Travel ICU Nurse Pay
The median advertised pay for a travel ICU (intensive care unit) contract is
$2,452 per week. The middle half of contracts fall
between $2,219 and $2,711.
Measured across 537 active travel contracts at 324 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 ICU pay by state
| State | Open contracts | Median weekly |
|---|
| California | 140 | $2,705 |
| Arizona | 26 | $2,129 |
| Illinois | 25 | $2,364 |
| Massachusetts | 22 | $2,669 |
| Virginia | 22 | $2,300 |
| Texas | 19 | $2,097 |
| New York | 17 | $2,347 |
| Connecticut | 14 | $2,485 |
| Nebraska | 13 | $2,352 |
| Idaho | 13 | $2,425 |
| Colorado | 12 | $2,251 |
| Wisconsin | 12 | $2,329 |
| Ohio | 12 | $2,546 |
| Oregon | 11 | $2,317 |
| Iowa | 11 | $2,267 |
| Minnesota | 11 | $2,563 |
| Missouri | 9 | $2,361 |
| Oklahoma | 9 | $2,304 |
| District of Columbia | 9 | $2,210 |
| Kansas | 8 | $1,932 |
| North Carolina | 8 | $2,021 |
| Kentucky | 7 | $2,270 |
| New Jersey | 7 | $2,288 |
| New Mexico | 7 | $2,314 |
| Georgia | 6 | $1,973 |
The 25 states with the most open ICU contracts, of 46 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
ICU contracts, are Vermont at $3,014, South Dakota at $2,876 and California at $2,705. The table
above is ordered by how many contracts are open, not by pay.
Where every open ICU contract falls
| Weekly rate | Open contracts |
|---|
| Under $2,000 | 35 |
| $2,000 to $2,150 | 61 |
| $2,150 to $2,300 | 91 |
| $2,300 to $2,450 | 81 |
| $2,450 to $2,600 | 77 |
| $2,600 to $2,750 | 63 |
| $2,750 to $2,900 | 61 |
| $2,900 and up | 68 |
All 537 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The
outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.
Is travel ICU pay rising or falling?
Over the last seven days the median advertised rate rose
2.7 percent, from $2,366 to
$2,429 a week. Measured against the seven days before it, across
550 open postings, 2026-10-18 to 2026-10-31.
A national median moves when the states that are posting change, not only when a rate
changes, so this is published only while the share of contracts held by each state is
steady across both weeks. Where it is not, no figure is shown.
Open ICU contracts
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Spokane, WA — $3,335/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Seattle, WA — $2,667/week
- Registered Nurse - Critical Care Float — Cartersville, GA — $2,605/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Seattle, WA — $2,582/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Seattle, WA — $2,582/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Spokane, WA — $2,374/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Edmonds, WA — $2,312/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Fayetteville, GA — $2,008/week
- Registered Nurse - ICU — Stockbridge, GA — $1,982/week
- Registered Nurse - Critical Care Float — Cartersville, GA — $1,964/week
- Registered Nurse - Critical Care Float — Cartersville, GA — $1,964/week
- Registered Nurse - Critical Care Float — Cartersville, GA — $1,964/week
See every open ICU assignment, including
those from partner agencies.
What ICU travel roles ask for
- 13 weeks is the most common contract length, on 476 of the 537 postings that state one.
- 2 years of experience is the most common requirement, among the 113 postings that state one.
- Certifications named most often, among the 136 postings that list any: ACLS (136), BLS (134), NIHSS (28), PALS (6).
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 ICU nurse make?
- The median advertised pay for a travel ICU contract is $2,452 a week, with the middle half of contracts between $2,219 and $2,711. Measured across 537 active travel contracts at 324 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 ICU 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 ICU nurses the most?
- Vermont at $3,014, South Dakota at $2,876 and California at $2,705, by median advertised weekly pay. Only states carrying at least 5 open ICU 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.