The median advertised pay for a travel ICU (intensive care unit) contract in California is $2,707 per week, with the middle half between $2,554 and $2,887. Measured across 145 active travel ICU contracts in California at 82 facilities, as of 2026-10-30.
Advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free stipends; for almost all postings the top of an advertised range. Not take-home.
That is 10 percent over the $2,455 national median for travel ICU contracts.
California is not a Nurse Licensure Compact state, so you need a California license to work here even if you hold a multistate license. The compact state list explains which states issue one, and the compact checker tells you whether yours covers you here.
| Weekly rate | Open contracts |
|---|---|
| Under $2,300 | 2 |
| $2,300 to $2,450 | 20 |
| $2,450 to $2,600 | 17 |
| $2,600 to $2,750 | 39 |
| $2,750 to $2,900 | 38 |
| $2,900 to $3,050 | 10 |
| $3,050 to $3,200 | 5 |
| $3,200 and up | 14 |
All 145 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.
California has the highest price level of the 51 states and territories the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures: 11 percent over the national average overall. The premium is concentrated in housing, at 54 percent over, while goods sit 6 percent over and services 3 percent over. That matters more than the headline number, because housing is the part a tax-free stipend is meant to cover and the rest comes out of taxed wages.
| Metro | Open contracts | Median weekly | Rent, 1 bed |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 12 | $2,707 | $2,680/mo |
| Los Angeles | 11 | $2,887 | $2,150/mo |
| San Diego | 8 | $2,900 | $2,530/mo |
| Bakersfield | 7 | $2,853 | $1,060/mo |
| Irvine | 6 | $2,675 | $3,010/mo |
| Pomona | 5 | $2,338 | $1,810/mo |
| San Leandro | 5 | $2,675 | $1,955/mo |
| Simi Valley | 5 | $2,533 | $2,480/mo |
| Glendale | 4 | $2,509 | $2,365/mo |
| Long Beach | 4 | $2,403 | $2,115/mo |
| Orange | 4 | $2,640 | $2,430/mo |
| Clearlake | 3 | $2,794 | — |
Rent is the one-bedroom Fair Market Rent HUD publishes for that metro, which is what a housing stipend is trying to cover. The open-contract count beside each metro is the sample its median rests on, and outside the largest markets that sample is small: a median over one or two contracts is a single posting's rate rather than a market rate, so read the count first.
Browse the board for current ICU assignments in California.
Over the last seven days the median advertised rate rose 0.7 percent, from $2,689 to $2,707 a week. Measured against the seven days before it, across 145 open postings, 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-30.
This compares advertised rates within one specialty in one state, which is the only cut where a change in the median is likely to mean a change in price rather than a change in which contracts are posted. Where the number of open postings moves sharply, no figure is shown.
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.
All 46 states with ICU openings