Choosing where to take your next travel nursing assignment involves more than picking a city you’ve always wanted to visit. Pay rates, cost of living, hospital demand, licensing requirements, and what your days off actually look like all feed into whether a placement works for you professionally and personally. The right city can accelerate your career, stretch your paycheck further than you expected, and give you thirteen weeks of experiences you’ll still be talking about years later.
The US average travel nurse salary sits around $101,000 per year (roughly $49/hour or $2,000/week), but that figure hides enormous variation. The same specialty at a high-demand California hospital might pay $3,000+ per week while a comparable role in a lower-demand state runs $2,200. Equally important is where your money goes once you have it: a $2,700 weekly package in Dallas often leaves more in your pocket than $3,200 in Manhattan, once rent enters the picture.
This guide covers ten of the best cities for travel nursing assignments in 2025, balancing clinical opportunity, pay, cost of living, and what it’s like to actually live there even temporarily.
1. Denver, Colorado
Average weekly pay: ~$2,000 | Cost of living: 9% above national average
Denver has been one of the most sought-after travel nursing destinations for several years, and it earns that reputation on both the professional and personal sides. The city’s growing population and respected healthcare hubs like Denver Health and UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital mean telemetry and critical care nurses are consistently in demand. OR nurses are also seeing a notable spike in demand in 2025, along with steady openings in med-surg, ICU, and ER.
What makes Denver particularly attractive is that the cost of living is moderate by major city standards, just 9% above the national average. That gap between your housing stipend and your actual rent is meaningfully better than coastal alternatives, which means more of your weekly package stays in your account.
Outside the hospital, Denver delivers. You have 300+ days of sunshine, the Rocky Mountains within an hour’s drive, a genuinely excellent food and craft beer scene, and four seasons that each come with their own set of activities. Whether you’re a hiker in summer, a skier in winter, or someone who just wants a vibrant city with easy access to the outdoors, Denver consistently delivers.
Browse travel nurse jobs in Denver →
2. New York City, New York
Average weekly pay: ~$2,700–$3,300+ | Cost of living: High
New York ranks among the top three highest-paying states for travel nurses nationally, with an average annual salary of around $110,642. That pay reflects both the cost of living and the clinical intensity: New York City’s hospital system is one of the most complex and high-volume in the world, and travel nurses who complete assignments here come away with a résumé entry that opens doors.
NYC’s sprawling healthcare system creates steady openings for ER, ICU, and telemetry nurses, and the concentration of academic medical centers means you’ll often be working alongside specialists and researchers in environments that push your clinical skills. If career development matters as much as the paycheck, New York delivers on both simultaneously.
Living costs are real and need to be factored carefully. Housing stipends help substantially, but Manhattan rent will consume a bigger share of your package than most other cities. Many travel nurses find that living in Brooklyn, Queens, or the Bronx during an assignment brings costs down to manageable levels while keeping the full experience of New York accessible.
Browse travel nurse jobs in New York →
3. Los Angeles, California
Average weekly pay: ~$2,095 (up to $3,000 for specialty roles) | Cost of living: ~50% above national average
California consistently has the highest demand for travel nurses throughout the year, driven by a powerful statewide union and strict nurse-to-patient staffing ratio laws that create ongoing structural need. Los Angeles sits at the center of that demand, it’s a massive, diverse healthcare market with strong specialty opportunities in OR, ER, and critical care, and agency stipends here are designed to be competitive precisely because the city needs to attract nurses from across the country.
The traffic reputation is real, but it’s also overstated as a reason to avoid LA. There are many hospitals in beach cities and coastal communities that don’t require freeway commuting and are close to genuinely enjoyable places to live for the length of a 13-week contract. The lifestyle, beaches, year-round sun, world-class food from every culinary tradition, hiking in the canyons and mountains is hard to match.
Housing costs are the primary consideration. Stipends are higher in LA to offset them, but you’ll want to research neighborhoods carefully before committing to accommodation. Nurses who do their homework on housing consistently report that a Los Angeles assignment can work financially.
Browse travel nurse jobs in Los Angeles →
4. Seattle, Washington
Average weekly pay: ~$2,207 (up to $2,636 for specialty) | Cost of living: ~45% above national average
Washington state is the highest-paying state for travel nurses in 2025, with an average annual salary around $114,542. Seattle is where the bulk of that opportunity sits. Known hospitals like Virginia Mason Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center offer telemetry travel nurses the chance to work in progressive healthcare systems, and many facilities offer contract extensions to high-performing nurses, a meaningful sign of how consistently the demand holds.
ICU, OR, and specialty roles see particularly strong demand, and the Pacific Northwest generally has a clinical culture that nurses describe as collaborative and well-resourced. If you want to build skills alongside experienced practitioners in a system that’s invested in its staff, Seattle consistently comes up.
The lifestyle is quieter and more outdoors-oriented than LA or NYC. Pike Place Market, ferry routes to the San Juan Islands, hiking in the Cascades, and some of the best coffee culture in the country make the days off as good as the shifts. The rain is real, but the summers are exceptional, and the overall vibe is active, community-minded, genuinely beautiful and converts a lot of first-timers into return visitors.
Browse travel nurse jobs in Seattle →
5. San Diego, California
Average weekly pay: ~$2,000–$3,000 | Cost of living: High but more affordable than LA or SF
San Diego occupies a rare sweet spot: California pay rates and demand, with a more manageable cost of living and a quality of life that nurses consistently rank among the best of any assignment they’ve taken. Facilities like Scripps Mercy Hospital and UC San Diego Health seek travel nurses across multiple specialties, and the market is broad enough to support nurses from med-surg through critical care and OR.
The geography is genuinely extraordinary. San Diego sits at the junction of beach, mountains, desert, and the Mexican border, which means that in a single weekend, you can surf in the morning, hike a canyon in the afternoon, and eat some of the best tacos in North America for dinner. La Jolla, Coronado, the Gaslamp Quarter, Torrey Pines, the city rewards exploration, and thirteen weeks is enough time to make a real dent.
California requires its own RN license, and processing times at the California Board of Nursing can run several months. If San Diego is on your list, start your California nursing license application early. Our guide to California BRN processing times covers exactly what to expect.
Browse travel nurse jobs in San Diego →
6. Atlanta, Georgia
Average weekly pay: Competitive; Georgia COL is 10–15% below national average in most areas
Atlanta is the healthcare hub of the Southeast, and it’s increasingly well-recognized as one of the best-value assignments in the country. Large hospitals like Piedmont Atlanta Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital rely on travel nurses to service growing patient needs, and the metro area’s expanding healthcare system means the demand is consistent across specialties. The city’s hospitals are always looking for skilled staff, making it an ideal spot for those seeking consistent work.
What sets Atlanta apart from coastal markets is purchasing power. Your housing stipend stretches much further here, the cost of everyday life is lower, and you can end a 13-week assignment with more actual savings than you’d take home from a higher-paying role in a more expensive city. Georgia is also a Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) member state, which means nurses with a multistate license can start without additional paperwork.
The city itself is easy to underestimate. The food scene extends well beyond the Southern classics. The Atlanta Botanical Garden, the Georgia Aquarium, and the Fox Theatre are all legitimately worth your time. The climate is warm most of the year, and the sense of community that defines Southern cities is real and present.
Browse travel nurse jobs in Atlanta →
7. Austin, Texas
Average weekly pay: ~$1,927 | Cost of living: ~10% above national average (lower than most coastal cities)
Austin is offering some of the highest pay for labor and delivery RNs in 2025, with postpartum, telemetry, OR, and CVOR also among the in-demand specialties. The city’s healthcare infrastructure has grown rapidly alongside its population, and facilities like Ascension Seton Medical Center and St. David’s Medical Center regularly look to travel nurses to meet expanding demand.
Texas has no state income tax, which meaningfully increases your effective take-home across a 13-week contract. Cost of living is above average but well below the California or New York markets, and the combination of competitive pay, tax advantage, and reasonable housing costs makes Austin one of the better pure financial choices on this list.
As a place to spend thirteen weeks, Austin is hard to beat if you enjoy an active social scene. Lady Bird Lake for paddle boarding, Barton Springs for swimming, Rainey Street for evenings out, and live music at any of dozens of venues on any given night, the city has a density of things to do that punches well above its size. It’s especially popular with nurses in their 20s and 30s who want a high-energy city without coastal housing costs.
Browse travel nurse jobs in Austin →
8. Las Vegas, Nevada
Average weekly pay: Competitive; no state income tax
Las Vegas is a more clinically serious destination than its reputation suggests. The city’s rapid population growth has created genuine and sustained demand for travel nurses across a range of specialties, and the Nevada hospital environment, which regularly handles high-acuity patients from across the region offers real clinical variety. The market is active, contracts are available, and Nevada’s no-state-income-tax status gives your package a quiet but meaningful boost.
Beyond the obvious lifestyle appeal of the Strip, the casinos, the shows, the restaurants that seem to have imported every great chef in the country, Las Vegas has a different side that surprises most first-time visitors. The desert surrounding the city is genuinely beautiful, and Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park, and the Hoover Dam are all within easy reach. The city is also a natural base for exploring Southern Utah, Lake Mead, and the broader Colorado Plateau.
Nevada is an NLC compact state, which simplifies the licensing process for nurses already holding a multistate license.
9. Washington, D.C.
Average weekly pay: ~$2,200 | Cost of living: High, but offset by strong stipends
The District of Columbia ranks second nationally for travel nurse salaries, with an average around $114,282 annually. The concentration of government-affiliated hospitals, academic medical centers, and research institutions creates a uniquely rich clinical environment, particularly for nurses interested in specialized or research-adjacent roles.
Washington is a compact, walkable city with world-class museums (all free), a strong food scene, and a particular energy that comes from being at the center of national policy and history. The Smithsonian institutions alone could fill a month of days off. The proximity to other East Coast cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York makes it easy to travel on your days off without leaving the region.
Housing stipends in DC are calibrated for the cost of living and are among the higher ranges nationally. Nurses who research neighborhoods beyond the immediate downtown areas such as Arlington, Alexandria, Silver Spring often find that housing costs are more manageable than the DC reputation suggests.
10. Maui, Hawaii
Average weekly pay: Variable; higher gross rates but high COL adjustment required
Maui occupies a different category than the other nine cities on this list: it’s not the most financially efficient choice, but it offers something none of them can replicate. Nursing in Hawaii means working in a genuinely unique environment both clinically, where rural and island medicine creates patient presentations and resource constraints you won’t encounter in a mainland hospital, and personally, where your days off look like a destination that people spend thousands of dollars to visit for a week.
Hawaii has a high cost of living, and nurses should scrutinize the full package including stipends included carefully before accepting an assignment to ensure the financial picture works. Some nurses deliberately trade higher gross pay for the experience of living in a destination like Hawaii for 13 weeks. That’s a legitimate calculation. Just go in with clear eyes about the numbers.
Hawaii requires a separate state RN license, and processing can take time. Plan ahead. Our state licensing resource page has the details you need.
How to Choose Your Next City
Every nurse weighs these factors differently, and the best city for your next assignment depends on where you are in your career, what you’re trying to save, what you want to experience, and how important specific clinical environments are to your development. A few things to keep in mind across any city you’re considering:
Pay vs. purchasing power. The gross weekly rate is the starting point, not the answer. Research average rents and everyday costs for your specific neighborhood before comparing two cities. A $500/week difference in gross pay can easily flip once you account for cost of living.
Licensing timelines. California, New York, and Hawaii all require state-specific licenses and each has meaningful processing times. If any of those markets interest you, start the license application well before you’re ready to take a contract not after.
NLC compact states. If you hold a multistate NLC license, states like Georgia, Nevada, Texas, and others let you start work without additional licensure. This is a genuine logistical advantage worth factoring into your planning. Our state licensing guide covers compact membership state by state.
Specialty demand. ICU, OR, Cath lab, L&D, and telemetry nurses consistently command the highest packages and see the most consistent openings across all markets. If you have cross-training in high-acuity specialties, you have more leverage and more choices.
Ready to see what’s available? Browse current travel nurse jobs on Wanderly and compare pay packages across agencies, all in one place. If you’re newer to travel nursing and still working through the basics, our travel nurse FAQ and guide to becoming a travel nurse are good places to start.