If you've been wondering "how much do travel nurses make?" and want more information on how much YOU can make as a travel nurse - you're in the right place!
I've been aggregating travel nurse pay packages since September 2019 - more than 10 million of them so far. So every number below comes from contracts agencies actually posted, not from a salary estimator.
You should check out my Ultimate Travel Nurse Salary Guide: From Now back to 2019 to find all the travel nurse salary trends from the past 5+ years. You'll also find the highest paying travel nurse agencies and top paying locations for your travel nurse specialty.
Here we'll break down what income you can expect as a travel nurse to make sure you're making fair pay. New to all this? Start with what a travel nurse actually is, then come back.
How much do Travel Nurses make?
Travel RNs make $104,700 a year, or about $60.57 an hour, on average right now, based on the pay-package data I've been collecting here at StellarNurse.com since 2019.
That's well above the median staff nurse, who makes $46.90 an hour according to BLS.gov - about $87,797 a year at the 36-hour week most of us actually work.
So per hour, the average traveler earns about 29% more than a staff nurse.
One honest note on the annual number: my travel figure assumes about 48 weeks worked, since most travelers take breaks between 13-week contracts. Work all 52 and it climbs higher.
How much more do travel nurses make? The gap since 2019
Travelers have out-earned staff nurses on average every year since I started tracking pay packages in September 2019.
Here's how the gap has actually moved.
Before the pandemic, the premium was already real. In late 2019, travel packages averaged about $1,700 a week - $47.22 an hour on a standard 36-hour contract - against a staff median of $35.24 an hour.
That's 34% higher per hour.
Then COVID hit and travel pay went vertical. The average travel package peaked around $3,310 a week in January 2022, about $92 an hour, and some travelers were clearing $5,000 or more a week on crisis contracts.
Then the federal COVID money dried up and agencies slashed rates, sometimes mid-contract. One nurse in that NBC report went from $105 an hour to $56 at renewal, then down to $43. The national average fell back to about $2,180 a week.
Here's the part that matters: the correction took away the crisis money, not the travel premium.
Today the average traveler makes $60.57 an hour against a staff median of $46.90 - 29% more.
Here's the part nobody talks about: in late 2019 that premium was 34%. It's narrower now, and not because travel pay fell. Staff RN wages climbed 33% since 2019 while travel pay climbed 28%.
Staff nurses gained ground. Good - we all know we earned every bit of that pay increase.
Travel still pays a lot more, just not as much more as it did before the pandemic.
There are still plenty of competitive travel nurse pay packages to be found all across the US.
Average Travel Nurse Salary
The average travel nurse salary is higher than the median staff nurse salary.
| 🚗 Travel Nurses | 🏥 Staff Nurses | |
|---|---|---|
| Hourly Rate | $60.57 | $46.90 |
| Weekly Pay (36 hrs) | $2,180 | $1,688 |
| Monthly Income | $8,722 | $7,316 |
| Annual Salary | $104,700 (48 wks) | $87,797 (52 wks) |
Both columns are built on a 36-hour week, since that's what travel contracts run on and what most of us work at the bedside.
You'll see the staff median quoted as $97,550 a year all over the internet, including on BLS.gov. That's the same $46.90 an hour - BLS just multiplies it by a 40-hour week to get there.
All StellarNurse travel nurse salary data was aggregated from Google, & tons of public job boards posting all across the web.
How much do Travel Nurses make an hour?
Travel nurses make $60.57 per hour, or $2,180 a week on a 36-hour contract.
Staff nurses make $46.90 an hour, or $1,688 a week at the same hours.
That's $13.67 more an hour, and $492 more every week you're working.
How much do Travel Nurses make a week?
Travel nurses make $2,180 a week on average, against $1,688 for staff nurses working the same 36 hours.
Weekly is the number that actually matters, because it's how every travel contract gets quoted to you. No agency pitches you an annual salary - they pitch you a weekly package, and that's what you're comparing between offers.
So that $492 a week is the whole travel premium, in the one unit you'll actually be negotiating in.
How much do Travel Nurses make a month?
Travel Nurses make $8,722 a month on average vs Staff Nurses at $7,316 a month.
The travel figure spreads a 48-week working year across all 12 months, so it already accounts for the unpaid gaps between assignments.
How much do Travel Nurses make a year?
Travel Nurses make $104,700 a year on average, VS Staff Nurses at $87,797 a year.
That's about $16,900 more a year - and it's a conservative comparison, because the travel number only counts 48 weeks worked while the staff number counts all 52.
Travel nurses need that time off between assignments to move, secure & onboard to new jobs or spend time at their tax homes. Those weeks are unpaid for us, while a staff nurse's PTO isn't.
That gap is exactly why you need an emergency fund before your first contract, not after your first cancelled one.
Worth remembering the $16,900 is gross, too. A large chunk of travel pay arrives as tax-free stipends, so the difference that actually lands in your account is usually bigger.
Do Travel Nurses make Good Money?
You can definitely make good money as a travel nurse.
Travel nurses make higher pay, on average, than staff nurses. That was true before covid, during the pandemic, and it's still true now.
How much can YOU make as a Travel Nurse?
Stop wondering what the average is. See what you'd be offered.
One search returns your specialty's open contracts across every agency, with the top-paying and newest ones grouped first.
Will YOU make good money as a travel nurse? Better than in a staff nurse or per diem nurse position?
That depends on you. Here's how to get a clear idea of your travel nurse salary potential.
Research Your Travel Nurse Salary Outlook
Here's numbers you should calculate when considering if your travel nursing job offers are a good deal:
- How much can you make working as a staff nurse or PRN nurse now?
- Are your current travel nurse job options offering higher hourly pay than your staff/PRN jobs?
For the most objective overview of your current travel nurse salary outlook start here:
- Research your travel nurse salary trends, taxes & onboarding process BEFORE talking to agencies.
- Check current jobs pay rates & compare the best jobs from 500+ agencies
Researching the job market before you start talking to agencies will help you answer these questions:
- What are current best pay package offers for your nurse specialty?
- Which locations are paying the highest & need you the most?
- Which travel nurse agencies are paying the highest and have the most jobs for your nurse specialty?
Calculate your "Blended rate" to compare travel nurse jobs
Breakdown your gross travel nurse pay package to an hourly pay estimate to compare to staff nurse or per diem nurse job offers. Or to compare travel nurse jobs to each other.
Your "blended rate" combines your taxable base hourly pay as a travel nurse with your tax-free living stipends.
To calculate your "blended" rate, just break your gross travel nurse pay package down to an hourly rate.
For example:
- Your gross pay package is $2400/week
- You work 36 hr/ week
- Your "blended" hourly rate would be ~$67/hr.
Compare that hourly rate to your staff nurse or PRN nurse offers.
Don't forget to plug in a few more numbers to get clear expectations on your travel nurse income potential:
Calculate Your Living Costs
- What are your current living costs vs where you want to travel nurse?
- Can you find affordable rentals easily?
- Can you afford to duplicate living expenses so you can get tax-free stipends?
Finding a place for 13 weeks is its own skill, and it's where a good package gets eaten. My travel nurse housing guide covers what actually works.
Consider Your Tax Situation
- What are your current state income tax rates vs where you want to travel nurse?
- How much would that affect your take-home pay?
Travel nurse pay has its own tax rules - the tax home, the duplicate expenses, what makes a stipend tax-free in the first place. Here's how they work before an agency explains it to you.
What type of Travel Nurse makes the most Money?
Travel nurses who make the most money use different strategies:
Travel from Low-Paying regions in US
Nurses travel from regions with low staff nurse income potential, so their travel nurse pay is significantly higher than what they could make at their local facilities.
Work High-Paying Contracts in Low Cost-of-Living
Nurses work high-paying contracts in areas with low cost-of-living, so they take home more money.
Budget
Nurses maintain tight living budgets to save more of their travel nurse income.
Negotiate with multiple agencies
Nurses negotiate, work with multiple agencies and hold out for the higher paying contracts, so they can jump on good deals when they arise.
Which agencies you pick matters as much as how many. And get ahead of the spam calls before you hand your number out, because once it's in the system they start fast and they don't stop.
Work in High-Demand specialties
Nurses gain experience in a specialty with consistently high pay and high demand.
What is the Highest Paid Travel Nurse specialty?
The 10 highest paying travel nurse specialties that also have real job volume, using RN pay from the last 12 months:
| # | Specialty | Weekly pay | Contracts posted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiovascular Operating Room (CVOR) | $2,541 | 16,381 |
| 2 | Cardiac Cath Lab | $2,509 | 30,854 |
| 3 | Labor & Delivery (L&D) | $2,418 | 61,799 |
| 4 | Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) | $2,269 | 16,469 |
| 5 | Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) | $2,253 | 16,122 |
| 6 | Operating Room (OR) | $2,250 | 65,135 |
| 7 | Step Down Unit (SDU) | $2,179 | 10,800 |
| 8 | Intensive Care Unit (ICU) | $2,158 | 71,070 |
| 9 | Oncology | $2,145 | 14,318 |
| 10 | Emergency Department (ED) | $2,130 | 96,005 |
Every specialty here cleared at least 10,000 posted contracts in the last 12 months, because a high rate you can't actually get hired into isn't worth chasing.
Plenty of specialties out-pay this list on paper and didn't make it for exactly that reason - Interventional Radiology averages $2,520 a week but posted only 9,359 contracts, and Case Management pays $2,283 across 9,085. Real money, far fewer chances at it.
Two on this list are worth calling out. L&D is the rare specialty that wins both - 3rd on pay at $2,418 and 61,799 contracts posted. And ED posts the most work of anything at 96,005 contracts while still landing in the top 10 on pay, so it's the widest door into good money.
For scale: the average travel RN contract pays $2,180 a week, so even 10th place on this list is above average, and CVOR at the top runs about $361 a week more than the average traveler makes.
Nurses who work in these travel nurse specialties have lots of job options to choose from & leverage to negotiate higher paying travel nurse pay packages.
Compare 130+ travel nurse specialties using my Ultimate Travel Nurse Salary Guide.
You'll find the full data for average pay and job demand for 130+ travel nurse specialties.
Does travel nurse pay change by state?
A lot. Among states with real contract volume, California averages $2,541 a week while Texas averages $1,869 - about $672 apart for the same 36 hours.
That's roughly the same spread you get between specialties, so where you work moves your pay about as much as what you do.
But a bigger weekly number isn't automatically more in your pocket. Texas has no state income tax and California does, and a high-paying market usually has the rent to match.
Live pay and job counts for all 50 states sit in the highest paying states section of my salary guide, and they update as the market moves.
Thanks for Reading 🤗
Thanks for reading my guide on how much travel nurses make in today's job market!
Hopefully you have a good overview of what travel nurse pay looks like compared to staff nurse pay.
Stick around! Make sure you check out:
- 💰 Find your Best Travel Nursing Job Deals
- 🔕 Block your Travel Nursing Job Spam Calls
- 📈 Your Ultimate Travel Nurse Salary Guide: From Now back to 2019
- 🧭 Brand new to this? How to Become a Travel Nurse, start to finish
- 📚 Every guide I've written, all in one place
Reach out to me ➡️ Veronica - I'm a travel nurse too and I love to chat about all things travel nursing. 💕
Averages are only a starting point. View your current rates
Find what your specialty and state pay right now across every agency's open contracts - best-paying and most recent first.
Frequently asked questions
- How much do traveling nurses make per hour?
- Travel RNs average $57 an hour, or about $2,180 a week on a standard 36-hour contract. Staff RNs make $46.90 an hour at the same hours, so travel pays roughly 29% more per hour.
- Do travel nurses get paid more than RNs?
- Yes - travel nurses are RNs, just on short-term contracts. Compared to staff RNs, travel pays about 29% more per hour ($
- 57 vs $46.90). What you give up is benefits, PTO, and stability, which is why the gross gap overstates the real one. The full pros and cons go through both sides.
- What is the highest paid travel nurse?
- Among specialties with steady contract volume, Cardiovascular OR pays the most at about $2,541 a week, with Interventional Radiology ($2,520) and Cardiac Cath Lab ($2,509) close behind. LandD is the rare one that wins on both pay and volume - roughly $2,418 a week across 61,799 contracts.
- What nurse makes $100,000 a year?
- A travel RN working a normal year does. At $2,180 a week across 48 working weeks, the average traveler clears about $104,700 - and that's the average, not the top end.
- Do travel nurses work 3 days a week?
- Usually, yes. 81% of open Med-Surg contracts nationwide are 36 hours a week - typically three 12-hour shifts. Another 13% are 48-hour contracts, which pay more in total but are 4 shifts, not a higher rate.
- How do travel nurses get paid?
- Through the agency, not the hospital, in two parts: a taxable hourly rate plus tax-free stipends for housing and meals. Combine them into one "blended rate" before comparing offers - see my travel nurse pay breakdown for the full walkthrough.
- Is travel nursing worth it financially?
- For most nurses the pay gap is real, but it's narrowed - 34% in late 2019 vs 29% today. Whether it's worth it depends on your housing costs, tax home, and how many weeks you actually work. Here's the honest breakdown.
<faq-item question="Can travel nurses make 10k a week?" answer="Not on a standard RN contract in this market. The average travel package peaked around $3,310 a week in January 2022 during the COVID crisis-rate spike, when some travelers were clearing $5,000 or more. Those rates are gone - the national average is back to about $2,180 a week.
A $10,000 weekly number on a job board is usually a typo: an hourly rate dropped into the weekly field, or a monthly housing stipend counted as weekly. Ask for the breakdown in writing - hourly base, each stipend, hours per week, and everything else on the contract checklist. A real rate survives that question; a typo doesn't.
Advanced-practice roles are the exception - CRNA contracts genuinely can clear $10K, but that's outside standard bedside RN work.">