Two years of college to a nursing licence and a job in any town in Canada. Hands-on, in demand, cheaper than a degree.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$64,000
New grad
$55,000
Top of the grid
$76,000
Hourly, on a union grid in most hospitals and public long-term care homes. Job Bank's national median is about $31 an hour, roughly $65,000 a year full time. BC and Saskatchewan pay the most. Roughly two-thirds of what an RN (registered nurse) makes in the same building.
$28 to $32 an hour
About $55,000 to $64,000 a year full time
Long-term care and home care often pay a bit less than hospitals. Agency shifts pay more but come with no benefits.
$36 to $40 an hour
After 8 to 10 years, plus shift premiums
Nights, weekends and overtime push many full-time practical nurses past $80,000.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year college diploma at a cheaper provincial rate near $2,000 a year, plus books, uniforms and clinical fees, the registration exam at about $350 and the first year of provincial registration. The high end is a program closer to $8,000 a year with the fuller kit and the one time application fee of roughly $430 on top of the yearly registration. Ontario's Learn and Stay grant covers tuition for nursing students who agree to work in an underserved region, which can take the low end close to zero. This is one of the cheapest routes into a regulated health job in the country.
Under $15,000 total for most people, one of the cheapest routes to a regulated health job. Ontario's Learn and Stay grant covers tuition for nursing students who commit to work in an underserved region.
Pension
HOOPP (the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan) in Ontario hospitals and many long-term care homes; public plans elsewhere.
Health and dental
Full-time and many part-time union jobs.
Shift premiums
Extra per hour for evenings, nights and weekends.
Union
Most public employers.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A two-year college diploma, one exam, then register.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Grade 12 English, biology and a math. Chemistry helps.
Practical nursing diploma
2 years
2 years at a public college, 4 semesters, with clinical placements in hospitals and long-term care. Some colleges run compressed versions.
Registration exam
After graduation
Most provinces use the CPNRE (Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Examination). Ontario and BC use a newer computer exam called REx-PN (Regulatory Exam, Practical Nurse).
Register with your provincial college
A few weeks
In Ontario that is the College of Nurses of Ontario and the title is RPN (registered practical nurse). Everywhere else the title is LPN (licensed practical nurse).
Biology
Required at most colleges.
English
Required.
Math
Any Grade 12 math. You will calculate drug doses.
Chemistry
Helpful, sometimes required.
Co-op or volunteering in a care home
Some colleges use a pre-admission test or interview; experience helps.
Practical nurse is a regulated title everywhere: RPN (registered practical nurse) in Ontario, LPN (licensed practical nurse) in the other provinces, and infirmière auxiliaire in Quebec. You register with the same nursing college as registered nurses. Registration moves between provinces fairly easily, though Quebec has its own exam and a French requirement. Your scope: patients whose condition is stable and predictable. RNs (registered nurses) take the more complex, unstable ones.
Almost every public college in the country. Some examples:
Humber, Seneca, George Brown, Mohawk, Fanshawe, Algonquin
Ontario
Vancouver Community College, BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Camosun
British Columbia
NorQuest College, Bow Valley College, Red Deer Polytechnic
Alberta
Nova Scotia Community College, New Brunswick Community College
Atlantic Canada
Things you don't need, but that help.
Bridge to RN (registered nurse)
2 to 3 more years of university, often part time. Many colleges and universities run bridging programs for practical nurses.
Specialty courses
Palliative care, mental health, dialysis, wound care, foot care.
Operating room certificate
A post-grad certificate; hospitals are short of scrub nurses.
Charge nurse in long-term care
Practical nurses often run a floor, especially on nights.
Work as a PSW (personal support worker) first
Real experience with patients, and some colleges give credit for it.
First aid and CPR
Required before placements anyway.
A second language
Long-term care homes serve many languages.
Thick skin and good humour
You will need both.
Some practical nurses take a short foot care course and run their own business visiting seniors at home or in retirement residences, charging per visit. A common side income, and for some a full-time path with no boss.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Usually 12 hours in hospitals, 8 in long-term care. You take report, give medications to your group of patients, do vital signs, wound care and injections, help people wash and move, chart everything, and flag any change to the RN (registered nurse) or doctor. In long-term care you may be the most senior nurse on the floor overnight.
The good
The hard parts
Like the field but not this exact job?
Things people don't tell you.
Canada had roughly 145,000 licensed practical nurses in 2025. Only registered nurses are a bigger group in health care.
Ontario calls the role RPN (registered practical nurse). Every other province says LPN (licensed practical nurse). Quebec says infirmière auxiliaire. The licence transfers either way.
After the pandemic, Ontario set a target of 4 hours of direct care per long-term care resident per day. Meeting it means hiring tens of thousands of practical nurses and support workers.
In Ontario, the median practical nurse earns about a quarter less an hour than the median registered nurse, though with stable patients the day-to-day work often looks similar. Unions have pushed for years to narrow the gap.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.