The nationwide average travel nursing salary declined by a modest 0.1% in the final month of 2023, per Vivian Health’s most recent wage trends report. The average weekly registered nurse (RN) pay across the U.S. was $2,417 during the month of November 2023 and fell just $3 to $2,414 during December.

Travel Nursing Salaries Continue to Flatten in December 2023

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This slight decrease for the month caps off a year of falling wages overall, in which salaries decreased quite rapidly early in the year but slowed in the later months. Compared to the December 2022 average RN salary of $2,722, wages have fallen 11.3% overall from a year ago.

Continuing the trend seen in recent months, Vivian recorded a relatively even split between states, with 12 having wage increases of 1.0% or more and 14 having decreases of 1.0% or more. Meanwhile, the remaining 24 states experienced relatively flat wages, less than 1.0% either up or down, denoted in the chart below by the area shaded in gray.

States with Travel RN Salary Increases

Of the 12 states that experienced wage increases greater than or equal to 1.0%, the top state for travel nursing pay increases in December was Utah. Weekly wages in the Beehive State climbed from $2,437 in November to $2,556 in December, a rise of 4.9%. Notably, Utah is also one of just three states that saw year-over-year wage increases, climbing 1.9% from the $2,509 wage recorded in December 2022.

Not far behind Utah was Alaska, which saw travel nurse wages climb 4.3% from $2,779 in November to $2,899 in December. That figure gives Alaska the second-highest average travel RN salary in the nation, just behind California’s $2,928. Like Utah, Alaska is one of three states with year-over-year wage increases (the third being Florida). Wages in the Last Frontier state have risen 3.0% from their December 2022 level of $2,815. As our June wage report noted, Alaska’s economy is uniquely affected by the state’s oil royalty payments to citizens, which broke all records in 2023.

States with Travel RN Pay Decreases

Of the 14 states that experienced travel nurse pay decreases of 1.0% or more in December, Tennessee and Rhode Island stood out as the only two with drops greater than 2.0%. Tennessee saw wages fall 2.4% from $2,131 in November to $2,080 in December. Meanwhile, Rhode Island salaries declined by 2.3%, from $2,548 to $2,490.  However, both decreases within these states were the smallest recorded among the top-wage-dropping states for any month throughout 2023. In comparison, our March Report and May Report both recorded a wage decrease of at least 10% in one state.

Travel Nursing Salary Relatively Flat in Nearly Half of the States

Just under half of the states, 24 to be exact, saw travel nurse salaries remain relatively flat, with changes of less than 1.0% up or down. Travel nurses in Virginia saw virtually no change in pay in December, with the $1 weekly wage decrease rounding to a change of 0.0%.

Looking Backward and Forward at Travel Nursing Pay

With 2023 having now come to a close, a question on the minds of hiring managers and health system executives is where travel nursing wages will head in 2024. As we noted in our November wage report, the major trend of 2023 was that wages fell rapidly from the beginning of the year through spring as healthcare entered a “new normal,” particularly marked by the end of the Pandemic Health Emergency on May 11, 2023. Wages continued falling, albeit at a much slower pace, during the summer and fall as the transition continued, with wages coming in flat from August to September.

For 2024, barring a significant resurgence of severe COVID-19 cases or another infectious disease, we anticipate that travel RN pay will stay relatively flat compared to the major ups and downs seen over the last few years. Travel nurse salaries may even experience slight increases as wages respond to inflation. Meanwhile, for many health systems, the focus has shifted from offering lucrative pay packages for travel nurses to wooing healthcare providers into staff roles. That trend is likely to continue during the coming year.

Vivian can help your health system with both travel and staff hiring. Schedule a demo to learn more today.

Average salary data based on travel RN jobs posted on Vivian Health during the complete month of December 2023 compared to the jobs posted during the complete month of November 2023.