Midwife Career Assessment
Pregnancy, birth, and women's health care — ND in-demand occupation ("Healthcare Practitioners & Technical Workers, All Other")
Welcome
On the ND in-demand list, "Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other" is a catch-all group. The main career in it is the midwife.
Midwives care for people during pregnancy, birth, and after. In North Dakota, this career means becoming a nurse first, then a Certified Nurse-Midwife. You will explore whether it fits you.
This takes about 15 minutes.
What is a Midwife?
A Certified Nurse-Midwife (CNM) is an advanced practice nurse who gives prenatal care, delivers babies, cares for mothers and newborns after birth, and provides women's health care like annual exams and family planning. CNMs can prescribe medicine in North Dakota.
The Reality: Babies come when they come: nights, weekends, and holidays. Most births go well, but some become emergencies fast. It is a long path: nursing school, RN work experience, then a graduate degree.
Your Responsibilities:
- Give prenatal checkups and track the baby's growth
- Teach families about pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding
- Support people during labor
- Deliver babies and care for newborns right after birth
- Recognize problems and work with doctors when care needs to change
- Provide care after birth
- Give women's health exams and family planning care
- Prescribe medicines and order tests
You are a nurse, a guide, and a trusted partner through one of life's biggest moments.
A Day in the Life
8:00 AM — Clinic day. Prenatal visits start. Check blood pressure, listen to heartbeats, answer questions.
10:00 AM — A first-time parent is nervous. You take extra time to explain what labor will feel like.
12:00 PM — Lunch between patients.
1:00 PM — Annual women's health exams and a family planning visit.
4:30 PM — Call from the hospital: a patient is in labor. You head over.
6:00 PM — Support the patient through labor with the nurses.
11:40 PM — Baby is born healthy. You check mom and baby and help start breastfeeding.
1:00 AM — Finish notes. Home to sleep. Clinic again tomorrow afternoon.
Meaningful, unpredictable work that follows the timing of births.
Training in North Dakota
This is a long path: RN first, then a graduate degree. North Dakota has no midwifery program in the state, but accredited online programs let you do classes at home and clinical training at ND hospitals.
Training Pathways:
- Step 1 — Become an RN (2–4 years): ADN or BSN. A BSN is usually required for graduate school. (See the RN assessment.)
- Step 2 — Work as an RN (usually 1–2 years): Labor and delivery nursing experience is a big plus.
- Step 3 — Nurse-midwifery graduate degree (2–3 years): Master's or doctorate from an ACME-accredited program. Many are online with local clinicals.
Where to Train in North Dakota:
- RN programs across ND (Bismarck State, NDSU, UND, University of Mary, Minot State, Dickinson State, University of Jamestown, and more)
- No nurse-midwifery program in ND — accredited distance programs (such as Frontier Nursing University) and nearby programs (such as the University of Minnesota) allow clinical training in ND
- Clinical sites can include Sanford, CHI St. Alexius, Trinity Health, and other ND hospitals
Before You Start: For RN school: high school diploma or GED, biology, chemistry, and algebra. For midwifery school: an RN license, usually a BSN, and nursing experience.
Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like tuition. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Many ND hospitals offer tuition help to nurses who want to advance, especially in rural areas.
Certification & Licensing
North Dakota requires an advanced practice (APRN) license. Certified Nurse-Midwives are licensed by the ND Board of Nursing as Advanced Practice Registered Nurses.
What You Need:
- RN license (pass the NCLEX-RN)
- Graduate degree from an ACME-accredited nurse-midwifery program
- CNM certification from the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB)
- ND APRN license, with prescriptive authority
- Note: North Dakota does not license Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs, the non-nurse path). Check with the ND Board of Nursing before choosing that route.
The Exams: The AMCB exam is a computer-based test of up to 175 questions, about 4 hours.
Cost: About $500 for the AMCB exam. ND APRN license about $150 ($225 with prescribing). Prices change, so check before you buy.
Keeping It Current: AMCB certification renews every 5 years with continuing education. Your ND RN and APRN licenses renew every 2 years.
Salary & Job Outlook
North Dakota Healthcare Practitioner (All Other group) Pay (May 2025):
- Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $20.81–$22.86/hour ($43,290–$47,540/year)
- Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $25.11/hour ($52,240/year)
- Experienced (top 25–10%): $36.86–$40.39/hour ($76,660–$84,000/year)
What that means: Be careful with these numbers. They are for the whole "Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Workers, All Other" group in ND, not only midwives. Certified Nurse-Midwives usually earn much more than this, often well above RN pay, because they are advanced practice nurses.
Jobs in North Dakota: About 110 people work in this whole "All Other" group in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 120 (about 9% growth). Expect about 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 4% growth.
Outlook: Growing faster in ND than nationally. Rural areas in ND have few maternity care providers, so midwives are needed, but jobs are few and mostly with larger health systems.
Who Hires in ND: Hospitals and birth centers, OB/GYN clinics, rural health clinics, tribal health programs, and public health departments.
Work Setting: Clinics and hospital labor and delivery units. On-call nights, weekends, and holidays are normal.
Physical Demands: Moderate to high. Long hours on your feet, supporting patients in labor, and staying alert through the night.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 29-9099); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.
Where This Leads
Path 1: Hospital Midwife — Attend births and work with an OB team.
Path 2: Rural Maternity Care — Help fill care gaps in rural ND.
Path 3: Women's Health Provider — Focus on clinic care across the lifespan.
Path 4: Birth Center — Care for low-risk births outside the hospital.
Path 5: Educator — Teach nurses and midwifery students.
Path 6: Leadership or Policy — Improve maternal health programs.
The Real Talk
What's Great:
- Be part of one of life's biggest moments
- Advanced practice role with prescribing
- Strong relationships with patients
- Needed in rural ND
- Respected and trusted
- Good pay once certified
What's Hard:
- Long path: 6–9+ years of school and work
- No midwifery program in ND
- On-call nights, weekends, and holidays
- Emergencies can happen fast
- Sad outcomes sometimes happen
- Few jobs in ND
- Emotionally and physically demanding
- Costly graduate school
Be Honest: Are you ready to become an RN first, then go back for a graduate degree? Can you handle being on call and missing sleep? Can you stay calm when a birth becomes an emergency?