Insights / Older residents and healthcare jobs / Massachusetts
Older residents and healthcare jobs in Massachusetts
Massachusetts nursing assistants are the thin bench beside older residents. The aide count is the large one.
The aide figure was labeled a shortage and then used to explain an assistant req that had nothing to do with it.
The state has 1,421,793 residents age 65 and over.
There are 117,940 aides doing home health and personal care, which is 82.95 jobs per 1,000 older residents.
Registered nurses number 88,200, or 62.03 on that measure.
Assistant jobs total 38,130, or 26.82 on that measure.
Assistants are the small bench.
If the open job is assistants, lead with 26.82 and stop borrowing comfort from the aide count.
These are employment figures next to a population count.
They are not open reqs.
Each occupation
1Home Health and Personal Care Aides
- State jobs
- 117,940
- Residents age 65 and over
- 1,421,793
- Jobs per 1,000 residents age 65 and over
- 82.95
2Registered Nurses
- State jobs
- 88,200
- Residents age 65 and over
- 1,421,793
- Jobs per 1,000 residents age 65 and over
- 62.03
3Nursing Assistants
- State jobs
- 38,130
- Residents age 65 and over
- 1,421,793
- Jobs per 1,000 residents age 65 and over
- 26.82
Ranked table
Swipe the table sideways. The same figures are in the blocks above.
| Rank | Occupation | State jobs | Residents age 65 and over | Jobs per 1,000 residents age 65 and over |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 117,940 | 1,421,793 | 82.95 |
| 2 | Registered Nurses | 88,200 | 1,421,793 | 62.03 |
| 3 | Nursing Assistants | 38,130 | 1,421,793 | 26.82 |
Takeaways
- The all-age civilian population here is 7,150,633, and using it as the denominator dilutes every row on the page.
- Massachusetts is 7 of 51 on the nurse measure, and the aide headcount still leads the page anyway.
- Jobs are the May 2025 counts and residents are the July 1, 2025 civilian estimates, not a pile of applications.
- A high aide density and a thin assistant bench can both be true on this page, and the open req decides which one you brief.
For recruiters
- Name assistants when assistants are the open job, because the aide density answers a different question.
- Put the older-resident denominator on the slide before anyone turns the aide headcount into a shortage story.
FAQ
- Are these posted wages or open jobs?
- No. The table is a government survey or a designation file.
- What should a recruiter do first?
- Follow the recruiter note on this page.
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Related hiring pages
Methodology
Jobs are OEWS May 2025 state employment for registered nurses, nursing assistants, and home health and personal care aides. Residents are the Census Population Estimates Program civilian population age 65 and over on July 1, 2025, Vintage 2025. This is not the ACS tabulation; the ACS API was not used. Jobs per 1,000 residents equals jobs times 1,000 divided by that resident count. It is not a shortage rate and it is not a count of job listings. Areas are ordered by registered-nurse jobs per 1,000 residents age 65 and over. Massachusetts is 7 of 51. Total civilian population in the same file is 7,150,633.
Sources
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics · May 2025
- Census Bureau Population Estimates Program, civilian population by age and sex · July 1, 2025
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