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Whether you’re a nursing student planning for the future or an experienced registered nurse (RN) looking for a change, travel nursing could be a great career choice. Maybe you’ve heard from coworkers about the benefits of travel nursing jobs, or you’ve worked beside a few nurses completing contracts at your facility.
But how does travel nursing work? How do you get started and navigate agencies, housing stipends, state licenses and all the logistics of travel work? This article will help you understand the basics of travel nursing and provide the information you need to decide if it’s the right fit for you.
As you read this guide, learn more about each facet of how travel nursing works by clicking on the associated links for additional information and resources in Vivian’s Community Hub.
What Is a Travel Nurse?
Travel nurses are licensed nurses who work short-term contracts, typically 13 weeks. These nurses fill temporary staffing gaps for various reasons, including covering a staff member’s leave, helping out during seasonal peaks or filling shifts due to a nursing shortage in the area.
RNs, licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPN/LVNs) and advanced practice RNs such as nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified nurse midwives and certified RN anesthetists can all work as travel nurses if they have the clinical experience and the necessary licensure.
Hospitals, long-term care facilities, home health systems, clinics and many other sites hire travelers to help staff their schedules. Positions range across nursing specialties, including med-surg, telemetry, emergency department, pediatric, critical care and more. Travel nurses usually work for an agency and have an assigned recruiter who is the liaison between the nurse and the facility.
RELATED: Nursing Shortages in 2024: A State-by-State Breakdown
Travel Nurse Experience Requirements
Travel nurse roles usually require at least one year of acute care experience, while some specialty positions may require two years of experience (requirements may vary by facility). In some higher acuity specialties, like ICU, the two-year experience requirement is the standard at many facilities.
If you’re a newly graduated RN, you must gain some experience before applying for travel assignments. Travel nursing agencies for new graduates are a bit of a myth these days, though some loosened their restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, and exceptions are still possible in areas with extreme staffing gaps.
How to Choose a Travel Nurse Agency
To begin travel nursing, a nurse usually works with an agency and recruiter to start their job search. Agencies are plentiful and come with pros and cons, so it’s important to do a little research to decide what’s best for your needs.
A larger agency may have more job opportunities but offer less personalized attention than a smaller agency can. Some agencies specialize in certain areas of nursing, only contract with specific health systems or don’t cover all 50 states. Before choosing an agency, ask plenty of questions, shop around and read agency reviews to ensure a good fit.
FYI—travel nurses don’t need to stay with the same agency and recruiter throughout their careers, and may work with multiple agencies at one time while looking for a new assignment. You just need to be sure that you aren’t submitted for the same job by different agencies.
RELATED: 10 Questions to Ask Your Travel Nurse Recruiter
Understanding Travel Nurse Licensure
One benefit of travel nursing is being able to choose where you want to work, and there are usually jobs available in all 50 states. A nurse must be licensed in the state where they’re going to work, whether that be a single-state nursing license or a Compact RN license.
Many facilities require you to have the correct license in hand to apply, so an agency won’t submit you for a job until you hold an RN license for that state. You must also meet all of the agency and facility prerequisites for documentation before you can begin an assignment.
If you live in a Compact state and qualify for a multistate license, you’re fortunate to be able to work in all states that are part of the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact without obtaining an additional license. While licensing can be time-consuming and costly, follow these Travel Nursing License Tips from a Travel Nurse to help reduce the stress.
RELATED: How to Get a Temporary RN License in Every State
Understanding Travel Nursing Bill Rates
One of the most common questions among new travel nurses is, “What is the difference between a bill rate and a pay rate?” Simply put, the bill rate is the total amount the staffing agency charges a healthcare facility for supplying them with a travel nurse to fill a role. The pay rate is the amount the travel nurse actually receives for working their contract.
Some facilities have standardized bill rates set by specialty, and some offer negotiated bill rates for their partnership with the agency. Since bill rates may impact travel nurses differently, it’s important to ask plenty of questions to ensure you understand the details of your pay prior to signing a contract, including overtime pay, guaranteed hours, benefits, housing stipends and any bonuses.
Travel nurses who claim a permanent tax home will have a blended pay rate. This rate includes tax-free stipends and a taxable hourly wage. Travel nurses who can’t claim a permanent tax home can still take travel contracts and have a rate similar to a blended rate, but all their wages will be fully taxed.
RELATED: Travel Nurse Contracts vs. Staff Nurse Jobs
How Travel Nurse Housing Stipends Work
What are travel nurse housing stipends? Think of a stipend as a reimbursement, except the travel nurse agency adds this untaxed amount to your taxed salary to cover housing costs while on an assignment. Your housing stipend may be calculated as a daily, weekly or monthly amount but generally goes on the same weekly or bi-weekly paycheck as your salary.
Once a facility hires you as a travel nurse, you must look for housing in your assignment location. Travel nurses often have the option to take agency-provided housing, but doing so means losing your housing stipend—potentially a big chunk of pay out of your blended rate. Housing stipends help maximize your earnings because they’re not taxed, making them one of the best benefits of a travel nurse’s salary.
For tips on making the most of your stipend dollars, read our picks of the Best Websites for Finding Travel Nurse Housing.
How to Make the Most Money as a Travel Nurse
Everyone wants to maximize their earnings at work. While travel nurses typically already have high starting rates, these tips can help increase your salary.
10 Ways to Boost Your Travel Nurse Salary
1. Choose a high-paying specialty: Pediatrics, Labor and Delivery, Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit, Operating Room and Medical Surgical/Telemetry roles are often among the highest-paying RN specialties.
2. Seek professional certifications: Getting a professional certification shows off your deep knowledge and skills in a certain nursing area. It also often helps you move up and earn more money.
3. Obtain a Compact license: This license increases the number of states you can work in without further licensure requirements. It saves you the trouble and expense of getting and maintaining multiple licenses in the states already participating in the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact.
4. Work in higher-paying locations: Do your research and find out which cities and states are paying the best for your specialty. California consistently pays significantly more than most states for nearly all types of travel nursing roles but also has a higher cost of living. Compare the facts and take a look at the Top 5 Highest Paying Staff RN Locations in 2024.
5. Be willing to work overtime: If you anticipate working lots of extra hours, negotiate your OT rate with your staffing agency to ensure you make the most money on your travel assignment. You could also look for contracts offering 48 hours per week, and then make sure the additional 8 hours are paid a good OT rate.
6. Work weekends and holidays: These shifts are the ideal way to pick up some potentially lucrative hours and make a staff nurse’s day who now gets to take a weekend or a holiday off while you work. Make sure your contract includes a holiday pay rate.
7. Be smart about housing: Share housing, rent a single room or travel with a friend and split expenses. Be creative and try to find your own travel nurse housing as cheaply as possible.
8. Watch for rapid response, crisis and strike assignments: These assignments often require you to get to a new location on very short notice to cover staffing emergencies, but they offer a huge salary and cover travel and accommodation costs.
9. Take a contract extension: If you like the location and the facility, why not stick around a bit longer and get paid to enjoy it? You can usually negotiate for a bit more money for an extension and dictate the length of time (it doesn’t necessarily have to be for another 13 weeks).
10. Use Vivian as a resource: Our salary calculator helps you stay informed of salary trends and easily research pay rates. It uses the most up-to-date job market data to compare wages for various nursing disciplines in locations nationwide.
The Benefits of Travel Nursing
With seemingly endless pros and very few cons, the travel nursing profession presents amazing opportunities. There are many reasons why you might choose to follow this career path and many aspects of travel nursing you won’t find in other professional environments. Here are five key benefits to consider:
- Financial rewards: Travel roles typically have higher pay rates compared to staff nurses, plus housing stipends, travel reimbursements and tax benefits.
- Personal and professional growth: Be exposed to diverse healthcare environments, have the opportunity to develop new skills, expand clinical knowledge and build a broad professional network.
- Flexibility and autonomy in choosing assignments: Work when you want and take as much time off between assignments as you choose.
- Opportunities for travel and exploration: Get paid to live and work in new areas that you’ve always wanted to visit.
- Job security: Nursing is an in-demand profession that continues to experience growth due to the aging population and ongoing nursing shortage.
Is Travel Nursing Right for You?
Do you think travel nursing jobs may be a fit for you? Travel work requires you to be away from home for long periods of time, which can separate you from friends, family and your routine. The job also requires a certain level of organization, flexibility and professionalism as you deal with continually changing work environments.
Take our 15-question travel nursing quiz to see if the job matches your work style and personality as you weigh the pros and cons.
Is Travel Nursing a Career?
Yes! Many nurses travel for years before returning to a permanent staff position, and some just keep traveling. You gain so much experience as a traveler, and it’s a great way to see the country. If this is your first time, check out our guide to travel nursing careers. It will help answer many common questions about travel nursing with advice from an experienced traveler.
RELATED: Travel Nursing FAQ: A Complete Guide
Land Your First Travel Role with Vivian
Vivian has been helping RNs find travel nurse assignments since 2017 and is the platform that over 2 million healthcare professionals turn to for career support. Get started today by downloading the free Vivian Health app from the App Store or Google Play. You can create your own Reusable Profile and access our Resume Builder and other helpful tools to begin your travel job search and find your dream job faster and easier than ever.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally written on June 24, 2021, and was updated on September 13, 2024.
Looking for assignments
Hello Michelle and thanks for reaching out! Start your job search by browsing travel nursing jobs posted on Vivian here: https://www.vivian.com/nursing/travel/ or our browse job page here: https://www.vivian.com/browse-jobs/landing/. If you haven’t already created your profile, you’ll need one to start applying for jobs that interest you. Once you have a profile, you can also set up job alerts to receive notifications when new jobs that match your current needs are posted. If you have any questions about using our platform or getting started, please don’t hesitate to go to the “Contact Vivian” option under the Resources tab to speak with our 24/7 help desk. We’d be happy to help you!