When the COVID-19 pandemic began dramatically and unexpectedly in 2020, it turbocharged the market for travel nurses in an unprecedented fashion. The prevailing weekly rates for travel RNs soared from coast to coast. With the effects of the pandemic abating over the last few years, travel nursing salaries have returned from COVID-19 heights to what we expect is the new normal going forward. Interestingly, the final months of 2024 saw travel nursing pay record modest increases after two years of declines, offering a taste of wage stability that we may see continue in 2025.
After recording an average weekly pay rate of $2,386 in December 2023, travel RN wages declined a modest 3.8% throughout 2024, resulting in an average salary of $2,294 per week by December 2024. The year demonstrated much more stability compared to 2023, when wages declined 11.3%, and compared to 2022, when they fell 15.1%.
|
Year |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
|
Percent Change |
-15.1% |
-11.3% |
-3.8% |
Over the past two years, Vivian Health has noted that health systems bolstered their efforts to return to staff nursing. This shift has reduced some of the demand-side pressure on the market for travel nurses, contributing to declining wages. Going forward, we suspect travel nurse rates will become more linked to the overall economy and healthcare spending, with less dramatic fluctuations than were typical in past years. Despite a diminished wage premium over staff nursing compared to the pandemic era, travel nursing typically still pays better and remains popular among nurses as a way to experience new employers, meet new people and explore new parts of the U.S.
The chart below illustrates the national average weekly travel nursing salary for each month of 2024. Wages declined every month until September before starting an upward trajectory that helped to erase some of the declines experienced earlier in the year. Note that the chart's base starts with $2,000 per week rather than $0 to enhance the fluctuations better visually.
As you can see from the chart above and the data in the table below, travel nursing pay in 2024 had four significant movements that aligned with the quarters of the year.
During the first quarter, travel nursing pay was almost in a holding pattern, declining ever-so-slightly each month. During that period, nearly half or more of the 50 states were experiencing wages that stayed roughly the same each month, fluctuating less than 1% up or down.
This quarter echoed the slow declines we recorded in the last quarter of 2023, which made us wonder—at the time—if travel RN pay had reached the bottom. However, subsequent quarters revealed a different story.
With a relatively significant drop in wages of 1.1% in April, it became evident that travel pay had not yet reached a bottom. More than 20 states saw considerable pay declines each month of this quarter.
Because overall unemployment was exceptionally low during this period, suggesting a strong labor market, it became evident that the travel nursing market was still adjusting to the overall baseline that prevailed before the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it was only in June that the average travel nurse wage fell back to the inflation-adjusted level that it had been in January 2020, just before the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak was a global pandemic.
Emerging data would show that travel RN salaries had one more downward turn before hitting the bottom at the end of the third quarter. Pay fell another 1% in July before leveling off with 0.4% and 0.2% declines in August and September, respectively.
September’s wage of $2,260 per week became the post-pandemic low point for travel nurse wages—at least for now. This rate was also below the level of pay that prevailed in January 2020, suggesting the pandemic’s effects on the travel nurse market were well and truly over and that there might be room for wages to rise.
The most recent full quarter, covering October through December 2024, saw the emergence of a trend we haven’t seen in years—rising travel nurse pay. During this quarter, the average weekly pay rose $34 a week, helping erase some, but not all, of the decreases recorded earlier in the year. The trend reversal has us eagerly anticipating future data in the first months of 2025.
The following table shows the breakdown of travel nursing pay by month for 2024, including average national wage, percentage of change and an overview of fluctuations on a state level.
|
Month |
Average National Wage |
% Change from Previous Month |
# States Pay Rose |
Largest Increase |
# States Pay Fell |
Largest Decrease |
# States Stayed the Same |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
$2,371 |
0.0% |
8 |
3.4% |
12 |
5.0% |
30 |
|
|
$2,363 |
-0.4% |
9 |
3.3% |
14 |
5.2% |
27 |
|
|
$2,360 |
-0.1% |
10 |
5.0% |
16 |
4.0% |
24 |
|
|
$2,333 |
-1.1% |
4 |
3.8% |
28 |
5.5% |
18 |
|
|
$2,317 |
-0.7% |
8 |
1.9% |
20 |
4.9% |
22 |
|
|
$2,298 |
-0.8% |
3 |
2.1% |
21 |
4.1% |
26 |
|
|
$2,275 |
-1.0% |
3 |
2.0% |
24 |
3.4% |
23 |
|
|
$2,265 |
-0.4% |
5 |
3.2% |
17 |
3.1% |
28 |
|
|
$2,260 |
-0.2% |
7 |
2.2% |
11 |
2.7% |
32 |
|
|
$2,272 |
0.5% |
15 |
2.9% |
4 |
1.5% |
31 |
|
|
$2,286 |
0.7% |
17 |
3.9% |
3 |
1.2% |
30 |
|
|
$2,294 |
0.1% |
10 |
3.4% |
8 |
3.6% |
33 |
*In April 2024, we expanded our database of travel nurse wages to include additional nurse specialties. The inclusion of this data created revisions in how we calculated the national average travel RN wage compared to what we originally published in January-March of 2024. The data in the table above reflects the revised method, but our reports published before April 2024 may reflect older, unrevised data.
The national average travel nurse wage offers health systems and recruitment agencies a benchmark against which to compare current offers for travel RNs. It’s particularly useful for the growing array of health systems and travel agencies with large footprints that span multiple states or regions of the country. However, we know that many hiring managers prefer focusing on the prevailing rates in their local market, so we included the yearly wage data for all 50 states in the table below.
This table compares the average wage for each state in December 2023 with the salaries we saw in December 2024, along with the percentage of change between these two periods. All data is based on the average of all travel RN jobs posted to Vivian Health during the entire month in question. We sorted states from highest to lowest year-over-year change.
|
State |
Average Pay December 2023 |
Average Pay December 2024 |
Year-over-Year Change |
|
Idaho |
$2,160 |
$2,301 |
6.5% |
|
Missouri |
$2,187 |
$2,252 |
2.9% |
|
Oklahoma |
$2,160 |
$2,205 |
2.1% |
|
Vermont |
$2,397 |
$2,443 |
1.9% |
|
New Hampshire |
$2,358 |
$2,396 |
1.6% |
|
Kansas |
$2,146 |
$2,177 |
1.5% |
|
Virginia |
$2,221 |
$2,235 |
0.6% |
|
Wisconsin |
$2,424 |
$2,430 |
0.2% |
|
Louisiana |
$2,058 |
$2,047 |
-0.5% |
|
Connecticut |
$2,378 |
$2,353 |
-1.0% |
|
New Mexico |
$2,254 |
$2,226 |
-1.3% |
|
South Carolina |
$2,144 |
$2,114 |
-1.4% |
|
Oregon |
$2,540 |
$2,501 |
-1.5% |
|
Illinois |
$2,406 |
$2,368 |
-1.6% |
|
Washington |
$2,406 |
$2,364 |
-1.8% |
|
Maine |
$2,506 |
$2,459 |
-1.9% |
|
South Dakota |
$2,413 |
$2,364 |
-2.0% |
|
Iowa |
$2,272 |
$2,217 |
-2.4% |
|
Montana |
$2,461 |
$2,399 |
-2.5% |
|
Tennessee |
$2,051 |
$1,993 |
-2.8% |
|
Indiana |
$2,282 |
$2,208 |
-3.2% |
|
National Average |
$2,386 |
$2,294 |
-3.8% |
|
Arkansas |
$2,102 |
$2,019 |
-3.9% |
|
Kentucky |
$2,326 |
$2,230 |
-4.1% |
|
New York |
$2,665 |
$2,555 |
-4.1% |
|
Maryland |
$2,323 |
$2,225 |
-4.2% |
|
Pennsylvania |
$2,454 |
$2,343 |
-4.5% |
|
Mississippi |
$1,900 |
$1,814 |
-4.5% |
|
Hawaii |
$2,427 |
$2,313 |
-4.7% |
|
North Carolina |
$2,204 |
$2,100 |
-4.7% |
|
California |
$3,000 |
$2,852 |
-4.9% |
|
Texas |
$2,096 |
$1,982 |
-5.4% |
|
Massachusetts |
$2,722 |
$2,570 |
-5.6% |
|
Delaware |
$2,749 |
$2,596 |
-5.6% |
|
Georgia |
$2,170 |
$2,046 |
-5.7% |
|
Ohio |
$2,376 |
$2,240 |
-5.7% |
|
Minnesota |
$2,720 |
$2,561 |
-5.8% |
|
Nevada |
$2,756 |
$2,592 |
-6.0% |
|
West Virginia |
$2,387 |
$2,244 |
-6.0% |
|
Michigan |
$2,288 |
$2,145 |
-6.2% |
|
Rhode Island |
$2,598 |
$2,434 |
-6.3% |
|
New Jersey |
$2,716 |
$2,533 |
-6.8% |
|
Alaska |
$2,869 |
$2,669 |
-7.0% |
|
Wyoming |
$2,503 |
$2,327 |
-7.0% |
|
Florida |
$2,262 |
$2,103 |
-7.0% |
|
Alabama |
$2,085 |
$1,922 |
-7.9% |
|
Nebraska |
$2,417 |
$2,224 |
-8.0% |
|
Arizona |
$2,434 |
$2,240 |
-8.0% |
|
Colorado |
$2,432 |
$2,235 |
-8.1% |
|
North Dakota |
$2,561 |
$2,309 |
-9.9% |
|
Utah |
$2,518 |
$2,225 |
-11.6% |
During 2024, the top five states to record an average travel RN pay increase were Idaho, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Idaho stood out substantially above any other state with rising wages. While no other state broke 3% in average pay increases during the year, Idaho’s average climbed 6.5% in 2024, more than double the next highest. This increase, from $2,160 per week in December 2023 to $2,301 per week in December 2024, moved Idaho from a state with below-average travel wages to one with above-average pay. In recent years, Idaho has recorded one of the fastest population growth percentages in the nation, which may help partially explain the acute demand for more travel nurses to the state.
While the top states with rising wages saw them increase at a modest pace, the bottom states saw travel salaries drop dramatically, reflecting the overall decline of 2024. Utah, North Dakota, Colorado, Arizona and Nebraska had the largest pay declines for the year, each recording drops of at least 8%.
Utah is notable as the only state where the decrease hit a double-digit, declining 11.6% from $2,518 in December 2023 to $2,225 in December 2024. North Dakota nearly hit 10%, reaching 9.9% by year-end.
Unlike at the end of 2023, when travel nurse wages were still above pre-pandemic norms, prevailing travel nursing salaries at the end of 2024 are now below that threshold—$2,294 in December 2024 compared to $2,319 in January 2020 when adjusted for inflation. We believe this means that travel pay has now completely decoupled from the pandemic experience and the related acute staffing shortages. It reflects more of the normal long-term market for this portion of the healthcare workforce.
With this decoupling, 2025 could continue the trend of recent months with mostly modest shifts in pay. Travel RN salary could more closely track the overall strength of the economy as seen in broad indicators. These indicators include the overall level of unemployment in the U.S., which has been relatively low but also climbing slightly in recent months.
Nevertheless, 2025 could throw the healthcare market some wildcards that are hard to predict. This year will see the arrival of a new Congress and Presidential administration, which could bring new healthcare policies. Significant changes in legislation or the public contribution to healthcare spending could create a period of greater volatility in travel nurse wages if such changes come to pass.
No matter what 2025 has in store, you can be ready to hire staff and travel nurses, as well as allied healthcare professionals and advanced practice providers in a wide array of specialties. Schedule a demo with Vivian Health, and let us help you meet your current and future staffing needs.
Average salary data for each month are based on travel RN jobs posted on Vivian Health during the complete month for which they were reported.