Travel CVICU Nurse Pay

The median advertised pay for a travel CVICU (cardiovascular intensive care unit) contract is $2,467 per week. The middle half of contracts fall between $2,217 and $2,832. Measured across 108 active travel contracts at 74 facilities, as of 2026-10-31.

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, and the tax-free part depends on maintaining a tax home. How to read a pay package explains the split.

Travel CVICU pay by state

StateOpen contractsMedian weekly
California13$2,850
Colorado11$2,339
Arizona10$2,129
Illinois9$2,771
New Jersey5$2,831
Texas5$2,051
Oklahoma4$2,519
Oregon4$2,386
Rhode Island4$3,387
Indiana4$2,131
North Carolina4$2,297
West Virginia3$2,410
Massachusetts3$2,927
District of Columbia3$2,400
Ohio3$2,908
Virginia3$2,317
South Carolina2$2,188
Kentucky2$2,661
Maryland2$2,523
Tennessee2$2,434
Wisconsin2$2,692
Missouri1$2,473
Connecticut1$3,275
Hawaii1$2,801
Idaho1$2,806

The 25 states with the most open CVICU contracts, of 31 with any. Pay varies by market, facility and shift, and a state with few contracts moves more than one with many, so treat a median drawn from a handful of postings as an indication rather than a rate.

The highest medians, among states carrying at least 5 open CVICU contracts, are California at $2,850, New Jersey at $2,831 and Illinois at $2,771. The table above is ordered by how many contracts are open, not by pay.

Where every open CVICU contract falls

Weekly rateOpen contracts
Under $2,1009
$2,100 to $2,25022
$2,250 to $2,40016
$2,400 to $2,5509
$2,550 to $2,70011
$2,700 to $2,85017
$2,850 to $3,00015
$3,000 and up9

All 108 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.

Open CVICU contracts

Browse open CVICU assignments on the board.

What CVICU travel roles ask for

Drawn from the postings that state a requirement, which is not all of them, so each figure carries the number it was measured from. Your recruiter confirms the specifics for a given contract before submission.

Related

Common questions

How much does a travel CVICU nurse make?
The median advertised pay for a travel CVICU contract is $2,467 a week, with the middle half of contracts between $2,217 and $2,832. Measured across 108 active travel contracts at 74 facilities, as of 2026-10-31. These are advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free stipends; for almost all postings the figure is the top of an advertised range. Not take-home.
Where does this CVICU pay figure come from?
From the travel contracts currently posted on CircleRN, not from an industry survey or an estimate. No federal source publishes pay by nursing specialty: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports registered nurses as a single occupation, so there is no official median for an ICU or a labor and delivery nurse. We publish the median rather than the average because one crisis-rate assignment moves an average enough to misrepresent the market.
Which states pay travel CVICU nurses the most?
California at $2,850, New Jersey at $2,831 and Illinois at $2,771, by median advertised weekly pay. Only states carrying at least 5 open CVICU contracts are ranked, because a median drawn from a handful of postings moves on one contract closing. These are advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free stipends and for almost all postings the top of an advertised range, not take-home, and a higher median does not survive a higher cost of living on its own.