Nursing holds top slots in America’s best jobs.

In the old days, when you heard “nursing can take you anywhere,” the phrase usually described a career as a military or traveling nurse.

And yes, you still can go all over the world as a nurse. But more and more of today’s nurses are changing the world without traveling, or without even working from a clinical setting. Nursing roles have expanded far beyond the clinic, the practice, or even hands-on patient care. Nowadays, a nurse can find himself or herself managing data. Teaching other nurses. Researching global disease states. Or developing public-health policy.

Indeed, I can think of very few career fields with so many paths that can lead in so many directions. Today’s nurses have more opportunities, and more ways to influence health, than ever before. Thanks to expansion, and with it, increasing specialization, nursing today offers a mix of clinical and non-clinical specialties.

In fact, Johnson & Johnson lists no fewer than 104 nursing specialties on its “Discover Nursing” website. 104 specialties – that’s amazing! Imagine the possibilities. Read on, and see what nursing can hold for you!

Impressive salaries are part of the package.

Depending on your specialty, your nursing degree can take you to a pretty healthy salary range, too. The median pay for a nurse anesthetist in 2014 was $154,000. Nurse midwives averaged around $97,000 per year, and nurse practitioners earned around $95,000.

And many of these fields will only expand from here. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects up to 35% growth in the careers mentioned above, as well as a minimum 16% increase in general Licensed Practical/Vocational and RN jobs.

The time is ripe.

It appears that nursing is not only among America’s best careers – it’s also among those for which demand continues to rise. If you’re considering starting, or continuing, your career in nursing, there’s a lot working in your favor.