If there’s one thing people tend to hear about travel nursing is that you can make a lot of money. Getting paid loads of money to travel the country sounds like a no brainer right? Easy, tiger. Travel nurse pay depends on quite a few things; supply and demand, location and cost of living, and your specialty to name a few. Let’s take a look.
Supply and Demand
Now I’m no economist by any means, but somewhere deep in the neural pathways hidden behind obsolete telephone numbers from 20 years ago, movie quotes, and other useless information are some remnants of old lessons of supply and demand. I’ll keep it simple. In times of abundance, supply exceeds demand. When you have plenty of something and there’s not a lot of demand for it, it’s going to be cheaper. In scarcity, demand exceeds supply and boom! You are going to be paying exponentially more for whatever it is you desire because of the limited supply.
What that means in the travel nurse world
In the travel nursing world this is applicable as well for travel nurse pay. Times of abundance may mean hospitals are adequately staffed and there are far more travel nurses than there are jobs. This may mean “low ball” offers; offers that aren’t exactly up to snuff. Also meaning if you and Nurse Ratchet have the same application and the same skills but Nurse Ratchet puts her application with a travel nurse agency offering $200 less a week, guess who they are going to take? Nurse Ratchet. In all her glory. Healthcare is a business after all.
In times of scarcity, where things are desperate and they are needing nurses in a hurry, demand exceeds supply and you will see higher paying jobs. This may be for things like strikes (when nurses are literally walking off the job, usually with union work in California), computer system conversions, or dire extenuating circumstances such as this national pandemic of corona virus.
At the time of this writing, we are about to experience the second wave of COVID-19 sweep across our country. COVID-19 has turned the whole world upside down, and the travel nursing has certainly not been immune to that. It has been feast or famine in the travel nurse world. Because of the increased need for critical care, specialties such as ER and ICU are in high demand and paying crazy high rates. However, if you are in a specialty like me of preop/pacu when elective surgeries are being cancelled, the jobs are almost non existent and those that were on contract were cancelled.
Even if you are in ER or ICU, because of the extreme volatility of the current situation, even you aren’t safe from having your contract cancelled. All this to say, it’s a wild and scary time we are living in right now with COVID, and nothing is for certain.
So kids, supply and demand can definitely affect your travel nurse pay. You can thank me later for your economics lesson.
Location, Location, Location
Travel nurse pay can also depend on the location you are looking at. This tends to have to do with the cost of living associated with where you are going, but also it just seems some locations generally want to pay you less regardless of the cost of living. One way to get a ball park idea of what you should be making for a certain location is to look up the GSA website. The GSA website is a government website that lists daily rates of per diem (essentially your stipends but in a daily sum versus weekly or monthly) by county and state as is applicable to employees.
Lower Travel Nurse Pay Jobs
The Southeast is pretty well known in the travel nurse world for lower travel nurse pay. That does have some to do with the fact that the general cost of living is less than say, California. However, that doesn’t always mean you should be content with a super low paying southern job. The southern states know they are highly desired destinations with their mild weather, many beaches, and slower pace of life and thus may offer up lower paying gigs. But big cities like Atlanta and Miami and even my own lovely hometown of Charleston, SC ain’t cheap to live in, so be sure you are getting paid enough to not break the bank.
Higher Travel Nurse Pay Jobs
California is well known as likely the highest travel nurse pay but you have also got to take into the very high cost of living there. Sure $2300 weekly sounds great on paper, but if you are paying $3000 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment plus living expenses at your home…well that’s not so nice after all.
Specialty
Another factor playing into travel nurse pay is the specialty you are in. Typically more critical care specialties like ER, ICU, PACU, Cath lab and the like pay a bit better than say Med Surge or telemetry. These jobs do tend to be easier to find as well.
I feel this was perhaps a bit more evident when I started travel nursing originally in 2014. But these days there doesn’t seem to be much a difference between specialties; you can still get good rates and make that good money. So just know your worth!
Travel Nurse Pay: Let’s Talk Numbers
Ok, so we talked some factors that can affect your travel nurse pay, now lets look at what travel nurses are typically making these days. Before we talk numbers though there is one important thing that you have to get clear on before you start dreaming of fat bank rolls: BUDGET. First things first…look at your own expenses.
Monthly Expenses
When looking at travel nurse pay and what it means for you, for starters you need to have a clear idea of what your basic monthly spending habits are. Just normal everyday things, bills, loans, credit cards, rent/mortgage at home, groceries, toiletries, etc. What are you normally spending every month at home?
For me, I own my home in Charleston. I have been able to rent it out luckily for the most part of my traveling, so that is helpful. However, I budget as if I did not have that person in my home and I am responsible for the entire mortgage and all the bills in addition to my normal everyday living expenses. Roommates move, things break, hurricanes come, etc.
So find a ballpark number of your regular monthly expenses. Some people obviously have more expenses that others, some have mortgages where others just have rent, some may have costly student loan payments or car payments, etc. The reason this is important is because you are going to have to account for this when you are looking at a pay package. I’ll explain.
Travel Nurse Pay Package
There’s a lot that goes into breaking down a pay package, but we will focus generally at this time. Companies will usually give you one of two numbers: gross pay and net pay. Gross pay is non-taxed, net pay is taxed. Most companies tend to give out gross pay, so you have to figure taxes on your own. You obviously want to really zero in on net pay, because as the saying goes the only two things certain in life are death and taxes.
Typical pay packages at this time in 2023 are anything from around $2200-upwards of $4000 gross a week. Side note, DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING LESS than at the minimum $2200/week. Inflation y’all! I’ve seen as low as $1300/$1400, these people must be smoking something good to offer that low.
While obviously no one wants to take a low ball offer, if it’s a location you really want and you budget it right you can make it work and still come out on top. Just some tips: do your research, know your worth, and work with your recruiter to find the best pay package for you.
Once you have your monthly expense amount in mind, and have pay packages to look at it’s time to circle back to… drumroll… BUDGET.
Budget
Hopefully, you have heard at least heard of said word. I know it’s scary and seems like way too much adulting, however this is pretty darn important topic when it comes to travel nurse pay.
So in looking at a pay package, you want to calculate your net pay for the month minus your normal monthly expenses. This is the golden number to really pay attention to and with which you have to budget for expenses at the location you are traveling to.
The single highest category you will have to budget for is of course housing. This is one of the first things I do when I start submitting to jobs is looking at housing costs of the place to which I am potentially going. It’s always nice to have a private place, but will that fit in my budget given my regular monthly expenses? If not, can I cut corners to make it work? If not, then leave it be. No one gets in travel nursing to live paycheck to paycheck!
So let’s look at an example… I regularly budget for around $3000 a month. This again is for me being completely responsible for my mortgage and also throwing some savings in there ( always important to save as a gypsy nurse, you never know how long you may be without a job between contracts!) Say I get quoted $2300 a week NET or TAKE HOME PAY (after taxes), I am going to a place where let’s say housing is $3000 a month.
$2300 x 4 weeks = $9200
$3000 general expenses for my budget
$3000 a month housing
$9200 – $3000 – $3000 = $3000/month profit
That’s a pretty good profit! Definitely some room to work with that money.
Now let’s see a “lowball offer”. $1500/week NET
$1500 X 3 weeks = $6000
$3000 general expenses
$3000 a month housing
$6000 – $3000 – $3000 = 0 PROFIT
You are going to break even here. Is it worth the hassle ? Likely not. So you can see changing any one of these variables make it different.
How to Make it Work
Now, not everyone has a $3000 a month monthly expenses, and honestly that is being overly cautious for me. But I tend to err on the side of caution because I like to be prepared as well as save money.
The primary way to cut expenses would be looking into your options for housing. There is a lot to think about in regards to travel nurse housing and options may be either deciding on shared housing or negotiating a better deal for housing. The financial gurus advise to keep housing cost at no more than 28% of your gross monthly income. I personally just go what ends up being my net profit. Is $3000 a month ok to me not only for play money but for other expenses that may come up? That’s pretty good in my book! But making 0 profit is NOT! So obviously you want to make it work. While you may not always have the upper hand negotiating pay, particularly as a new travel nurse, one thing you can always bargain hunt for is housing.
Pro Tips for Negotiating Housing
- Always do your research. Look at multiple different housing sites/options in the area to gather what typical housing cost is in that area.
- Be up front with the property owner. Have a budget in mind and stick with it. Many will ask what your budget is and see what they can do to work with you.
- Plead your case. Most people have respect for traveling nurses and know that we are generally good humans and will respect their property. Any references you can give are always helpful!
- Be kind and courteous. Property owners put a lot of time and money into these places, and being property owner myself it ain’t always easy. Be respectful!
At the end of the day though, you have to do what is best for you! Be wise with your money and budget and you can make just about any situation work if you are flexible.
Well gypsies, hopefully this information was helpful to you. Happy traveling!
Gypsy love,
Katie
