The first thing to know about the search "LPN jobs in Dallas" is that Texas does not use the title. A licensed practical nurse is a licensed vocational nurse, or LVN, in Texas, the same license under a different name, and every job posting, board form and workforce report in the state says LVN. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts the two titles as one occupation, "licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses", which is why this guide uses both. The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area that the BLS reports on is 11 counties (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise), and Texas had 59,356 LVNs in 2023. This guide covers where the open LVN jobs in the metro are right now, which settings hire the most, what the occupation pays nationally and how Dallas healthcare pay compares, which license you need (Texas is a compact state), and the outlook.
Where the open LVN jobs in Dallas are right now
Betterleap's job board counts open postings on hospital and health-system career sites. As of September 26, 2026, the Dallas-Fort Worth cities the board lists separately carried 936 open healthcare postings from 28 employer career sites, part of 11,388 open postings statewide. Every city links to its live listings, and the LPN jobs in Dallas hub is the place to start for this role; LPN jobs in Fort Worth covers the western half of the metro.
| City | Open healthcare postings | of which RN | Employers posting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX | 573 | 193 | 14 |
| Fort Worth, TX | 363 | 62 | 14 |
The city of Dallas itself had 573 open postings from 14 employers, 193 of them for registered nurses. Statewide, LVN openings were 293 of Texas's 11,388 postings (6.2%), against 2,751 for registered nurses: hospital career sites post many more RN than LVN roles, because most LVN jobs are in long-term care, home health and clinics whose postings sit on other sites. Browse the metro by role: LVN jobs in Dallas, RN jobs and CNA jobs, or widen to every LVN job in Texas.
Health systems posting the most jobs in Texas
Counted by open postings on each system's own career site, statewide, as of September 26, 2026. A system that lists every unit and shift separately ranks higher than one that posts one evergreen requisition per role, and the metro's largest Dallas-based system sits at the top of the list.
| # | Employer | Open postings in Texas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baylor Scott and White Health | 2,108 |
| 2 | Houston Methodist | 1,172 |
| 3 | University Health System | 1,062 |
| 4 | Universal Health Services | 926 |
| 5 | Memorial Hermann Healthcare System | 700 |
Which settings hire LVNs
Hospital career sites are only part of the LVN market. Nationally, the largest employer of practical nurses is the nursing and residential care sector, and the pattern holds in Texas: the state's workforce center reports that 25% of Texas LVNs work in a nursing home or extended-care setting, and the four most common practice specialties are geriatrics (25.8%), pediatrics (10.9%), home health (10.7%), adult health (8.9%). The BLS employer mix for the occupation nationally, with the median annual wage in each setting (May 2025):
| Setting | Share of LPN and LVN jobs | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing and residential care facilities | 37% | $68,020 |
| Hospitals (state, local and private) | 16% | $61,160 |
| Home healthcare services | 12% | $63,580 |
| Offices of physicians | 11% | $59,520 |
| Government (excluding education and hospitals) | 6% | $68,970 |
Two things follow for a Dallas search. First, look beyond the hospital systems: skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, home health agencies, dialysis and primary-care clinics, correctional and public-health employers hire LVNs in numbers the hospital career sites never show. Second, the settings that hire the most are not the lowest paid: nationally the median in nursing and residential care ($68,020) is above the median in hospitals ($61,160) and physicians' offices ($59,520).
What LPNs and LVNs earn
The BLS publishes one wage survey for the occupation. Nationally, for May 2025, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses earned a median of $64,400 a year ($30.96 an hour) and a mean of $67,050 ($32.24); the lowest-paid tenth earned less than $49,740 and the highest-paid tenth more than $83,440. For the Texas statewide figure and how it ranks against the other 49 states, see LPN salary by state; for where the occupation's jobs are concentrated, where the most LPN jobs are.
| Occupation (national, May 2025) | Employed | Mean hourly | Mean annual | Median hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses | 648,410 | $32.24 | $67,050 | $30.96 |
| Registered nurses | 3,379,720 | $48.76 | $101,420 | $46.90 |
| Nurse practitioners | 323,040 | $66.01 | $137,300 | $63.61 |
| Nursing assistants | 1,448,910 | $20.53 | $42,700 | $20.32 |
How Dallas healthcare pay compares
The BLS release on the metro reports pay by occupation group rather than by occupation. Across all occupations the Dallas-Fort Worth mean hourly wage is $33.96, a shade above the national $33.54. Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, the group that holds LVNs and RNs, average $52.34 an hour in the metro against $52.26 nationally, so licensed nursing pay in Dallas runs at about the national level rather than above it. Healthcare support occupations (nursing assistants, medical assistants, home health aides) average $18.27 against $19.62 nationally, about 7% less. What Dallas has in its favor is cost: Texas has no state income tax, so a national-average wage goes further than the same wage in most large metros.
Healthcare is also a smaller slice of the Dallas economy than of the nation's. Practitioners and technical occupations are 5.7% of the metro's jobs against 6.3% nationally, and support occupations 3.2% against 5.1%, which means the metro employs fewer nurses per job than the country does and its health systems recruit steadily to keep pace with the metro's growth. These are survey means, not offers: night and weekend differentials, overtime and sign-on bonuses sit on top of base pay and vary by employer; see how shift differentials work, and for posted pay by city and employer across the state, nurse jobs and pay in Texas.
Which license do you need to work as an LVN in Dallas?
Texas is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact. The compact covers practical and vocational nurses as well as RNs, so an LPN whose primary state of residence is another compact state and who holds a multistate license can take a job in Dallas on that license without applying to the Texas Board of Nursing, as long as their primary residence stays in that home state. The compact states list shows which states are in; the big exceptions nearby are California and Nevada, which are not, so a California LVN moving to Dallas applies to Texas by endorsement.
- Moving to Texas. A nurse who makes Texas their primary residence, or who holds a single-state license elsewhere, applies to the Texas Board of Nursing for licensure by endorsement; once Texas is your home state you can hold a Texas multistate license and practice in every other compact state on it. The board's endorsement route, the Nursing Jurisprudence Exam, fingerprinting and current fees are laid out step by step in how to become a nurse in Texas, and transferring a nursing license to another state covers endorsement in general.
- New graduates. Practical and vocational nursing programs typically take about 1 year (the BLS's typical entry education for the occupation is a postsecondary nondegree award), followed by the national licensing exam for practical nurses and the Texas application. The Texas guide walks through the new-graduate path.
- Renewal and continuing education. Texas's renewal cycle and continuing-education requirements are listed next to the other states' in nurse CE requirements by state.
Outlook for LVNs
The BLS publishes its ten-year projections nationally, not by metro. Employment of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses was 666,900 in 2025 and is projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations, adding 19,700 jobs. Slow growth does not mean few openings: the BLS projects about 51,800 openings a year over the decade, most of them to replace nurses who retire or leave the occupation. In a metro that employs fewer nurses per job than the national norm, the local pull is if anything stronger, and the aging of the population keeps long-term care, the sector that hires the most LVNs, growing.
Many LVNs use the license as a step toward the RN: an LVN-to-RN bridge program credits the vocational training, and the pay gap (a national median of $64,400 for LPNs and LVNs against a mean of $101,420 for RNs) is the main reason to take it. If you are early in your career, getting your first nursing job as a new grad covers the first-year questions.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2025, Table 1: National employment and wage data by occupation, May 2025, read 25 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Southwest Information Office, Occupational Employment and Wages in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, May 2025, released 13 August 2026, read 25 October 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, 2025 pay and 2025-35 projections, read 25 October 2026.
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Nurse Licensure Compact member states map and Texas board member details, current status, read 25 October 2026.
- Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies, Nursing Workforce Reports: LVNs by the numbers, 2023, read 25 October 2026.
- Betterleap job board, open postings on hospital and health-system career sites for Dallas, Fort Worth and Texas, counted September 26, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Why do Dallas job postings say LVN instead of LPN?
Texas (like California) calls a licensed practical nurse a licensed vocational nurse, or LVN. It is the same license and the same occupation; the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts the two titles together as "licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses". When you search Dallas postings, search for LVN.
How much do LPNs and LVNs make?
Nationally, the BLS reports a median annual wage of $64,400 ($30.96 an hour) and a mean of $67,050 for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses for May 2025; the lowest-paid tenth earned under $49,740 and the highest-paid tenth over $83,440. In the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, healthcare practitioner and technical occupations as a group average $52.34 an hour against $52.26 nationally, so licensed nursing pay in Dallas sits close to the national level.
Can I work in Dallas with a compact LPN license from another state?
Yes, if your primary state of residence is another compact state and your license is multistate. Texas is a member of the Nurse Licensure Compact, which covers practical and vocational nurses as well as RNs. If you move your residence to Texas, or hold a single-state license, you apply to the Texas Board of Nursing for licensure by endorsement.
Where are the most LVN jobs in Dallas?
Nationally, nursing and residential care facilities employ 37% of LPNs and LVNs, hospitals 16%, home healthcare 12% and physicians' offices 11%, and 25% of Texas LVNs work in a nursing home or extended-care setting. In Dallas, that means skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, home health agencies and clinics carry most of the openings, and hospital career sites post far fewer LVN than RN roles. As of September 26, 2026, the Dallas-Fort Worth cities the Betterleap job board lists separately carried 936 open healthcare postings on hospital and health-system career sites.
What is the job outlook for LVNs?
The BLS projects employment of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations, with about 51,800 openings a year over the decade, most of them replacement openings as nurses retire or leave the occupation.