How to Become a Travel Nurse

As a travel nurse, you help people live healthier, more fulfilling lives. What’s more, you do so while earning an above-average nurse salary, traveling, and taking as much time off between contracts as you wish.

Keep reading to discover how to become a travel nurse, the typical travel nurse salary, and how to get travel nurse contracts.

The Comprehensive Guide to Launching Your Career as a Travel Nurse

Introduction

This article explores the dynamic and rewarding career path of Travel Nursing. Drawing upon key themes common across resources—including the American Nurses Association—we detail the role's professional benefits, outline the essential steps and qualifications required, and demystify the complex logistics of licensure and compensation. Whether you're a seasoned Registered Nurse looking for a change or a new graduate planning your future, this guide provides a roadmap for embracing the flexibility and financial rewards that come with being a travel nurse.

Theme 1: The Nature of Travel Nursing—Freedom and High Demand

Why Travel Nursing Exists

Travel nurses fill a critical gap in healthcare staffing, often responding to seasonal surges, localized shortages, or specialized needs within hospitals and clinics across the country (and sometimes internationally). The demand for skilled, adaptable nurses allows these professionals to enjoy considerable flexibility and higher compensation.

How Travel Nursing Works

A travel nurse does not work directly for a single hospital. Instead, they are employed by a nurse staffing agency, which serves as the intermediary, contracting the nurse’s services to various healthcare facilities in need. These contracts are typically short-term, often lasting 13 weeks, allowing the nurse to choose assignments based on location, specialty, or pay.

Example of Travel Nursing in Action

A large metropolitan hospital system experiences an unexpected surge in patients due to a severe flu season or a natural disaster. To maintain safe patient-to-nurse ratios, the facility contacts a staffing agency. A travel nurse specializing in Emergency Medicine or Critical Care accepts a three-month assignment to work in that specific hospital’s understaffed unit, providing immediate relief and expert care.

Key Takeaway

Travel nursing offers flexibility, variety, and competitive pay by serving as a highly specialized, contracted workforce essential for mitigating staffing shortages across the healthcare continuum.

Theme 2: The Path to Becoming a Travel Nurse—Education and Experience

Why Experience is Mandatory

Unlike staff RN positions, most nurse staffing agencies require travel nurses to have significant clinical experience—typically a minimum of two years—in a specialty area. This requirement ensures that travel nurses can integrate quickly and function independently with minimal orientation, regardless of the facility's specific procedures or electronic medical record systems.

How to Become a Travel Nurse

The foundational steps are the same as becoming a Registered Nurse (RN), but with crucial additions:

1. Obtain an Education: Complete an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or, preferably, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). A BSN is often preferred by agencies and may lead to more opportunities.
2. Get Licensed: Pass the NCLEX-RN exam and obtain your initial state RN license.
3. Gain Experience: Work for at least two years in a specialty unit, such as ICU, ER, OR, or Med-Surg.
4. Develop Soft Skills: Cultivate exceptional communication skills and adaptability, as you will frequently join and leave new teams.

Example of the Experience Requirement

A nurse who graduates with a BSN and immediately enters a residency program in a high-acuity Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will be highly sought after as a travel nurse after two years. Their experience in a critical specialty demonstrates the expertise and self-sufficiency that staffing agencies and facilities require for temporary, high-pressure roles.

Key Takeaway

Becoming a travel nurse requires a foundation as a licensed RN, coupled with a minimum of two years of dedicated clinical experience to ensure proficiency and rapid adaptation across diverse healthcare settings.

Theme 3: Navigating Licensure and Compensation

Why Licensure is Complex for Travelers

The legal requirement for a nurse to be licensed in the state where they practice can become a logistical hurdle for nurses who work in multiple states throughout the year. Navigating state-specific licensing applications would be time-consuming and expensive without special agreements.

How Licensure and Compensation are Managed

• Licensure: Most travel nurses benefit from the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), an agreement allowing a nurse to hold a single "Multi-State License" in their primary residence state and legally practice in any other participating compact state. If an assignment is in a non-compact state, the nurse must apply for specific state licensure, sometimes through expedited temporary processes.
• Compensation: Travel nurses generally earn more than staff RNs (with some estimates placing the average annual salary higher than $100,000). Total compensation often includes a taxable hourly wage plus tax-free stipends for housing, meals, and incidentals, which significantly boosts take-home pay.

Example of Logistics

A travel nurse maintains their primary residence license in Texas (a compact state). They accept an assignment in Florida (also a compact state) and can begin working almost immediately using their Texas license. Their recruiter structures their compensation to include an hourly rate for worked hours and a separate, non-taxable stipend to cover the cost of their temporary apartment in Florida.

Key Takeaway

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) streamlines the ability to practice in multiple states, while the unique structure of travel nurse compensation, which includes substantial tax-free stipends, contributes to a higher net earning potential.

How to Become a Travel Nurse

Let's break down how to become a travel nurse step by step. First, you'll need to achieve your registered nurse degree. There are two main pathways for this: obtaining an Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN). Both degrees will enable you to work as a registered nurse, but a BSN can open up more opportunities for career advancement and specialization.

Once you have your nursing degree, it's time to sit the NCLEX-RN exam and achieve your state nursing license. If you’re in a Nursing Licensure Compact (NLC) state, you’re in luck. A multi-state NLC allows you to practice in any of the participating NLC states without needing to apply for a separate license in each state. This can save you time and money, and it will make it much easier to accept travel nursing assignments across the US.

Keep in mind that some states still require individual licensure, so be prepared to navigate those requirements as needed. You’ll have to check the travel nurse requirements for each individual state before accepting the assignment.

You’re unlikely to be able to get any travel nurse contracts just yet. You’ll probably have to build up your experience first. Most travel nurse resumes include a year or two of work as a standard nurse in one healthcare setting. Use that time to hone your skills, develop expertise, and learn from mentors — it will come in useful when you arrive in a new location and don’t know who to ask for support.

Finally, once you’ve built up your experience as a registered nurse and achieved the appropriate licensing, you’re ready to sign on with an agency and begin looking for travel nurse contracts.

A Day in the Life of a Travel Nurse

One of the wonderful things about being a travel nurse is that every healthcare facility is different. You’ll work with varying patient populations with distinct healthcare needs.

However, some things will remain constant. You’ll start your days with a handoff from the previous shift, before seeing patients, monitoring vital signs, administering medicines, educating patients and their families, and updating patient records.

At the end of your shift, you'll hand off to the incoming nurse and head home, ready to explore your new city or unwind before another day in your fulfilling, fast-paced role as a travel nurse.

Travel Nurse Salary: How Much Does a Travel Nurse Make?

The average travel nurse salary is $125,432 a year, according to anonymous self-reported data from jobs site Indeed.

However, calculating travel nurse pay can be challenging. Although some states have introduced a travel nurse pay cap, rates vary greatly depending on local supply and demand. In fact, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some travel nurses earned as much as $10,000 a week.

Plus, many travel nurses have gaps between their contracts. This means that their annual travel nurse salary could be significantly lower than anticipated.

Other factors that can affect a travel nurse’s pay include their specialism, their qualifications and experience level, and their location. A well-written travel nurse resume might be useful in negotiating a higher rate, or at least better travel nurse benefits.

Most travel nurses in the US earn between $87,760 and $179,273.

How to Apply for Travel Nurse Jobs

Your first step in starting a career as a travel nurse should be signing up to an agency. Look for a travel nurse agency that will give you access to a large variety and volume of contracts, in addition to competitive pay rates, generous benefits (including housing and per-diem allowances), and a solid support system throughout the contract. Make sure to check the agency’s travel nurse requirements, as some will want a minimum amount of experience as a registered nurse.

You’ll need to send the agency your resume in order to sign on. Take the time to create a strong resume that highlights your qualifications, skills, and experience. A well-written resume is crucial for making a good first impression on agencies and potential employers. Our travel nurse resume templates will help you craft an eye-catching resume in minutes.

Once accepted by an agency, you can start applying for open positions listed on the agency's platform. In most cases, you’ll have to provide your travel nurse resume and attend an interview in order to get the contract.

Make sure to prepare for your interview by reviewing travel nurse interview questions. In preparing answers to the most common travel nurse interview questions, you’ll boost your chances of impressing the interviewers and winning the contract.

Once you’ve been offered a contract, it’s time to prepare for your trip. You’ll have to organize your accommodation, either through your agency, the healthcare facility, or independently. And, you’ll have to make plans for the journey.

To begin with, packing and traveling might seem stressful. But once you’ve got a bit more experience as a travel nurse, you’ll find preparing for a trip is easy.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

These questions frequently come up Among readers wondering how to become a travel nurse. Keep reading to discover if your question is answered here.

How Long Does It Take to Become a Travel Nurse?

Depending on your choice of studies, it will take you anywhere between two to five years to become a travel nurse. First, you need to qualify as a registered nurse by achieving your two-year ADN or four-year BSN and achieving your license. Most agencies will also require a year of experience as an RN before they’ll consider you as a travel nurse.

What States are Trying to Cap Travel Nurse Pay?

A travel nurse pay cap is already in place in Massachusetts and Minnesota, while Pennsylvania is currently trying to introduce maximum pay rates.

How Many Years of College to be a Travel Nurse?

Aspiring travel nurses will need to spend two to four years in college to achieve an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN). An ADN only takes two years, while a BSN typically takes four.

How Much Experience to be a Travel Nurse?

Most travel nurse agencies will expect at least one year of experience as a registered nurse, in addition to the clinical hours you accumulated in your college studies. However, some travel nurses are successfully able to find work straight out of nursing school.

What Do You Need to be a Travel Nurse?

To start working as a travel nurse, you need either an associate’s degree or a bachelor’s of science in nursing and a license that’s accepted by the state you want to work in. Fortunately, 39 states accept the multistate license from the Nurse Licensure Compact.

What Degree Do You Need to be a Travel Nurse?

You’ll need an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) to become a travel nurse. If you’ve already got a bachelor’s degree, you might be able to study for an accelerated BSN instead.

What is the Best Travel Nurse Agency?

The best travel nurse agency will offer an extensive job network, competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and exceptional support. You could also choose to prioritize agencies with varied contract lengths, company-secured housing, or a generous per-diem.

What are the Benefits of Being a Travel Nurse?

Travel nurse benefits include flexible scheduling and competitive pay. You’ll also get to work in diverse healthcare settings and travel across the US. And, with generous housing stipends, you may be able to live rent-free.

Conclusion

Travel nursing is a highly demanding yet professionally fulfilling career path that leverages skilled nursing expertise to address national staffing needs. It offers exceptional financial rewards and professional freedom, but requires a strong clinical background (at least two years of experience), a highly adaptable personality, and a proactive approach to managing licensure logistics. By fulfilling the necessary educational requirements, gaining critical experience, and mastering the practical elements of state practice and compensation, nurses can successfully transition into this dynamic career.

If you are ready to prepare the professional documents needed to start your journey as a travel nurse, check out the resources available at rocket-resume.com.

Get started on your path to becoming a travel nurse by creating a resume with Rocket Resume!