Are There More Jobs for CNAs than CMAs? A Data-Driven Answer

Nursing assistants outnumber medical assistants in the U.S. workforce by nearly 600,000 jobs, yet medical assistant employment is projected to grow more than twice as fast through 2034.

That gap frames a real tension for anyone choosing between the two credentials: raw hiring volume favors CNAs today, but momentum, wages, and working conditions increasingly favor CMAs. Using 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data alongside state and metro projections, this comparison weighs total employment, annual openings, growth rates, work settings, geographic hotspots, and credentialing rules side by side.

CNA vs CMA: Current Employment Numbers

Nursing assistants currently hold significantly more jobs than medical assistants.

Sheer Size: CNAs Lead by Almost 600,000 Workers

According to the most recent national data, there are roughly 1,388,000 nursing assistants (including orderlies and psychiatric aides) employed across the country, compared to about 793,000 medical assistants. That means CNAs outnumber CMAs by nearly 595,000 positions, a key distinction when weighing CNA vs medical assistant career options. This nearly 2:1 ratio reflects the long-standing, enormous demand for bedside care in nursing homes, hospitals, and long-term care facilities.

Why the Bigger Number Doesn't Tell the Full Story

A large part of that CNA employment figure comes from high turnover, not just organic growth. Nursing assistant roles often experience heavy churn due to the physically demanding nature of the work and relatively low pay, meaning many openings exist because people leave the field rather than because new jobs are being created. By contrast, medical assistant positions tend to have lower turnover and are expanding in outpatient settings, which can signal a different kind of opportunity, particularly for those finding a medical assisting job with no experience.

Quick Salary Context

• CNAs: Median annual wage around $39,530 (the middle 50% earn between $36,260 and $46,070).
• CMAs: Median annual wage around $44,200 (the middle 50% earn between $37,610 and $48,160), according to our medical assistant salary data.

While medical assistants typically earn more, the sheer volume of CNA jobs means you're more likely to find an opening quickly, though the role comes with its own challenges.

Salary Snapshot: CNAs vs CMAs

Annual Job Openings: Which Role Has More Hiring Opportunities?

When we talk about job openings, we're not just counting new positions that pop up because a field is expanding. Annual job openings include both newly created roles and the slots that open up when workers leave the occupation, whether they retire, switch careers, or move to different settings. That distinction matters because it tells you something about stability, demand, and why employers are hiring.

The National Numbers: CNAs vs. CMAs

According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics projections for 2024 to 2034, nursing assistants and related roles are expected to have about 217,100 annual openings nationwide, compared to 112,300 for medical assistants.¹ That's nearly twice as many total opportunities hitting the market each year for nursing assistants.

But the story behind those numbers is quite different:

• Nursing assistants: 217,100 annual openings, but only about 3,400 come from industry growth. The remaining 213,700 are replacement openings, workers leaving the field.¹
• Medical assistants: 112,300 annual openings, with roughly 10,100 from growth and 102,200 from replacement.¹

For nursing assistants, the overwhelming majority of openings are driven by turnover, not expansion.¹ For medical assistants, growth plays a larger role, signaling that medical assisting is a hot profession.¹

What High Openings Mean for Your Job Search

High annual openings can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they mean you're likely to find a job quickly. Employers are constantly recruiting, and the sheer volume of opportunities shortens your job hunt. On the other hand, a field with sky-high replacement needs may also have higher churn, people leaving due to burnout, injury, or better opportunities elsewhere.

With medical assistants, the growth-driven demand suggests more stable, long-term career paths. The role is expanding in outpatient clinics, physician offices, and surgical centers where teams are scaling up. That often translates to more opportunities for advancement for medical assistants and a steadier work environment.

Both roles offer ample openings, but knowing whether those openings come from churn or growth helps set realistic expectations for job security and day-to-day experience.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Job Growth Projections: Which Career Is Growing Faster?

Which role is actually expanding faster over the next decade, CNAs or CMAs? The gap is bigger than most people expect. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024 to 2034 projections, medical assistant employment is forecast to grow by about 16 to 17 percent¹, while nursing assistant and orderly employment is projected to grow by just 2 percent². In BLS terms, that puts CMAs in the "much faster than average" bucket and CNAs in the "slower than average" bucket.

What The Percentages Translate To In Real Jobs

Percentages can mislead when the two workforces are different sizes, so it helps to look at net new positions.

• Medical assistants: Around 129,000 to 130,000 net new jobs added between 2024 and 2034, growing the workforce from roughly 770,000 to about 905,000.¹
• Nursing assistants and orderlies: Only about 29,000 to 32,500 net new jobs added, moving from around 1.44 million to roughly 1.47 million.²

Compare that with the annual openings figures from the previous section (204,100 for CNAs, 112,300 for CMAs) and a clearer picture emerges: CNA hiring volume is driven almost entirely by turnover, while CMA hiring reflects genuine workforce expansion on top of turnover.

What Is Driving The Divergence

Demand for CNAs is pushed hard by the aging population and rising need for long-term and home-based care, but growth in the nursing home segment has been offset by wage pressure, staffing shortages, and a shift of some patients toward home health aides, whose ranks are projected to grow 17 percent over the same window³.

CMAs are riding a different wave: the ongoing shift of care from hospitals into outpatient clinics, physician offices, and multi-specialty practices. As primary care networks expand and physicians delegate more clinical and administrative tasks, medical assistants absorb that work. Taking a closer look at what does a medical assistant do shows the breadth of duties fueling demand, and the pros and cons of being a medical assistant remain key considerations as the field expands.

Recent workforce commentary through 2025 and into 2026 has not meaningfully changed the trajectory. If anything, outpatient hiring has held up better than nursing home hiring, reinforcing the direction BLS already projected.

Where the Jobs Are: Work Settings and Demand Drivers

Where you work as a CNA or CMA shapes everything from your daily routine to your long-term career stability. These two roles cluster in very different healthcare settings, and understanding where demand is strongest helps you target your job search effectively.

CNA Work Settings: Long-Term Care Dominates

Certified Nursing Assistants concentrate heavily in nursing and residential care facilities, which account for approximately 55% of all CNA jobs.¹ Hospitals employ about 27% of CNAs,¹ making them the second-largest employer. Home health services represent a smaller but growing slice at roughly 5% of CNA employment.¹

The breakdown looks like this:

• Nursing and residential care: Around 792,000 positions
• Hospitals: Approximately 387,000 positions
• Home health services: About 77,000 positions
• Physician offices and outpatient centers: Fewer than 35,000 combined¹

Home health is the fastest-expanding segment for CNAs.² As more older adults choose to age in place rather than move into facilities, demand for CNAs who can provide hands-on care in private homes continues to climb.² This shift reflects broader preferences for receiving care in familiar surroundings whenever medically appropriate.

CMA Work Settings: Outpatient Is the Stronghold

Certified Medical Assistants work primarily in ambulatory settings. Physician offices, specialty clinics, and outpatient care centers employ the vast majority of CMAs. Unlike CNAs, very few medical assistants work in hospitals (as seen in Medical Assistant Jobs in Hospitals) or long-term care facilities.

Specialty clinics represent the fastest-growing segment for CMAs. Cardiology, dermatology, orthopedics, and other specialty practices increasingly rely on medical assistants to handle both clinical tasks and front-office duties, as outlined in What Does a Medical Assistant Do? The broader shift from inpatient to outpatient care accelerates this trend, as health systems move procedures and follow-up visits out of hospital settings and into lower-cost clinics.

Connecting Settings to Labor Market Trends

Both roles benefit from the aging population, but through different channels. CNAs see demand driven by the need for hands-on personal care in nursing homes and increasingly in home settings. CMAs benefit from the healthcare system's ongoing push toward outpatient efficiency, where one versatile employee can manage vitals, patient intake, and administrative tasks in a busy clinic environment.

CNA vs CMA Salary and Employment by State

The table below compares median annual salaries and total employment for CNAs (nursing assistants) and CMAs (medical assistants) across states where data is available for both roles. All figures come from the 2024 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. California leads in sheer employment for both roles, while Washington and Oregon stand out for offering the highest median pay for medical assistants. Note that these numbers reflect current employment levels and do not include projected growth.

Where CNAs and CMAs Are in High Demand: State Growth Projections

Your local job market can tilt the CNA vs CMA decision more than any national trend. While the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a broad picture, digging into state-level projections reveals where hiring will actually heat up over the next decade.

How to Find State Projections

The BLS Employment Projections program releases state-by-state occupation data for the 2024-2034 period. On bls.gov, use the "Employment by state and occupation" tables and filter for nursing assistants (31-1131) and medical assistants (31-9092) to compare projected growth percentages and net new jobs. Another essential tool is Projections Central at projectionscentral.com, which aggregates long-term state projections. There, you can sort by percent change to spot rapidly growing states, or by numeric change to see where the largest volumes of hires will happen.

What the National Trend Tells Us

Nationally, nursing assistant employment is expected to grow only about 2-2.3% from 2024 to 2034, adding roughly 32,500 jobs. That modest pace is partly due to the immense existing workforce of over 1.4 million.¹ Medical assistant roles, however, are projected to increase much faster, and the BLS categorizes them as growing faster than average, a hot profession driven by expanding outpatient care and an aging population.² States with booming retiree populations, such as those in the Sun Belt, often post growth rates for both roles well above the national average.

Where to Look Beyond the BLS

State labor departments and workforce development websites publish detailed employment outlooks tailored to local healthcare demand. Many community college and vocational school websites also summarize hiring trends for graduates, giving you a frontline view. Professional organizations like the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) and the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) occasionally release regional demand analysis or point to state-specific advocacy efforts that can signal where jobs are growing.

While precise state rankings were not available for this article, the pattern is consistent: medical assistants see faster percentage growth in most states, but nursing assistant openings remain enormous due to turnover. Your best move is to check the live data from these sources while factoring in the type of community and facility you want to work in.

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for CNAs and CMAs

Major metro areas tend to pay CNAs and CMAs well above national averages, but those premium wages often come with a higher cost of living. The San Francisco Bay Area stands out as the clear leader for medical assistants, with a median salary nearly $14,000 above the next closest metro. For CNAs, New York and the large coastal metros cluster more tightly at the top. Overall, CMAs tend to see a wider metro premium spread than CNAs, meaning location choice can make a bigger dollar difference for medical assistants.

Which Certification Matters? How Credentials Affect Job Prospects

Two career ladders, two very different credentialing realities. For medical assistants, earning the CMA is a voluntary move, you can work as a medical assistant without certification, but certification can significantly boost pay and job offers. For nursing assistants, a state-issued CNA license is non-negotiable. This fundamental difference shapes hiring demand and career paths.

The Certified vs. Uncertified Medical Assistant Divide

Employer surveys consistently show that holding the CMA credential puts your resume at the top. Many clinics list 'CMA or equivalent certification' in job postings, making a medical assistant certification a valuable asset. While states rarely mandate certification for medical assistants, the marketplace effectively does: uncertified applicants face tougher competition and lower starting pay.² National figures for 2026 peg the average annual wage for certified medical assistants at $43,221.³ That pay premium adds up in a field where base pay ranges from $40,000 to $45,000. Benefits are common, but certified MAs often receive better offers from the start.

Where the CMA Credential Opens Doors

A CMA's scope of practice blends clinical and administrative medical assistant duties and responsibilities. In many states, CMAs can administer medications under supervision, handle electronic health records, perform phlebotomy, assist with minor procedures, and manage scheduling and billing. This dual capability makes them flexible team members in outpatient settings. Over time, a CMA can move into lead roles, office management, or even teaching in medical assisting programs, a career ladder that simply doesn't exist for CNAs in the same way.

CNA State Licensing: A Different Kind of Mandate

Every state requires CNAs to complete a training program, pass a competency exam, and be listed on the state nurse aide registry, a legal obligation, not a hiring preference.¹ So all practicing CNAs operate on an even credential playing field. You won't see uncertified CNAs competing because they can't legally work. That standardization means the CNA credential doesn't provide the same bargaining power that the CMA credential offers medical assistants.

What Can a CMA Do That a CNA Cannot?

The CMA route also provides a clearer path to supervisory or administrative roles without additional schooling. A seasoned CMA can step into a practice manager role, while a CNA would typically need to become an LPN or RN for a comparable career jump. This doesn't make one path better, it simply reflects different industry structures. If you want a career with a broader mix of clinical, clerical, and leadership opportunities, the CMA credential is your lever.

Job Security and Long-Term Stability: Which Career Is Safer?

Both CNAs and CMAs enjoy strong baseline job security, but the two roles face very different pressures once you look past the raw demand numbers. CNAs win on sheer volume of openings; CMAs tend to win on retention, working conditions, and lower burnout risk over a full career.

Turnover and Burnout

CNA turnover in long-term care and skilled nursing settings is widely recognized as one of the highest in healthcare. The physical demands (lifting, repositioning, and standing for full shifts), heavy patient loads, and emotional weight of end-of-life care contribute to exits from the field within the first few years. CMAs generally work in outpatient clinics and physician offices, where shifts are more predictable, weekends are less common, and the physical toll is lighter. That does not mean CMAs are immune to burnout, but the daily wear tends to be lower.

For current turnover and burnout figures, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a starting point for outlook and pay, while professional associations like the National Association of Health Care Assistants (NAHCA) and the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) publish workforce reports that go deeper on retention.

Automation and Advancement

Neither role is at meaningful risk from automation in the near term; the hot profession facing extinction narrative does not apply. Hands-on patient care, vital signs, specimen handling, and bedside communication are difficult to automate. What differs is the ceiling. CNAs commonly use the role as a stepping stone into LPN or RN programs, and many community colleges offer bridge pathways specifically for working CNAs. CMAs can move laterally into specialty clinics, take on office management or billing roles, or pursue additional certifications in phlebotomy, EKG, or medical coding to meet Continuing Education Requirements.

If long-term stability means low burnout and predictable hours, CMA has the edge. If it means the widest ladder to nursing, CNA is the more direct on-ramp. Check your state nursing board and local school websites for the specific bridge options available near you.

Related Articles

CNAs hold about 1.4 million jobs versus roughly 800,000 for CMAs, and nursing assistant positions generate far more annual openings due to high turnover. However, medical assistant employment is projected to grow 15 percent through 2034, nearly double the CNA rate. If you need to start earning quickly and can handle the physical demands of long-term care, CNA offers sheer volume. If you want faster career growth and more outpatient options, medical assisting opens many doors, and CMA may be the stronger decade-long bet. Revisit the state tables and work settings sections above to match your search to local demand, then explore how to become a medical assistant to find training programs that fit your timeline.