The stable rank of Leavitt path algebras of row-finite graphs was computed by Ara and Pardo. In this paper we extend this to an arbitrary directed graph. In part our computation proceeds as for the row-finite case, but we also use knowledge of the row-finite setting by applying the desingularising method due to Drinen and Tomforde. In particular, we characterise purely infinite simple quotients of a Leavitt path algebra.