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? ›

Is local travel nursing worth it? 100%! Trying a local travel assignment is a great way to start your travel nurse career. You might find out you love travel nursing while making a few extra bucks along the way.

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.

Does travel nursing look good on a resume? ›

Travel nursing is an excellent want to build up your clinical skills and resume. While you may not see it as black and white as that, nurses who go on travel nursing assignments often are exposed to advanced technology practices and procedures that benefit them and their future patients.

What is a disadvantage of being a travel nurse? ›

Time away from home: If you have a family, you may need to leave them behind while on assignment. If the travel nurse positions are long-term roles, this could be a serious drawback. Many positions do allow you to bring family and pets with you, but this would pull children away from their school and friends.

Is travel nursing on the decline? ›

Between January to July 2022, the demand decreased by approximately 40 percent. And with that shift, travel nurse salaries also dropped closer to pre-pandemic pay rates. Yet despite these industry trends, many nurses still find travel nursing an appealing career path.

Do travel nurses get treated badly? ›

FACTS ON TRAVEL NURSE BULLYING

According to the ANA, 18-31% of nurses have experienced bullying at work, which can include physical, verbal, and even non-verbal hostility. Travel nurse bullying can come from your nurse colleagues, attending physicians, management team, or even the patients themselves.

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.

What is the best nursing specialty for travel nursing? ›

Operating room travel nursing is not only in high demand but is also one of the highest-paying travel nursing specialties. Operating room nurses aren't only needed in hospitals, but can also be found in surgical centers, day-surgery centers, and clinics.

How do I maximize my travel nurse salary? ›

How to Maximize Your Earnings as a Travel Nurse
  1. Researching and Choosing High-Paying Assignments. ...
  2. Negotiating Your Contract for Maximum Pay and Benefits. ...
  3. Maximizing Your Tax Deductions and Savings. ...
  4. Utilizing Bonuses and Incentives Offered by Agencies and Hospitals. ...
  5. Budget and Manage Your Expenses Effectively.

What is the hardest part of being a travel nurse? ›

The Hardest Things About Being a Travel Nurse
  • Being Away From Family & Friends.
  • Job Search More Often.
  • Paperwork.
  • Taxes.
  • Medical Insurance.
  • More to Learn.

Do travel nurses get free flights? ›

License and travel reimbursem*nts

Travel nurses are reimbursed for necessary state licensure. They also receive reimbursem*nts for travel expenses like gas and airfare. Travel nurse recruiters help you to obtain licensure to make it an easy process for you.

Are travel nurses happy? ›

Whether you're a new nurse or an experienced veteran, you've likely heard all about the many perks of travel nursing. Looking in from the outside, it looks like travel nurses are happy in their roles, reporting better compensation and higher job satisfaction than their permanent counterparts.

Why is travel nurse salary so high? ›

Why do travel nurses make more than staff nurses? The short answer is because they endure more risk and hardship than staff nurses. That's not to diminish the stress or high workload of staff nurses.

What is the outlook for travel nurses in 2024? ›

In 2024, specialized travel nursing roles are expected to gain prominence. Areas such as telemetry, critical care, and psychiatric nursing are witnessing emerging trends, presenting exciting opportunities for travel nurses to expand their skills and knowledge.

Do travel nurses still make a lot of money? ›

How Much Money Do Travel Nurses Make? Under normal circ*mstances, many travel nurses have the potential to earn over $3,000 per week. Travel nurses can bring in over $50 per hour, plus company-paid housing accommodations. Making it entirely possible for travel nurses to make well over $100K per year.

What is the future outlook for travel nurses? ›

Outlook on Travel Nurse Job Openings

As these travel nurses end assignments and move on to others, the number of job openings continues to shift. There are thousands and thousands of travel nurse assignments, which may continue to increase as demands shift, demographics change, and the healthcare landscape evolves.

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

Salaries are higher for travel 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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