Correction: Due to an error in the data pulled for January, this wage trends report has been updated to reflect the correct figures for the month.

As the first month of the year wound down, travel nurse wages in 2023 didn’t bounce back despite cold-weather waves of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and COVID-19 hitting parts of the country in varying degrees over the last couple of months. Like December, more states recorded decreased healthcare travel pay in January, even with rising respiratory infections.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey, nearly 4 in 10 adults said their households had flu, RSV, or COVID-19 illnesses during the holidays and January. Healthcare officials were closely watching the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 due to its rapid spread across the nation and high communicability. Although there haven’t been any signs that the new subvariant causes more severe disease, in early 2023, hospital admissions seemed to be on the rise in the northeastern U.S., where it's been most prevalent.

States With Wage Increases

While 2023 healthcare staffing predictions indicated that demand for travel clinicians would remain steady with a stabilization in healthcare travel wages, January 2023 saw another drop in wages across most states to begin the new year. However, nine states saw healthcare travel pay for registered nurses (RNs) go up by at least 1% during the first month of the year. This number is three times the amount in December, with many increase percentages also higher than last month. The largest increase in December was 2.8%, while the most significant jump in January was more than double. 

Topping the list of states with increased travel wages in 2023 was Utah, at 5.9%. Over the previous four months, Utah has seen insignificant drops of 0.1% in December 2022, 0.6% in November 2022, 0.2% in October 2022, and 0.3% in September 2002 wage trend reports. The state saw its largest decline of 6.6% in travel nurse wages in March 2022. Utah's wages dropped every month of 2022, except January, when wages did not fluctuate.

States With Wage Decreases

December 2022 healthcare travel wages had a distinct downward trend, with healthcare travel pay down in 33 states, which was a complete flip from November 2022 wage trends when 29 states recorded increases in travel wages. January 2023 continued December’s downward spiral but in fewer states — only 19 posted decreased travel nurse pay of at least 1%.

Michigan had the most significant decrease in healthcare travel wages for RNs thus far in 2023 at 3.5%, marking a slightly smaller decline over December 2022 when travel pay fell 5% in the state. However, it ranked fifth that month instead of first. In the two months prior, Michigan posted a significant rise of 7.9% in travel wages in November 2022 and a smaller increase of 1.6% in October. 

Despite the lower travel wages to start 2023, Michigan began the year with slightly elevated COVID-19 cases, including 6% of its counties at high risk of medically significant disease and healthcare strain. Another 40% were at medium risk, representing a combined total of 63% of the population, per the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). While test positivity and case rates gradually began to fall beginning the next week, some counties still reported increased cases.

According to a local news outlet, some hospitals in Michigan became inundated with flu, RSV, and some COVID-19 cases toward the end of December 2022 and the beginning of January 2023. However, cases began slowing down. As reported by the MDHHS, Michigan had high influenza illness during the first week of January, but cases fell gradually over the next few weeks.  

States Where Wages Stayed the Same

The remaining 22 states had changes of less than 1%, placing them on the list of relatively unchanged wages, demonstrating the stabilization of travel RN wages indicated in the 2023 healthcare staffing predictions. 

Related: The Future of Healthcare Work Report 2023

Among those states listed as unchanged, Oregon and Massachusetts had the highest increase of 0.90%, barely missing the 1% requirement to make the list of travel wage growth. While the slight rise is considered unchanged, it resulted in a difference in average pay of $28 in Oregon and $26 in Massachusetts. Conversely, Virginia had the largest decrease, which was also 0.9%, or $22 less in average weekly wages. Last month, Oregon had a relatively insignificant reduction of 0.8%, while Massachusetts' travel wages rose by 1.8%. Virginia's travel nurse wages dropped by 3.1% last month.

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Average salary data based on travel RN jobs posted on Vivian Health during the complete month of January 2023 compared to the jobs posted during the complete month of December 2022.