Travel Psych Nurse Pay in 2026: $2,105 Median, About 5% Below Med-Surg
By CircleRN Team | Published 2026-10-17 | 8 min read
What travel psych contracts pay, measured from 62 open postings across 28 states: a $2,105 median, about 5 percent below med-surg and lower in each state with enough contracts to compare. Experience and de-escalation requirements, PMH-BC, nights, and psych NPs.
Travel psych contracts pay a median of $2,105 a week, middle half $1,915 to $2,217, across 62 open postings at 46 facilities in 28 states. That is about 5 percent below med-surg's $2,205, and third from the bottom of the 26 specialties we measure, above only long-term care and long-term acute care. In the three states with at least five psych contracts, psych pays less than med-surg in all three.
These are advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free housing and meal stipends; for almost all postings the figure is the top of an advertised range. They are not take-home pay. Figures are from October 17, 2026. Current figures by state are on the travel psych pay page.
How much do travel psych nurses make?
The median open psych contract advertises $2,105 a week. A quarter of contracts advertise less than $1,915 and a quarter more than $2,217, which is a narrower spread than most specialties. Nearly all contracts run 13 weeks, and the median is 36 hours a week, usually three 12-hour shifts.
For comparison, measured the same day, med-surg's median is $2,205 across 757 postings, adult ICU's $2,347 and labor and delivery's $2,697. Every specialty is in the full specialty table. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a separate wage for psychiatric nurses; they are counted with all registered nurses, whose median was $97,550 a year ($46.90 an hour) in May 2025.
Why does psych pay less than med-surg?
Our data shows that it does, not why. Two things stand out. The gap is not only geography: in the three states with at least five psych contracts, psych is below med-surg in all three, by $89 a week in Iowa, $194 in Kansas and $507 in Massachusetts. Widening to states with three or more psych contracts, it is below in six of nine and above in Maryland, North Carolina and California. Both specialties are measured from the same partner feed, so the gap is not a difference between sources either.
And the gap is modest. Five percent of a $2,205 week is about $100, so a psych nurse taking travel contracts is not giving up much against the most common alternative. Bill rates, which drive these figures, are set between facilities and agencies, and we do not see them, so any explanation beyond the numbers would be a guess.
Which states pay travel psych nurses the most?
The samples are small, so treat this table as a snapshot of what is open, not a ranking. It shows every state with at least three open psych contracts on October 17, 2026.
| State | Psych median (contracts) | Med-surg median (contracts) |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island | $2,432 (3) | Too few |
| California | $2,371 (3) | $2,353 (63) |
| New Hampshire | $2,217 (4) | $2,341 (5) |
| Maryland | $2,200 (4) | $2,146 (16) |
| Missouri | $2,167 (3) | $2,328 (38) |
| Massachusetts | $2,158 (6) | $2,665 (39) |
| North Carolina | $2,141 (3) | $2,020 (25) |
| Iowa | $2,058 (5) | $2,147 (28) |
| Wisconsin | $2,015 (4) | $2,300 (12) |
| Kansas | $1,844 (6) | $2,038 (17) |
Single contracts in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey advertised more than any state above, which is a reason to search those markets but not a median. Each state's current figures are on the psych pay page.
What is a travel psych nurse's take-home pay?
Less than the advertised figure, and how much less depends on how the package splits. An advertised weekly total is usually a taxable hourly wage plus tax-free housing and meal stipends. The postings behind our psych figures do not show that split, so we cannot publish a take-home number, and anyone quoting one for psych nationally is estimating.
To estimate your own from an offer:
- Ask the recruiter for the taxable hourly rate and the weekly housing and meal stipends separately
- Apply federal, state and FICA taxes to the taxable part only
- Add the stipends back, if you keep a tax home that makes them tax-free
- Subtract what you will actually spend on housing
The pay calculator does this from an offer, and how to read a pay package explains each line. A low taxable rate with a high stipend also lowers your overtime rate, which matters on psych units that ask for extra shifts.
How much experience do travel psych contracts require?
One to two years of psych experience is the practical floor. Of the 62 open contracts, 17 state a minimum: ten ask for two years, five for one year, and one each for three and five. The rest leave it to the agency, which will tell you its minimum.
What gets checked more closely than the years is crisis training. Forty-two percent of psych postings name a de-escalation or crisis-prevention program, such as CPI or MAB, and some facilities accept only their own. Federal hospital rules require staff who apply restraint or seclusion to be trained before doing so and as part of orientation, including in nonphysical intervention skills such as de-escalation, so expect to show proof or complete the facility's course in orientation. Ask which program it uses and whether you can complete it during orientation. Basic Life Support is the other common requirement.
Is PMH-BC certification worth it for travel?
Not for getting contracts. None of the 62 open psych postings mentions it. PMH-BC, the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing certification from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), is a career credential: it signals expertise to a permanent employer and some employers pay a certification differential, but travel contracts are usually filled on experience and crisis training.
If you want it anyway, ANCC requires an active RN license, the equivalent of two years full-time as an RN, at least 2,000 hours of psychiatric-mental health nursing practice within the last three years, and 30 hours of psychiatric-mental health continuing education within the last three years. It is valid for five years, and the application costs $395, or $295 for American Nurses Association members.
What is a psych travel assignment actually like?
Mostly nights. Sixty-eight percent of open psych contracts are night shifts, and 85 percent are 12-hour shifts. The setting varies, so the unit matters more than the title:
- Adult inpatient psych, the usual setting, including involuntary patients
- Substance use and detox, named in 21 percent of postings
- Child and adolescent units, in about 10 percent
- Geriatric psych, in about 8 percent
- Psych emergency and crisis units, where assessments and holds come through
Before you sign, ask:
- The unit's population and acuity, and how often restraint or seclusion is used
- The ratio, and whether there are mental health techs on the shift
- Whether you would float, and to what. Medical floors are a different skill set
- What safety support exists: security response, panic buttons, and how assaults are reported
Floating and guaranteed hours are covered in the offer and the contract.
Can psychiatric nurse practitioners travel?
Yes, but it works differently from RN travel, and our figures above do not cover it: they are RN contracts only. A psychiatric nurse practitioner needs a master's, doctorate or post-graduate certificate from an accredited psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner program, national certification such as ANCC's PMHNP-BC, and an advanced practice license in each state where they work.
The Nurse Licensure Compact that lets RNs work across member states does not cover advanced practice. A separate APRN Compact is not in effect: it needs seven states, four had enacted it as of NCSBN's February 2024 announcement, and NCSBN is now redesigning it. So a traveling psych NP still needs a license, and often prescriptive authority, in every state. Some psych NP roles are telehealth rather than on site. Our license checker covers the RN compact.
Bottom Line
Travel psych pays a $2,105 median across 62 open contracts in 28 states, about 5 percent below med-surg and lower in each of the three states with enough contracts to compare. Most contracts are 12-hour nights. They ask for one to two years of inpatient psych and, more often than any certification, a named de-escalation program. PMH-BC is not required for contracts. Ask about the unit's population, ratio and safety support before you sign.
Live figures are on the psych pay page, and every specialty is in the full specialty table. Ready to look? Browse open travel assignments.
Sources
- CircleRN job postings, measured October 17, 2026: 62 open psych postings at 46 facilities across 28 states, against 757 med-surg postings at $2,205. State medians shown where a state has at least three psych postings. Advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free stipends; for almost all postings the top of an advertised range. Not take-home.
- ANCC, Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing Certification (PMH-BC) (eligibility, validity, fees)
- 42 CFR ยง 482.13(f) (restraint and seclusion staff training in hospitals)
- NCSBN, Nurse Licensure Compact FAQs (the NLC covers RN and LPN/VN licenses only)
- NCSBN, South Dakota Enacts APRN Compact (seven-state threshold)
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses (May 2025 median wage)