As reported last month, the decline in travel nursing salary has been moderating somewhat in mid-2023, a trend that has continued into July. While wages had been falling more rapidly at the beginning of the year, a growing number of states are now seeing wage increases. Meanwhile, those states still experiencing wage decreases are seeing less dramatic reductions than before. 

The national average saw weekly travel nurse pay fall by a modest 0.7% month-over-month in July. Compared to the monthly data one quarter before, our April wage data marked a 2.3% monthly wage decrease compared to March nationally. In July, the average weekly travel nursing pay across the U.S. stands at $2,448, compared to $2,466 in June.

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More States See Travel Nursing Salary Increases

As the flattening of travel RN salaries continues, we see a modest expansion in the number of states experiencing travel nursing pay increases of at least 1%. While only seven states witnessed such gains last month, 10 states did this month.

Among that group of states, Delaware had the most significant travel RN pay increase, climbing from a $2,529 weekly average in June to $2,666 in July, a rise of about 5.4%. With July’s increase, Delaware had the fifth-highest travel nurse wages in the nation, lagging behind fourth place by just $2 based on Vivian’s internal salary data. What makes Delaware notable is that the four states with higher pay are notorious for having a high cost of living. These states included California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Alaska. Thus, Delaware may offer travel nurses a potentially great destination for garnering a high standard of living right now.

States with Travel Nursing Pay Decreases

While many states continue to deal with travel nurse salary decreases of 1% or more, the magnitude of such declines has been lessening quite a bit. For instance, our May wage data indicated that 33 states experienced travel RN salary decreases of 1% percent or more, and more than half of these states had decreases greater than 2.5%. This month, only five of the 26 states with falling wages saw decreases greater than 2.5%.

Alaska witnessed the largest dip in travel nurse wages of any state, declining from $2,874 in June to $2,668 in July, a drop of about 7.2%. Despite this significant decline, Alaska still had the fourth-highest travel nurse wages in the United States in July 2023. The state is also the only one nationwide that has experienced an overall wage increase over the past year, as noted in our June wage trends report.

States with Relatively Stable Wages

As in recent months, a fair number of states, 14 in our current count, saw wages remain relatively stable with percent changes of less than 1% up or down. These states were located in all regions of the country except for the West Coast–including Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii–where wage decreases are all more pronounced.

Take a Holistic Approach to Filling Positions

As travel nursing salaries stabilize, travel RNs may start to prioritize other job attributes that affect quality of life beyond pay, including issues like staff satisfaction, mental health or benefits programs – issues we cover in our On the Horizon in Healthcare video series. 

Vivian can help you find nurses seeking the mix of attributes your organization has to offer. With over 168,000 providers actively searching on our platform every day, Vivian can reduce time-to-hire by 50% and cut hiring costs by 80%.

Schedule a demo to see how Vivian Health can support your staffing needs.