Certified Nursing Assistant Jobs in Austin, TX
Certified nursing assistants in Austin earn a median of about $18.53 an hour, a bit above the Texas median, at hospitals, rehab centers and hospice teams from South Austin to Round Rock. Here are the current openings, followed by who is hiring, what it pays and how to get on the Texas Nurse Aide Registry.
Current certified nursing assistant Openings in Austin, TX
Listings marked External are sponsored openings provided by the Jobs2Careers network.
Certified Nursing Assistant Work in Austin
CNA work in Austin is spread across several kinds of facilities. The big hospital systems on the 32nd Street and West 38th Street medical corridors and in South Austin hire bedside aides, though they usually call the job patient care technician. An inpatient rehab hospital in Austin and a long-term acute care hospital in Round Rock run 12-hour night and PRN shifts, the state-run Austin State Hospital on Guadalupe Street in the Triangle hires psychiatric nursing assistants, and hospice and home health branches send CNAs out to patients' homes across the metro.
Many aides live in Williamson or Hays County and commute in on I-35 or MoPac, so suburban hospitals in Round Rock and Cedar Park are a draw. Night shifts and hospital settings push pay toward the top of the local range.
Top Austin Employers Hiring Certified Nursing Assistants
These Austin-area employers have posted CNA, nursing assistant and patient care technician roles on their own career sites:
- Central Texas Rehabilitation Hospital - the Lifepoint Health inpatient rehab hospital in Austin posts full-time night and PRN CNA shifts on 12-hour schedules.
- Austin State Hospital - the Texas Health and Human Services Commission psychiatric hospital on Guadalupe Street hires psychiatric nursing assistants, from entry tiers up to team lead.
- Cornerstone Specialty Hospital Austin Round Rock - the ScionHealth long-term acute care hospital in Round Rock hires night patient care technicians and prefers a state CNA certificate.
- St. David's South Austin Medical Center - the HCA hospital hires patient care technicians for its emergency department, and St. David's lists entry-level PCT roles across its Austin hospitals.
- Enhabit Home Health and Hospice - the Austin hospice branch hires full-time CNAs listed in good standing on the Texas Nurse Aide Registry for visits across the metro.
Certified Nursing Assistant Salaries in Austin
- Entry level: about $17 to $18.50 per hour for newly certified aides.
- Experienced: roughly $18.50 to $22 per hour in hospitals, rehab and long-term acute care.
- Senior: $22 to $24 or more per hour, and team lead psychiatric nursing assistants at Austin State Hospital are posted at about $4,095 to $5,094 a month.
These are estimates based on 2025 federal wage data for the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro and current local postings. Night shifts and hospital settings generally pay more, PRN work trades benefits for a higher hourly rate, and some employers add sign-on or commitment bonuses, such as the $2,000 incentive Central Texas Rehabilitation Hospital has offered on night CNA roles.
How to Become a Certified Nursing Assistant in Austin
In Texas, nurse aides are certified by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). You complete a state-approved Nurse Aide Training and Competency Evaluation Program (NATCEP) of at least 100 hours, 60 in the classroom and 40 of hands-on clinical training in a nursing facility, then pass the Texas Nurse Aide exam, which Prometric administers as a written or oral test plus a skills test. Passing puts you on the HHSC Nurse Aide Registry. Locally, Austin Community College runs a Certified Nurse Aide course at its Northridge Campus on Stonehollow Drive in North Austin: 8 weeks and 126 hours, with three application windows a year. Hospital patient care technician jobs sometimes hire without a CNA and require Basic Life Support certification within your first month.
What the Job Involves
CNAs handle the hands-on care that keeps patients safe and comfortable: bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, repositioning and helping people walk or transfer from bed to chair. They take and record vital signs, track intake and output, answer call lights, change linens and report changes in a patient's condition to the nurse. In hospice the aide often works alone in a patient's home.
Skills Employers Look For
- Active listing on the Texas Nurse Aide Registry
- Basic Life Support (BLS) or CPR certification
- Accurate vital signs and charting
- Safe lifting, transfer and fall-prevention technique
- Patience and clear communication with patients and families
- Reliability on nights, weekends and 12-hour shifts
Career Path and Advancement
Many Austin CNAs use the job as a paid first step into nursing. The common path runs from nurse aide to patient care technician in a hospital, then to medication aide or a team lead role, and on to vocational nursing through ACC's Vocational Nursing program at the Eastview Campus. From there, ACC's LVN-to-RN Mobility track and the BSN programs at UT Austin and Texas State's Round Rock campus open the way to registered nursing.
Related Careers in Austin
If nurse aide work interests you, these related Austin roles are close matches:
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to be a CNA in Austin?
Yes. To work as a certified nurse aide in Texas you must complete a state-approved training program, pass the Texas Nurse Aide exam and be listed on the HHSC Nurse Aide Registry. Some hospital patient care technician roles hire without a CNA, but nursing facilities and hospice agencies require the registry listing.
How much do CNAs make in Austin?
Federal 2025 wage data puts the Austin-area median for nursing assistants at about $18.53 an hour, with most aides earning between $17 and $23. Night shifts, hospital settings and experience push pay toward the top of that range.
How long does it take to become a CNA in Austin?
Texas requires at least 100 hours of training. Austin Community College's Certified Nurse Aide course at the Northridge Campus takes 8 weeks, and you then schedule the Prometric written or oral exam and skills test, which costs $125 for both parts.
Can you work as a patient care technician in Austin without a CNA?
Sometimes. St. David's lists entry-level patient care technician roles at its Austin hospitals that ask for BLS within 30 days, while Cornerstone Specialty Hospital in Round Rock prefers a state CNA certificate.
How do you keep a Texas CNA certification active?
Your registry listing must be renewed every 24 months. You need paid nursing-related work in the past year, 24 hours of in-service training every two years, and the annual HHSC infection control course. There is no renewal fee.
Ready to apply? Browse all Certified Nursing Assistant jobs in Austin, TX on LocalJobPage and apply today.