March 2025 Travel RN Wage Trends by State
March 2025 Travel RN Pay Trends by State
As we moved through March 2025, travel nurse wages continued to show regional volatility, though overall pay remains far above pre-2020 levels. According to data from travel nurse job posts listed through Goodwork, the average weekly wage for a travel RN in March was $2,238, showing slight movement from February but no indication of a return to pandemic-era highs.
Despite month-over-month declines in 35 states, travel RN pay continues to outpace permanent staff wages in most regions, keeping the profession highly attractive for nurses seeking flexibility and higher compensation.
🌟 Standout States in March 2025
- Wyoming topped the charts with a 6.1% increase, rebounding from a small dip in February. This follows three months of volatility and brings average weekly pay in the state to just over $2,500.
- Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota each posted gains of 2% or more, driven by short-term staffing needs in rural health systems and correctional facilities.
📉 Biggest Declines
- Pennsylvania experienced the sharpest decrease, with a 9.3% drop in weekly pay. This marks the fourth straight month of declines and reflects a rebalancing in contract demand after several winter surges.
- North Carolina, New Jersey, and Illinois also saw declines greater than 5%, largely due to shifting needs in urban acute care centers.
⚖️ Stabilizing States
Six states saw pay movements within ±0.5%, including Oregon, Maine, and Nevada, which have remained relatively stable for most of Q1 2025. These states represent a potential bellwether for wage leveling heading into Q2.
🏥 What’s Driving the Changes?
Most wage shifts correlate with:
- Seasonal census fluctuations
- Reduced crisis-level staffing bonuses
- Increased competition among travel staffing agencies
- A gradual normalization of agency bill rates from their 2020–2022 peak
Even with these pressures, the average pay for travel RNs remains over 35% higher than pre-COVID rates. This continues to attract clinicians into travel roles, especially in specialties like ICU, OR, and L&D.
🧠 Goodwork Insight: With over 18,000 jobs live on Goodwork and new AI-powered matching tools reducing the time it takes for recruiters and clinicians to connect, more efficient placements are expected to stabilize wages in the coming months. Recruiters only pay when a hire is made, and clinicians share in the revenue — keeping incentives aligned and quality high.
