The Ultimate Travel Nurse Salary Guide: 1 million+ Jobs Analyzed (March 2023)

We aggregated more than a million travel nursing salaries from the past 3+ years. Now we're revealing pay rates and job trends nationwide with our all-new interactive pay explorer!

Average Pay (per week)
$2,370.72
Based on 3,636,160 jobs analyzed across all travel nurse specialties, nationwide
25th percentile
$2,018.34
90th percentile
$3,040.98
Travel Nursing By Month (pay and count)
All jobs
Nationwide
Best Travel Nursing Agencies 🚀
  • Highest Paying
  • TactStaff
    5,000+ jobs
    $318.47 above average
  • ADEX Medical Staffing
    5,000+ jobs
    $273.02 above average
  • Epic Travel Staffing
    5,000+ jobs
    $212.68 above average
  • Host Healthcare
    5,000+ jobs
    $210.94 above average
  • Cross Country Healthcare
    5,000+ jobs
    $209.44 above average
  • trustaff
    5,000+ jobs
    $199.79 above average
  • Medical Solutions
    5,000+ jobs
    $194.55 above average
  • Job Availability
  • TotalMed
    5,000+ jobs
    $23.27 above average
  • CoreMedical Group
    5,000+ jobs
    -$142.15 below average
  • OneStaff Medical
    5,000+ jobs
    -$309.62 below average
Top Locations Nationwide
  • Highest Paying
  • California
    5,000+ jobs
    $509.32 above average
  • New Jersey
    5,000+ jobs
    $483.83 above average
  • New York
    5,000+ jobs
    $400.91 above average
  • Massachusetts
    5,000+ jobs
    $301.71 above average
  • Washington
    5,000+ jobs
    $240.38 above average
  • Arizona
    5,000+ jobs
    $222.99 above average
  • Illinois
    5,000+ jobs
    $210.87 above average
  • Job Availability
  • North Carolina
    5,000+ jobs
    -$99.49 below average
  • Texas
    5,000+ jobs
    -$220.17 below average
  • Florida
    5,000+ jobs
    -$327.95 below average
  • Pay is standarized to 36 hour per week.
  • For agency and metropolitan area ratings, results are compared against average for specialty and state. Nationwide average pay used if no state is selected. Top paying agencies and metro areas with less than the median job count for the category are excluded.
  • View all footnotes

The Ultimate Travel Nurse Salary Guide: 1 million+ Jobs Analyzed (March 2023)

Veronica Cooper, Veronica is the founder of StellarNurse. After 10+ years of L&D nursing, Veronica loves evidence-based decisions and supporting nurses to get the pay they deserve.
Amer Kawar, The World
Veronica Cooper, Amer Kawar

Wondering how your travel nurse salary stacks up to average rates across the country? We've got that data for you.

We analyzed public listings of travel nursing pay packages from July 2019-March 2023 (more than 3 years!) to bring you insights on the current job market.

Welcome to our all-new travel nurse salary interactive pay explorer!

In this ultimate guide you'll see:

Check out our never-before-seen findings.

Highest Paying States for Travel Nurses

Which states are really worth the extra license fees? Let's dig into some data to find out.

Our map shows the highest paying states for travel nurses since July 2019, including crisis rate market fluctuations.

https://stellarnurse.ghost.io/content/images/2021/07/Weekly Pay-by-State--36-HoursWeek-Contracts-w-update.png

Highest paying states for travel nurses. Standardized to 36/hour week contracts to compare data accurately.

For more specific travel nurse salary by state, scroll through our table highlighting the highest paying states with detailed pay trends and job availability.

We've included the standard deviation. This shows you how the majority (68% to be exact) of pay offers spread above and below the average rates. Picture a bell curve.

For example, 68% of California travel nurse salaries are $2,137.63 +/- $541.10 = pay range of $1,596.53 - $2,678.73. We warned you we're nerds!

As you scroll through 51 states (including Washington DC) you'll notice a large standard deviation. This is larger than average due to the crisis rate fluctuations in the current job market.

View job availability per state in the "job count" column. This tracks our count and therefore doesn't encapsulate the entire market, but it's a very good snapshot of each state's job availability.

Highest Paying States for Travel Nurses

StateWeekly Pay Average (36 hrs)Standard DeviationJob Count
New Jersey$2,145.79$676.6820,033
California$2,137.63$541.10294,529
Rhode Island$2,096.95$633.003,259
New York$2,050.96$734.4259,812
Nevada$1,984.20$524.8019,493
North Dakota$1,977.17$548.1412,564
District of Columbia$1,970.94$498.048,124
Georgia$1,943.15$592.9963,202
Washington$1,934.05$504.8776,664
Massachusetts$1,917.67$581.2552,789
Wisconsin$1,909.05$565.3241,311
Delaware$1,897.09$512.802,829
Pennsylvania$1,896.40$547.3458,742
Connecticut$1,893.39$518.4121,109
Idaho$1,885.43$580.7210,173
Arkansas$1,882.41$504.0627,459
New Mexico$1,880.79$597.3638,241
Maryland$1,879.37$597.7342,304
Nebraska$1,879.02$492.1514,241
Illinois$1,874.90$569.0049,746
Oregon$1,864.76$473.7542,400
South Dakota$1,856.80$526.0412,154
Iowa$1,856.23$475.9721,521
Arizona$1,856.06$535.6550,166
Alaska$1,849.25$384.5114,789
Kentucky$1,848.05$480.9030,444
Oklahoma$1,841.80$480.0625,526
South Carolina$1,839.48$539.9144,935
Maine$1,837.58$519.2621,679
Minnesota$1,835.55$597.4212,281
Texas$1,827.69$483.99109,625
Virginia$1,819.27$455.2273,454
Michigan$1,818.74$533.4830,776
Missouri$1,816.98$495.9449,460
Indiana$1,814.53$487.3745,505
Vermont$1,813.00$396.9316,691
Florida$1,807.10$517.9492,021
North Carolina$1,799.95$490.8572,096
West Virginia$1,797.78$466.6618,555
Wyoming$1,795.36$409.227,074
Tennessee$1,780.23$436.9637,268
Montana$1,767.04$415.3129,049
Ohio$1,764.30$488.5335,890
New Hampshire$1,761.60$423.0519,268
Alabama$1,752.39$500.7314,021
Hawaii$1,740.80$434.6512,989
Colorado$1,735.40$436.3039,736
Kansas$1,732.66$421.7315,262
Louisiana$1,728.29$468.9129,237
Utah$1,718.84$542.803,986
Mississippi$1,687.97$478.897,115

Curious what the market looked like pre-COVID19?

Below is a compilation of the states that offered the highest pay from July 2019 - March 2020. Compare this list to our above map and table to see what difference crisis rates made.

Top 5 Highest Paying States for Travel Nurses (Pre - Covid19)

  1. California Consistently has the best pay and the most jobs by a long shot.Both inside and outside of the pandemic.
  2. New Jersey Solid opportunties for both pay and job availability.
  3. Washington D.C. Great income, but fewer job openings.
  4. Alaska Decent pay and lots of jobs, despite reputation for low rates.Current rates lower than pre-covid19.
  5. Connecticut Regularly pays above average with frequent job openings.

Highest Travel Nurse Salaries by Metropolitan Area

Not sure which areas of the country to start searching for good pay?

We've got a summary here to get you started. Get even more location-specific data on high paying opportunities using our interactive pay explorer.

Top 5 Highest Travel Nurse Salaries by Metropolitan Area

Go after high pay AND lots of job openings in these locations:

  1. California Holds 9 of our top 10 spots for highest-paying metro areas
  2. East Coast New York City-Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC
  3. Pacific Northwest Seattle-Tacoma, Portland
  4. Midwest St Louis, Chicago
  5. Arizona Phoenix, Tuscon

Pro Tip: Investing in a California license is worth your time and money if you're looking for LOTS of job options.

Highest Paying Travel Nurse Specialties

Feast your eyes on the largest travel nurse specialty comparison available including more than 130 specialties.

Our interactive table shows nationwide pay averages including standard deviation for you to get an accurate overview.

Travel Nursing Specialty
Average Weekly Pay
Weekly Pay St. Deviation
# Jobs Observed
Physicist (Non-Healthcare / Phys)
$5,123.28
$0.00
91
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA / CRNA)
$4,762.55
$0.00
119
Perfusionist (Allied / Perf)
$3,996.73
$0.00
129
Family Nurse Practitioner (NP / FNP)
$3,474.82
$0.00
82
Pediatric Cardiovascular Operating Room (RN / Peds CVOR)
$3,450.95
$0.00
180
Pediatric Hematology - Oncology (RN / Peds Heme/Onc)
$3,402.99
$0.00
210
Pediatric Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (RN / Peds CVICU)
$3,250.28
$0.00
537
Assistant Nurse Manager (RN / Asst RN Mgr)
$3,189.84
$0.00
78
Critical Care Flight / Transport Nurse (RN / Flight / Transport)
$3,145.23
$0.00
122
Pediatric Progressive Care Unit (RN / Peds PCU)
$3,119.50
$0.00
423
Administrative (RN / Admin)
$3,102.79
$0.00
642
Hematology / Oncology (RN / Heme / Onc)
$3,055.12
$0.00
391
Dosimetrist (Allied / Dosimetrist)
$3,007.21
$0.00
221
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (RN / PICU)
$2,923.98
$739.83
34,025
Pediatric Operating Room (RN / Peds OR)
$2,861.66
$0.00
3,035
Pediatric Emergency Department (RN / Peds ED)
$2,844.96
$231.35
9,048
Cardiovascular Operating Room (RN / CVOR)
$2,805.17
$423.10
29,397
Trauma Intensive Care Unit (RN / TICU)
$2,779.49
$0.00
1,740
Vascular Access Nurse (RN / PICC RN)
$2,777.92
$0.00
62
Cardiac Stepdown Unit (RN / CSDU)
$2,773.48
$0.00
225
Registered Nurse First Assistant (RN / RNFA)
$2,764.03
$0.00
5,324
Pediatric Post Anesthesia Care Unit (RN / Peds PACU)
$2,753.78
$0.00
549
Electrophysiology Lab (RN / EP Lab)
$2,749.82
$0.00
2,618
Cardiac Cath Lab (RN / Cath Lab)
$2,739.54
$487.31
74,075
Orthopedic Neurology (RN / Ortho / Neuro)
$2,734.58
$0.00
333
Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (RN / CTICU)
$2,730.50
$0.00
147
Nurse Educator (RN / Education)
$2,721.70
$0.00
554
Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (NP / NP)
$2,681.85
$0.00
123
Surgical Oncology (RN / Surg Onc)
$2,675.68
$0.00
1,495
Cardiac Progressive Care Unit (RN / CPCU)
$2,672.30
$0.00
628
Neurology Intensive Care Unit (RN / Neuro ICU)
$2,664.30
$433.14
7,706
Coronary Care Unit (RN / CCU)
$2,658.56
$0.00
18,396
Interventional Radiology (RN / IR)
$2,652.52
$0.00
23,361
Multi-Modality Technologist (Allied / Multi-Modality Technologist)
$2,644.57
$0.00
100
Operating Room (RN / OR)
$2,643.38
$706.84
242,428
Doctor of Pharmacy (Allied / PharmD)
$2,641.70
$0.00
1,165
Nurse Manager (RN / RN Mgr)
$2,636.81
$0.00
6,709
Burn Intensive Care Unit (RN / BICU)
$2,631.70
$0.00
1,318
Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (RN / CVICU)
$2,629.87
$532.79
39,513
Infusion Therapy (RN / Infusion)
$2,628.05
$0.00
3,291
Neurology Progressive Care Unit (RN / Neuro PCU)
$2,624.80
$0.00
273
Director of Nursing (RN / DON)
$2,620.72
$0.00
1,161
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (RN / NICU)
$2,610.63
$624.89
44,122
Labor & Delivery (RN / L&D)
$2,609.29
$659.19
138,575
Intensive Care Unit (RN / ICU)
$2,605.38
$761.55
308,252
Stroke / Neuro (RN / Stroke / Neuro)
$2,604.21
$0.00
75
Cardiology (RN / Cardio)
$2,599.55
$0.00
3,494
Pediatrics (RN / Peds)
$2,598.80
$593.82
35,754
Perioperative (RN / Peri-op)
$2,593.36
$0.00
6,725
Audiologist (Allied / Aud)
$2,585.45
$0.00
53
Transplant (RN / Transplant)
$2,584.16
$0.00
326
Pediatric Oncology (RN / Peds Onc)
$2,583.10
$0.00
275
House Supervisor (Supervisor / House Sup)
$2,576.09
$0.00
6,072
Emergency Department (RN / ED)
$2,570.30
$691.54
323,516
Urgent Care (RN / Urgent Care)
$2,568.55
$0.00
938
Acute Care (RN / Acute)
$2,566.36
$0.00
4,182
Same Day Surgery (RN / SDS)
$2,546.79
$0.00
251
Medical Surgical Telemetry (RN / Med Surg Tele)
$2,537.46
$510.45
107,250
Electrophysiology Lab Technician (Allied / EP Lab Tech)
$2,534.60
$0.00
1,475
Surgical Intensive Care Unit (RN / SICU)
$2,534.38
$0.00
4,214
Postoperative (RN / Post-op)
$2,521.73
$0.00
75
Infection Control (RN / Infection)
$2,514.15
$0.00
887
Nephrology (RN / Neph)
$2,504.43
$0.00
272
Bone Marrow Transplant (RN / BMT)
$2,489.40
$0.00
1,899
Direct Observation Unit (RN / DOU)
$2,487.47
$0.00
4,707
Step Down Unit (RN / SDU)
$2,482.07
$313.09
55,909
Float Pool (RN / Float)
$2,479.45
$0.00
3,347
Gastrointestinal Lab (RN / GI Lab)
$2,471.98
$0.00
5,283
Telemetry (RN / Tele)
$2,461.75
$648.97
198,522
Progressive Care Unit (RN / PCU)
$2,453.91
$535.79
127,813
Post Anesthesia Care Unit (RN / PACU)
$2,443.13
$587.25
82,284
Pathology Assistant (Allied / Path Asst)
$2,423.27
$0.00
289
Oncology (RN / Onc)
$2,422.72
$525.37
49,222
Neurology (RN / Neuro)
$2,422.32
$0.00
8,790
Echocardiograph Technologist (Allied / Echo Technologist)
$2,421.45
$0.00
3,056
Orthopedic (RN / Ortho)
$2,418.80
$355.52
15,143
OB/GYN (RN / OB/GYN)
$2,413.64
$0.00
8,455
Public Health (RN / Pub Hlth)
$2,412.55
$0.00
485
Radiotherapist (Allied / Radiotherapy)
$2,411.01
$0.00
2,058
Clinical Nurse Coordinator (RN / CNC)
$2,399.06
$0.00
1,182
Pain Management (RN / Pain Mgt)
$2,396.52
$0.00
52
Ultrasound Technologist (Allied / US Technologist)
$2,388.06
$0.00
27,652
Radiology Technician (Allied / Rad Tech)
$2,382.87
$0.00
831
Special Procedures (RN / Special Procedures)
$2,375.89
$0.00
92
Medical Surgical (RN / Med Surg)
$2,371.36
$654.44
383,500
Case Management (RN / CM)
$2,355.54
$0.00
27,877
Cardiovascular Cath Lab Technologist (Allied / Cardiac Cath Lab Tech)
$2,352.15
$0.00
35,329
Wound Care (RN / Wound)
$2,350.12
$0.00
3,623
Endoscopy (RN / Endo)
$2,349.20
$185.82
20,250
Charge Nurse (RN / Charge)
$2,315.98
$0.00
574
Nuclear Medicine Technologist (Allied / CNMT)
$2,313.82
$0.00
2,941
MRI Technologist (Allied / MRI Technologist)
$2,309.92
$0.00
14,986
Telehealth (RN / Telehealth)
$2,309.52
$0.00
41
Diagnostic Radiologist (Allied / Radiologist)
$2,309.24
$0.00
854
Echo-Vascular Technician (Allied / Echo/Vasc Tech)
$2,303.04
$0.00
5,825
Postpartum (RN / PP)
$2,300.06
$91.68
17,734
Respiratory Therapist (Allied / RT)
$2,291.10
$548.54
93,101
Radiology (RN / Radiology)
$2,290.78
$0.00
8,332
Obstetric Ultrasound - Sonographer (Allied / OB/GYN US)
$2,259.98
$0.00
220
Computed Tomography Technologist (Allied / CT Tech)
$2,259.13
$0.00
76,213
Echocardiograph Technician (Allied / Echo Tech)
$2,257.34
$0.00
12,044
Utilization Review (RN / UR)
$2,251.65
$0.00
1,084
Interventional Radiology Technologist (Allied / IR Tech)
$2,246.61
$0.00
20,519
Dialysis (RN / Dialysis)
$2,218.75
$0.00
24,717
Cytotechnologist (Allied / Cyto)
$2,204.00
$0.00
552
Assistant Director of Nursing (RN / Asst. DON)
$2,201.38
$0.00
92
X-Ray Technician (Allied / X-Ray Tech)
$2,200.20
$0.00
20,543
Ambulatory Care (RN / Amb)
$2,197.66
$0.00
7,011
Mammography Tech (Allied / Mammo Tech)
$2,187.64
$0.00
3,895
Adult Medicine (NP / Adult Med)
$2,186.28
$0.00
41
Research / Clinical Research (RN / Research)
$2,179.68
$0.00
81
Radiology Technologist (Allied / X-Ray Technologist)
$2,152.36
$0.00
33,686
CVOR Technologist (Allied / CVOR Tech)
$2,145.59
$0.00
7,819
Ultrasound-Sonography Technician (Allied / US/Sono Tech)
$2,141.50
$0.00
16,725
Outpatient Clinic (RN / Outpatient)
$2,133.98
$0.00
15,170
Certified Surgical First Assistant (Allied / CSFA)
$2,113.76
$0.00
1,318
Occupational Health (RN / Occ Health)
$2,112.28
$0.00
787
Long Term Acute Care (RN / LTAC)
$2,108.09
$0.00
15,417
MRI Technician (Allied / MRI Tech)
$2,080.99
$0.00
5,874
Vascular Technologist (Allied / RVT)
$2,073.99
$0.00
4,780
Psychiatric - Mental Health (RN / Psych)
$2,071.75
$396.80
58,471
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (RN / CRNA)
$2,054.08
$0.00
306
Hospice (RN / Hospice)
$2,050.17
$0.00
11,219
Medical Tech / Medical Laboratory Scientist / Clinical Laboratory Scientist (Allied / MT / MLS / CLS)
$2,045.47
$0.00
63,627
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Allied / LCSW)
$2,011.49
$0.00
3,707
Psychologist (Allied / CP)
$2,008.36
$0.00
68
Urology (RN / Urology)
$1,994.50
$0.00
305
Electroencephalogram Technologist (Allied / EEG Technologist)
$1,991.84
$0.00
431
Vaccinations (RN / Vax)
$1,985.86
$0.00
54
Home Health (RN / HH)
$1,979.47
$0.00
47,038
Rehabilitation (RN / Rehab)
$1,955.29
$318.09
35,078
Sub-Acute (RN / Sub-Acute)
$1,921.27
$0.00
45
Long Term Care (RN / LTC)
$1,895.82
$0.00
26,007
Skilled Nursing Facility (RN / SNF)
$1,870.23
$0.00
29,976
Rehabilitation Therapy (Allied / Rehab Therapy)
$1,869.73
$0.00
3,798
Patient Care Coordinator (RN / PCC)
$1,865.55
$0.00
122
Antepartum (RN / Antepartum)
$1,864.50
$0.00
1,680
Operating Room / Surgical Technician (Allied / OR / Surg Tech)
$1,859.38
$376.40
131,338
Polysomnographer (Allied / Sleep Tech)
$1,855.26
$0.00
1,177
Corrections (RN / Corr)
$1,846.87
$0.00
1,633
Histotechnician (Allied / HT)
$1,840.65
$0.00
2,216
Registered Dietician (Allied / RDCD)
$1,826.74
$0.00
391
Outpatient Clinic (Allied / Outpatient)
$1,816.42
$0.00
161
Obstetric Technician (Allied / OB Tech)
$1,811.28
$0.00
1,306
Antepartum (Allied / Ante)
$1,811.16
$0.00
1,138
Physical Therapy (Therapy / PT)
$1,782.63
$0.00
64,756
Endoscopy Technician (Allied / Endo Tech)
$1,761.77
$0.00
1,322
Electroencephalogram Technician (Allied / EEG Tech)
$1,751.99
$0.00
1,890
Home Health (Allied / HH)
$1,750.97
$0.00
42
Special Procedures Technologist (Allied / Special Procedures Tech)
$1,722.54
$0.00
540
School Psychologist, Certified (School Services / NCSP)
$1,709.15
$0.00
883
Occupational Therapy (Therapy / OT)
$1,693.06
$0.00
26,221
Speech Language Pathologist (Allied / SLP)
$1,688.36
$0.00
34,178
Telemetry Monitor Technician (Allied / Tele / Monitor Tech)
$1,596.06
$0.00
622
School Nurse (RN / School Nurse)
$1,571.79
$0.00
271
Electrocardiograph Technician (Allied / EKG Tech)
$1,565.09
$0.00
71
Emergency Department (LPN / LVN / ED)
$1,520.89
$0.00
224
Psychiatric - Mental Health (LPN / LVN / Psych)
$1,516.17
$0.00
1,213
Hospice (LPN / LVN / Hospice)
$1,506.65
$0.00
145
Patient Care Technician (Allied / PCT)
$1,504.84
$0.00
43
Special Education Teacher (School Services / Special Ed)
$1,492.51
$0.00
241
Home Health (LPN / LVN / HH)
$1,488.57
$0.00
2,504
Paramedic (Allied / Paramedic)
$1,471.50
$0.00
98
Long Term Acute Care (LPN / LVN / LTAC)
$1,468.27
$0.00
1,570
Telemetry (LPN / LVN / Tele)
$1,466.49
$0.00
191
Anesthesia Technician (Allied / Anesthesia Tech)
$1,454.95
$0.00
753
( / Rehab)
$1,454.32
$0.00
280
Dialysis Technician (Allied / Dialysis Tech)
$1,445.86
$0.00
284
Medical Surgical (LPN / LVN / Med Surg)
$1,441.24
$0.00
5,194
Long Term Care (LPN / LVN / LTC)
$1,420.06
$0.00
19,343
Speech Language Pathologist Assistant (Allied / SLPA)
$1,393.94
$0.00
142
LPN / LVN (LPN / LVN / LPN / LVN)
$1,386.99
$0.00
18,647
Skilled Nursing Facility (LPN / LVN / SNF)
$1,376.95
$0.00
6,279
Corrections (LPN / LVN / Corr)
$1,366.76
$0.00
802
Emergency Department Technician (Allied / ED Tech)
$1,363.25
$0.00
154
Sterile Processing Technician (Allied / SPT)
$1,315.74
$0.00
20,124
Pharmacy Technician (Allied / Pharm Tech)
$1,273.39
$0.00
1,374
Physical Therapy Assistant (Therapy / PTA)
$1,260.64
$0.00
6,934
Skilled Nursing Facility (Allied / SNF)
$1,243.15
$0.00
831
Occupational Therapy Assistant (Therapy / OTA)
$1,241.01
$0.00
3,005
Psychiatric - Mental Health Technician (Allied / Psych Tech)
$1,235.39
$0.00
102
Outpatient Clinic (LPN / LVN / Outpatient)
$1,163.51
$0.00
7,203
Phlebotomy (Allied / Phlebotomist)
$1,151.55
$0.00
1,375
School Nurse (LPN / LVN / School Nurse)
$1,151.24
$0.00
46
Clerical (Non-Healthcare / Clerical)
$1,146.22
$0.00
45
Certified Medical Assistant (Allied / CMA)
$1,079.31
$0.00
1,773
Medical Surgical (CNA / Med Surg)
$1,079.04
$0.00
378
Long Term Care (CNA / LTC)
$1,050.06
$0.00
1,106
Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA / CNA)
$980.48
$0.00
1,838

Table: Travel Nurse Specialties

We removed specialties with very low job counts and supervisory roles. This keeps our data relevant to the travel nursing specialties with high pay AND regular job availability.

For a different view, we've got an interactive bubble chart displaying the highest paying travel nurse specialties by their job availability. Hover over the bubbles to identify the specialties.

Not all specialties have a regular high need for travelers. For example, RN's in Electrophysiology Lab (EP Lab) regularly have higher pay offerings, but don't have the plentiful job options that ICU or L&D nurses have.

If you aspire to work consistently in travel healthcare, gain experience in a specialty with higher job availability.

Travel Nurse Pay Breakdown

How do travel nurses get paid? Understanding this will help you compare pay offers and spot the jobs that are worth your relocation.

Travel nurses are typically hired as contracted temporary employees of travel nursing agencies, getting paid on a weekly basis to work in a variety of facilities.

The most common travel nurse contracts offered are for hospital inpatient units. These usually commit you to work:

  • 12 hours/shift
  • 3 shifts/week
  • 36 hours/week
  • 13 weeks total
  • 468 work hours total

Our interactive pay explorer standardizes all pay package data around these contract hours to accurately compare numbers.

How Much Do Travel Nurses Make?

A Pay Package Example

Here's an average offer for a Medical-Surgical Nurse working 36 hours/week:

  • $350 M&IE (Meals & Incidental Expenses) - Weekly
  • $2,400 Housing Stipend - Monthly
  • $500 Travel Reimbursement - One Time
  • $20 Base Rate - Hourly

It's confusing! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Let's break this offer down to view your potential pay per week and per hour. Convert all parts of your pay to a standardized rate, then combine to calculate.

Pay Package OfferPay per Week (36 hrs)Pay per Hour
$350 M&IE Weekly$350$9.72
$2,400 Housing Stipend Monthly$600$16.67
$500 Travel Reimbursement One-time$38.46$1.07
$20 Base Rate Hourly$720$20
Total Gross Pay (Pre-Taxes)$1,708.46$47.46

Keep in mind there are several more deductions that may come out of your travel nursing paycheck:

  • Taxes based on your tax home rates
  • Agency health insurance - rates can start at $20/week (optional)
  • Agency 401k retirement plans (optional)

Taxable vs Non-Taxable Pay

Following on from our pay package example above, your travel nurse pay is made up of taxable and non-taxable income.

Weekly Income per OfferTaxable?
$350 M&IE (Meals & Incidental Expenses)N
$600 Housing StipendN
$38.46 Travel ReimbursementN
$720 Hourly Base RateY
$1,708.46 Total$720 Taxed

Notice that almost half of this pay package is not taxed. Cha-ching!

Non-taxable reimbursements, or "Per Diem" pay, are based on daily maximum rates set by the government.  Check out gsa.gov's Per Diem rates for your next contract location - they even have a mobile app for convenience.

Travel nurses are eligible for Per Diem non-taxable pay reimbursements when working away from your tax home. You must duplicate living/housing expenses per IRS rules.

You can still get temporary assignments without travel, the difference is your income will be fully taxed.

To get the full scoop on managing your taxes as a medical traveler visit TravelTax's site. The CEO, Joseph Smith, is a former travel respiratory therapist turned accountant.

Find the Highest Paying Travel Nursing Jobs

How can you filter through the tons of job boards to find and land the highest paying travel nursing jobs? Our mission at StellarNurse is to solve this problem.

After analyzing the market for the past year, here's our best advice:

  • Get the market's best offers, customized and delivered to your inbox
  • Use our interactive pay explorer to check pay ranges, job availability and agencies for your specialty across the country
  • Work with multiple travel nursing agencies for options - focus on agencies that regularly offer above-average pay with lots of jobs for your specialty
  • Keep current state licenses for the locations that have your specialty's best pay and highest job availability
  • Breakdown pay offers to weekly or hourly income to accurately compare
  • Prioritize high pay - above personal convenience, best locations, nicest recruiter or agency loyalty
  • Move fast for Crisis or Rapid Response rate offers

In a nutshell, stay flexible. The best offers are competitive and often need help fast. Be ready to adjust plans quickly, coordinate with a new agency or arrange travel to an unexpected location.

Top Travel Nursing Agencies with Pay Transparency

As advocates for pay transparency, we're giving a shout out to the travel nursing agencies that publish pay details clearly on their websites or public job boards.

Here are the most transparent agencies according to our data set:

Top Travel Nursing Agencies with Pay Transparency
TotalMed Staffing
Host Healthcare
LRS Healthcare
American Mobile Healthcare
trustaff
Trusted Health
Republic Health Resources
Advanced Travel Nursing
Stability Healthcare
MedPro Healthcare Staffing
OneStaff Medical
AHS Staffing
Travel Nurse Across America
TRS Healthcare
Aequor Healthcare
Anders Group
Fusion Medical Staffing
Cross Country Staffing
Ardor Health Solutions
Wellspring Nurse Source
Travel Nurses Inc.
ARM Staffing
TaleMed
Assured Nursing
Nomad Health
Atlas MedStaff
Medical Staffing Solutions
MedUS Healthcare
Prime Time Healthcare
Aureus Medical Group
Skyline Med Staff
Ventura MedStaff
Accountable Healthcare Staffing
Nurse First Travel Agency
Advantis Medical Staffing

A couple of travel nursing focused marketing agencies do a great job posting clear pay rates and are worth a special mention: Wanderly.us and Vivian Health App.

We only included travel nursing agencies that publish their pay package rates, and strongly encourage all agencies to do so.

If you're an agency and don't see your name, contact us to get your data added!

Our Data Sources

All the data collected and consolidated by StellarNurse is publicly available on the named travel nursing agency's website or Google jobs listings.

Methodology

We'll be publishing more technical details on our GitHub in the near future.

Dropping the Mic 🖐🎤

We can't wait to hear your success stories - Tell us how the travel nurse salary interactive pay explorer has helped you.

Did we miss any questions you have about finding how much travel nurses can make?

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Our current priority is to help as many nurses as possible while we build the full version of StellarNurse - your transparent, nurse-led travel nursing data company.

Your days of being underpaid are over.

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