Healthcare facility administrators and recruiters often keep an eye on the overall U.S. economy and its effect on healthcare wages. Unemployment has been rising slightly, inflation has cooled, interest rates have changed direction and the upcoming election has many wondering what comes next. Against this backdrop, travel nursing salaries are in a period of stability, with no clear sign of where they’re headed from here. 

Based on Vivian Health’s salary data, the national average travel nurse salary slipped a mere $5 per week, from $2,265 to $2,260, marking a negligible 0.2% decrease in September. That’s half the 0.4% decrease seen in August and significantly less than the 1% decrease in July and the 0.8% decrease in June.

The small decrease in travel RN pay in September is a departure from the faster rate of decreases seen earlier this year, which had a cumulative year-over-year downward effect on pay. The average weekly travel RN salary fell 4.6% year-over-year from $2,368 in September 2023 to $2,260 in September 2024. Indeed, 2024 has been noted as the year when travel nursing salaries slipped back into the “normal” range typical before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Month-over-Month Changes Nationwide

The monthly percent change in the average travel nursing pay for all 50 states is based on a comparison of pay for all travel RN jobs post on Vivian Health in August 2024 and all jobs posted in September 2024.

States Where Travel Nursing Pay Increased

With wages in a period of relative stability, only 7 out of the 50 U.S. states recorded a travel nursing salary increase of 1% or more. Among that group, only Arkansas saw an increase greater than 2%, with wages rising from $1,967 in August to $2,009 in September. Arkansas’ travel pay is typically among the lowest in the nation, so this increase presents a bit of a reprieve for travel nurses there. Nevertheless, wages in the “Land of Opportunity” still averaged 11.1% below the national norm at the end of September 2024.

In fact, despite the wage increases in these seven states, all but one still had wages below the national average. The exception is Nevada, where weekly wages rose 1.7% from $2,429 in August to $2,470 in September, representing a $210 per week premium over the national average of $2,260.

States Where Travel Nurse Salaries Decreased

Meanwhile, 11 out of 50 states recorded wage decreases of 1% or more in September. However, only Nebraska and Alaska recorded decreases of 2% or more. Nebraska saw average pay slip 2.7% from $2,264 in August—roughly the same as the national average that month—to $2,203 in September, now below average.

Alaska marked a weekly pay decrease of 2% from $2,814 to $2,759 during the same period. Despite the dip, Alaska still has the second-highest travel nurse salary in the nation, behind only California’s $2,814.

States Where Travel Nurse Wages Stayed the Same

With the national average travel RN salary barely changing this month, it isn’t surprising that most states—32 out of 50—saw wages stay relatively flat, within a band of less than 1% up or down. In these states, the typical weekly travel nurse pay changed by no more than $20 per week during the month.

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Average salary data based on travel RN jobs posted on Vivian Health during the complete month of August 2024 compared to the jobs posted during the complete month of September 2024.