CommonSpirit operate multiple facilities within a region. If you live within 30 miles of a regional hospital, there is almost certainly a health system campus nearby with active CNA openings.
- Skilled nursing facilities and long-term care communities. These are the largest single employer of CNAs by volume. Nursing homes exist in nearly every county in the country. Turnover is higher than in hospitals, which means openings appear more frequently.
- Home health agencies. Bayada, Amedisys, LHC Group, and smaller regional agencies all hire CNAs to serve patients in their homes. These are less visible in local directories but very active in hiring.
- Assisted living communities. National chains like Brookdale Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living, and Five Star Senior Living operate locations in most mid-size and large markets. They tend to hire CNAs continuously.
- Hospice organizations. Both national hospice organizations (VITAS Healthcare, Amedisys Hospice) and smaller regional nonprofits hire CNAs for in-home and facility-based roles.
If you are in a rural area, your options narrow by geography but not necessarily by availability. Rural SNFs and home health agencies often struggle to fill CNA positions, which means rural candidates have real negotiating leverage even at entry level.
Top Employers Hiring CNAs
The employers below hire CNAs at significant volume nationally. Most have career portals where openings are listed before they appear on aggregator sites.
| Employer Type | Example Organizations | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Acute care hospital systems | HCA Healthcare, Ascension, CommonSpirit, Tenet, Kaiser Permanente | Higher pay, better benefits, tuition assistance common |
| Skilled nursing chains | Ensign Group, Brookdale, Genesis Healthcare, Kindred | Largest volume of openings; pay varies widely by facility |
| Home health agencies | Bayada Home Health Care, Amedisys, LHC Group, BrightSpring | Flexible schedules; effective pay lower after travel time |
| Assisted living chains | Sunrise Senior Living, Benchmark Senior Living, Five Star Senior Living | Lower intensity; steady hiring year-round |
| Hospice organizations | VITAS Healthcare, Compassus, Seasons Hospice | On-call requirements common; meaningful work if it fits you |
| Staffing agencies | NurseCore, LiquidAgents Healthcare, Aya Healthcare | Higher hourly rates; no guaranteed hours or benefits |
For the full breakdown of agency-specific work, see the CNA Agency Jobs guide.
Salary by State
The $19.05 national median is a starting point. Your actual rate depends significantly on where you live. High cost-of-living states pay more, but the gap between pay and local living costs does not always favor those states.
| State | Median Hourly Wage | Median Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| California | $21.78 | $45,310 |
| Massachusetts | $21.21 | $44,110 |
| New York | $20.58 | $42,810 |
| Washington | $20.30 | $42,220 |
| Oregon | $19.91 | $41,410 |
| Illinois | $18.29 | $38,050 |
| Texas | $14.99 | $31,180 |
| Florida | $15.42 | $32,070 |
| Mississippi | $13.84 | $28,780 |
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Within a state, pay varies further by county. Metropolitan areas in even lower-paying states tend to outpace the state median, sometimes significantly.
Local Job Demand and What Drives It
CNA job demand in your area is shaped by three factors: the age of the local population, the density of healthcare facilities, and the availability of CNAs willing to work there.
The third factor matters more than most people realize. States with lower CNA wages often have persistent shortages, which creates unusual hiring flexibility for candidates willing to negotiate. In rural areas, a CNA with six months of experience and flexible availability has more leverage than she might expect.
Markets with high demand and relatively lower pay include many parts of the South, rural Midwest, and rural Northeast. Markets with high pay and competitive hiring include most of California, the Pacific Northwest, Massachusetts, and the metro areas of New York and New Jersey.
Nursing home and long-term care demand is structurally high everywhere, partly because turnover rates in SNFs are among the highest of any healthcare setting. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the overall CNA workforce to grow by 4% through 2032, but home health specifically is projected at 22% growth over the same period.
How to Search Effectively
The most direct method: go to the career page of every hospital and health system within your commutable distance. Health system career portals often list openings 24 to 48 hours before they appear on Indeed or LinkedIn. If you have a target employer, set up a job alert directly on their site.
For broader searches, Indeed has the deepest CNA job inventory. Search “CNA” or “certified nursing assistant” with a radius of 15 to 25 miles. LinkedIn Jobs surfaces positions that pull from professional networks and catches some postings Indeed misses, particularly for hospital systems.
Your state CNA registry is worth checking. Some states, including California and Texas, list facilities with open positions through the registry portal or through the state health department website. It is underused and takes only a few minutes to check.
For home health CNA jobs specifically, search CareerOneStop at careeronestop.org. CareerOneStop is funded by the Department of Labor and aggregates local job postings including many home health agency roles that do not appear on national boards.
Job Posting Red Flags to Know Before You Apply
Most CNA job postings are legitimate. Some are not worth your time, and a few will actively waste it. These are the signals worth noticing before you apply.
“Competitive pay” without a number. This means the rate is not competitive. Employers who are paying well say the number. If a posting only mentions “competitive compensation” and you cannot find a rate anywhere, call and ask before you apply. If they cannot tell you the hourly rate on the phone, that is your answer.
Staff-to-patient ratios that sound low but are vague. “We maintain excellent staffing levels” means nothing. Worth asking in the interview: what is the typical CNA-to-patient ratio on day shift? Any facility that has a good answer will give you one.
Continuous hiring for the same role at the same facility. If a SNF appears to be perpetually hiring CNAs on Indeed, it is probably because they cannot retain them. That can reflect poor working conditions, understaffing, management problems, or all three. Check the facility’s CMS inspection report at medicare.gov before applying.
Training offers that come with strings. Some facilities offer paid CNA training in exchange for a work commitment of 12 to 24 months after training completes. That arrangement can be fair or it can trap you in a low-paying role. Read the contract before you agree. Specifically, ask what happens to any repayment obligation if the facility closes or significantly changes your role.
Skills Employers Actually Look For
The technical skills are table stakes: safe patient handling and transfers, vital signs, catheter care, wound care basics, charting in whatever EMR the facility uses (PointClickCare and Epic are the most common). You will not get hired for technical skills. You will get hired or not based on what interviewers read as your reliability and your fit with the patient population.
The skills that actually differentiate candidates in CNA interviews:
- Availability match. If the role needs evening and weekend coverage, candidates who genuinely offer that availability get hired faster. Be honest about what you can actually work.
- Setting-specific experience. A candidate applying to a memory care unit who has worked with dementia patients before should mention that specifically and early.
- CNA registry status. Confirm your registry listing is active and clean before any interview. Employers verify it, and a problem discovered post-interview is a wasted trip for both parties.
- References. A clinical supervisor reference from a recent placement or previous employer matters more than personal references. If you are a new graduate, a reference from your clinical instructor is valuable.
What to Know Before You Negotiate Your First CNA Offer
Most CNAs do not negotiate their first offer. That is understandable and also a missed opportunity, particularly in markets where facilities are competing for candidates.
A few things to know before the offer conversation:
Know the local rate before you walk in. The state medians in the table above are a starting point. Search current Indeed postings in your specific city and note what comparable employers are advertising. That range is your reference point.
Shift availability is the most effective negotiating lever. If you can offer night or weekend availability that the employer needs, say so and ask whether the differential brings the effective rate to a specific number. Shift differentials are often negotiated more flexibly than base pay.
Benefits are negotiable too, and not always considered by first-time job seekers. Start date, PTO accrual rate, and sign-on bonus structure are all things that vary by employer and candidate. A facility competing for CNAs in a tight market is more flexible than a posting implies.
The salary conversation story worth knowing: a CNA I spoke with in 2023 received an initial offer of $17.50/hr at a SNF in her area. She had competing offers at $18.25 and $18.75. She brought the competing rates to the conversation, mentioned she preferred the first facility but needed to be at $18.50 minimum. They came up to $18.25 and added a $500 sign-on bonus. She took it. The ask took about 90 seconds. This is not an unusual outcome when you have competing offers and state the number clearly.
External Job Search Resources
- Indeed — CNA job search
- LinkedIn Jobs — nursing assistant openings
- CareerOneStop — local healthcare job search (Department of Labor)
- CMS Care Compare — nursing facility inspection reports
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — CNA salary and outlook data
The local market you are in shapes everything: what you can earn, how quickly you can get hired, and how much negotiating room exists. The salary data here is a starting point, not a ceiling.
For setting-specific guides, see Hospital CNA Jobs Near Me, PRN CNA Jobs Near Me, and CNA Home Health Jobs.
For the full picture on CNA settings and pay, start with the CNA Jobs overview.