National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses -- Downloadable Data

The Survey has been conducted approximately every four years since 1977. For each survey year, HRSA has prepared two Public Use data files in flat ASCII file format, without delimiters. In addition, for 2008, SAS-encoded and SPSS-encoded data files are available for download. Public use data for the nine NSSRN surveys to date have been made available to researchers.

State-based Public Use Files provide information on nurses who responded to the survey, without identifying the County and Metropolitan Area in which they live or work. Most users will prefer these files for general use applications that are national or State-level research. Some information from the survey respondent data has been withheld where there is greater possibility of pointing to an individual.

County Public Use Files provide most, but not all, the same information on the nurses from the State Public Use File. Whereas the State Public Use File contains little geographic information below the State level, the County Public Use Files also identify the County and Metropolitan Areas in which the nurses live or work. Information likely to point to an individual in a less-populated county has been withheld.

NSSRN data are to be used for research purposes only and may not be used in any manner to identify individual respondents.

More about the National Sample Survey Public Use Files