How Much Does Travel Nursing Pay?

Travel nursing is a bona fide, lucrative career opportunity that is packed with favorable salaries and benefits. To begin, the travel nursing boom has been going strong for close to 30 years. Short staffed hospitals and clinics are always looking for qualified, experienced nurses to fulfill their vacancies. They look for travel nurses with a specialty, and these professionals generally earn more than their counterparts. Let's take a look into the salaries and benefits travel nurses enjoy.

To start, travel nurses enjoy great pay rates as a result of their demand. It is normal for salaries to vary from assignment to assignment. Typically, the average pay rate for registered nurses is around $20 to $40 per hour. Of course, this depends on demand and specialties. Travel nurses specializing in mobile surgery technology, for instance, can earn up to $28 an hour. Less specialized travel nurses like therapy assistants earn up to $8 less than hour than PTs. Salary also varies in different parts of the country. A healthy $38 an hour can be earned at some of the nation's big city hospitals. In less popular Southwestern states, $26 to $30 is the standard. West Coast hospitals usually pay in the $30 to $35 an hour range. In essence, city hospitals pay more than farmland/rural areas by approximately $2 to $3 dollars per hour. This is because major cities have a wider selection of entertainment options and provide a better quality of life.

When it comes to pay scales, travel nursing has some of the most varying ranges. There are so many factors that come into play before awarding a travel nurse his/her salary, which includes location (of hospital), the cost of living, and travel destinations.

By taking the cost of living of the particular area in which a travel nurse will be working, the pay scale can be better assessed. Larger cities like New York City as opposed to small, quaint towns in Tennessee are more adept at hitting your paycheck. For starters, the Northeast is notorious for being more expensive than the Midwest. In addition, pay scales for travel nurses may depend on assignment desirability.

A hospital in Florida next to Daytona Beach may mean lesser pay than other less entertaining communities because of the high demand of working in these areas. By working in a desirable location, many travel nurses sacrifice pay for action. However, some desirable cities hospitals like those in Los Angeles are known to provide contracts to travel nurses which meet the highest pay scale for this field.

The biggest factor in determining pay scale is the experience that a travel nurse has acquired through the years. First off, supply and demand most work in the travel nurses favor. Experienced providers in a competitive travel nurse market will thrive most of the time. Specialized nurses (technology, therapy, etc.) are craved by most recruiters and enjoy contracts with additional perks and benefits. Having certifications like Advanced Cardiac Life Support credentials can also boost the pay rate for travel nurses, with an additional $3 an hour over standard travel nurses. Also, never underestimate years of experience!