Is Travel Nursing Worth It? 8 Reasons to Chart Your Adventure (2024)

Last Updated on April 19, 2024

Is Travel Nursing Worth It? 8 Reasons to Chart Your Adventure (1)

Chart your adventure and level up in the new year! As we enter 2024, everyone’s starting to ask the same question: Is travel nursing worth it? Spoiler alert: It is!

Imagine a career in healthcare where you could explore parts of the country you never thought you’d see — where you could make your days off feel like a vacation, put more money into savings, open career opportunities, and choose your schedule. It’s all possible with traveling nurse jobs!

Discover the biggest opportunities to level up your nursing career, and reasons to chart your adventure as a travel nurse.

Chart Your Adventure Now: Explore Travel Nurse Jobs

How Do Traveling Nurse Jobs Work?

First things first: How do travel nurse jobs work? Travel nurses take on short-term assignments in various healthcare facilities across the country. These assignments typically last around 8 to 13 weeks, offering flexibility and the chance to explore different locations.

Once the contract is over, nurses can take a break in between, travel to their next assignment, and start working in a fresh, new environment.

Pro Tip: Many travel nurses work with agencies to help them level up with assignments at top facilities across the country, explore dream destinations, and more!

Level Up: 8 Reasons Why Travel Nursing is Worth It in 2024

Now, is travel nursing worth it, still? Even as the market begins to stabilize, there are still several opportunities and reasons to seek out traveling nurse jobs in 2024:

Higher Pay

You can’t answer the question, “Is travel nursing worth it?” without talking about pay. Travel nurses get paid more than the traditional nursing crew. On average, travel nurses pull in around $2,122 a week. This averages out to $8,211/month or $115,969/year, according to Indeed.com as of December 2023. However, some CareerStaff travel nurses make up to $3,000* weekly! Of course, salaries vary depending on the location of your assignment, travel stipends, and more.

One of the greatest benefits of traveling nurse jobs is the bonuses. Many assignments and agencies offer incentives, tax-free stipends, quick start, and holiday bonuses! This can significantly increase your take-home pay and quality of life as a nurse.

Decreased Burnout & Increased Flexibility

Feeling burnt-out? Traveling nurse jobs open up opportunities to level up your work-life balance, lifestyle freedom, and scheduling flexibility. You can take longer breaks between assignments — maybe even a few weeks off. You decide! Travel nurses can pick when they want to work when working out the contract, too.

Of course, the flexibility of traveling nurse jobs goes beyond time-off and scheduling. It’s also about where you work. You can choose assignments based on weather, personal interests, travel destination goals, or even locations near friends and family across the country. It’s your career on your terms.

New Career Opportunities & Resume-Building Experiences

For many travel nurses, it’s not just about the money. Traveling nurse jobs open doors to new career paths. As you work in different places with different people, you gain different skills, experiences, and knowledge.

The diverse experiences you gain with travel nursing are worth gold to your resume. Employers love seeing that you can thrive in various environments and adapt alongside their teams, making you a standout candidate.

New Connections in Your Career

Travel nurses have the unique opportunity to make friends and build a network across the country. Connect with new people and discover opportunities — it’s a whole world beyond your standard nursing routine.

Building a network in the healthcare industry can create future opportunities, too. Your fellow travel nurses might become lifelong friends or even valuable professional contacts.

Opportunity to Travel

Ready for the fun part? With travel nursing, your days off can turn into mini-vacations at locations worth exploring!

Explore vibrant areas like New York and Pennsylvania with endless things to do, see, and eat. Or, enjoy the great outdoors the best warm-weather destinations for travel nurses. The options are endless! Not many jobs let you travel while you work, in and outside of healthcare.

Traveling nurse jobs allow you to experience the rich culture of the U.S. Every state and even city is filled with unique cultures and subcultures. From bustling cities to serene landscapes, your assignments become more than just work — they become unforgettable adventures.

Quick Apply: Chart Your Travel Nursing Adventure!

Variety of Lifestyle

Every assignment brings something new for travel nurses: A new specialty, a new workplace, and a new home to explore. Say goodbye to routine boredom. It’s a lifestyle that keeps both work and life interesting. The variety and flexibility that come with traveling nurse jobs can help reduce burnout and keep your day-to-day interesting.

Personal Growth

For travel nurses, what you learn on the job goes beyond work. Adaptability, independence, cultural skills — it’s not just professional growth. You can become a more confident person, too. The challenges you overcome and the skills you develop make you more resilient, adaptable, and self-assured.

Travel nurses can also gain cultural competence as they build relationships with patients and colleagues across the U.S.

Travel Nurse Agencies Take Care of Everything for You

Let’s talk logistics. Moving can be stressful, right? Not as much for travel nurses. Agencies like CareerStaff handle it all — finding the positions, stipends, and negotiations, making travel nursing all the more worth it. They take the stress out of some of the most daunting parts of relocating.

How to Find Traveling Nurse Jobs

So, is travel nursing worth it? Yes! With more money, flexibility, career options, travel perks, and personal growth, it’s still one of the most exciting nursing opportunities in 2024. If you’re thinking of level up in your nursing career now, travel nursing jobs might just be the adventure you’re looking for.

Ready to chart your adventure with travel nursing? Search available travel nurse jobs, or Quick Apply below to get connected with a CareerStaff recruiter today!

Chart Your Adventure Now: Travel Nurse Jobs

Is Travel Nursing Worth It? 8 Reasons to Chart Your Adventure (2024)

FAQs

Is Travel Nursing Worth It? 8 Reasons to Chart Your Adventure? ›

Spoiler alert: It is! Imagine a career in healthcare where you could explore parts of the country you never thought you'd see — where you could make your days off feel like a vacation, put more money into savings, open career opportunities, and choose your schedule. It's all possible with traveling nurse jobs!

Is travel nursing worth it anymore? ›

While multiple factors may determine your pay, you're likely to make more as a travel nurse than a staff nurse. In January 2022, the peak wage of travel nurses was 148.1% higher than staff nurses nationally, and 103.3% higher over the whole year.

Is travel nursing still worth it in 2024? ›

However, travel nurse pay remains very strong. According to surveys by staffing agencies, the average weekly gross pay for travel nurse assignments in early 2024 is around $2,800 for a 48-hour week. This still represents a pay premium of 30-50% over commensurate permanent staff nurse positions at most facilities.

Is travel nursing oversaturated? ›

Is travel nursing oversaturated? Travel nurses are still in demand, but most companies want you to have at least a year of non-travel practice before hiring you.

Is travel nursing slowing down? ›

Full travel opportunities are decreasing for CNAs and LPNs in 2024. Rather than asking for travelers, we are seeing that client buildings that requesting for local candidates to commit to short-term contracts.

Are travel nurses getting paid less now? ›

Travel nurse pay began declining in February 2022, and today it is much lower than at its peak. In New York City, the publicly run Health + Hospitals network paid a single company, Rightsourcing, $1.2 billion to contract temporary traveling nurses in fiscal year 2022.

What is a disadvantage of being a travel nurse? ›

Travel Nurses Lack Job Security

The first is that you don't have the sort of job security afforded to others in the nursing profession. Travel nursing positions are usually easy to come by, as there is a nationwide nursing shortage and it's more extreme in some states than in others.

How long do people stay travel nurses? ›

How Long Are Travel Nursing Assignments? The standard travel nurse assignment is 13 weeks. However, contracts can range from as little as 2 to 26 weeks depending on the travel nursing agency and facilities. Many travel nurses choose to extend their contracts beyond the initial 13 weeks.

What kind of travel nurses are needed the most? ›

The following are the top travel nurse specialties for 2023:
  • Emergency Room (ER) Travel Nurses. ...
  • Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Travel Nurses. ...
  • NICU/PICU Travel Nurses. ...
  • Progressive Care Unit (PCU) Travel Nurses. ...
  • Telemetry Travel Nurses. ...
  • Operating Room Nurse. ...
  • Labor and Delivery (L&D) Travel Nurses. ...
  • Pediatric Travel Nurses.

Are traveling nurses happy? ›

Yes! According to a survey conducted in 2023, 76% of travel nurses surveyed reported higher satisfaction than they had with their former staff position.

Why are travel nurses so overpaid? ›

The pay is commensurate with the challenges they face and the skills they bring to the job. Hospitals use travel nurses to fill short-term staff and managerial positions. Travel nurses live away from home for 13-26 weeks per assignment. Additional compensation is paid to help offset related costs and difficulties.

Why are so many nurses quitting? ›

Like with more advanced nurses, common causes for leaving include stressful working conditions, lack of leadership and supervision, and understaffed facilities. Those factors get amplified for nurses still familiarizing themselves with the demands of the job.

Where are travel nurses needed most right now? ›

Popular Travel Nursing Destinations
  • California. Although the Golden State may have a higher cost of living than some other areas, the job prospects are robust thanks to the plethora of healthcare facilities throughout the state. ...
  • New York. ...
  • Washington. ...
  • Texas. ...
  • Florida. ...
  • North Carolina. ...
  • Virginia. ...
  • Maryland.
Apr 25, 2024

What is the outlook for travel nurses in 2024? ›

As the healthcare landscape continues to shift and evolve in 2024, travel nurses continue to play a critical role in healthcare across the U.S. The demand for highly skilled professionals, technological advancements, and the changing demographic landscape show that this resilient and adaptable workforce can grasp many ...

Do travel nurses still make a lot of money? ›

The average annual base salary for registered nurses in 2021 was $77,600, according to the BLS. Assuming a rate of $3,100 per week for 52 weeks in a year, theoretically travel RNs could make more than $161,000. However, because travel nurses participate in contract work, their salary does not come from a stable source.

What is the future outlook for travel nurses? ›

The forecast for travel nurses remains positive with an anticipated stabilization of travel pay and the growing demand to fill vacant staff positions. The demand for RNs and NPs is especially high, but all nursing professions have a projected spike in demand between 2022 and 2032.

How much more do travel nurses make compared to regular nurses? ›

Travel nurses can earn $100,000 or more per year. PayScale, for example, reports that the median salary for an emergency room nurse is $30.99 per hour. By comparison, an ER nurse on a short-term travel assignment can earn from $23.20 per hour to as high as $60.00 per hour.

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