Travel Oncology Nurse Pay in California

The median advertised pay for a travel Oncology contract in California is $2,604 per week, with the middle half between $2,408 and $2,956. Measured across 28 active travel Oncology contracts in California at 20 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 7 percent over the $2,435 national median for travel Oncology 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.

Where every open Oncology contract falls

Weekly rateOpen contracts
Under $2,3003
$2,300 to $2,4507
$2,450 to $2,6003
$2,600 to $2,7506
$2,750 to $2,9001
$2,900 to $3,0505
$3,050 to $3,2000
$3,200 and up3

All 28 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.

Oncology pay by metro in California

MetroOpen contractsMedian weeklyRent, 1 bed
San Francisco6$2,547$2,680/mo
San Diego4$2,501$2,530/mo
Lakewood2$2,408$2,550/mo
Long Beach2$2,224$2,115/mo
Mountain View2$3,292$3,210/mo
San Jose2$2,971$2,840/mo
Beverly Hills1$2,429$2,970/mo
Chico1$2,998$1,120/mo
Escondido1$2,429$2,125/mo
Los Angeles1$2,969$2,150/mo
Northridge1$2,637—
Oakland1$2,703$1,920/mo

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.

Open Oncology contracts in California

Browse the board for current Oncology assignments in California.

Is Oncology pay in California rising or falling?

Over the last seven days the median advertised rate fell 4.9 percent, from $2,770 to $2,636 a week. Measured against the seven days before it, across 25 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.

What Oncology 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.

Oncology pay in other states

All 32 states with Oncology openings

Related

Common questions

How much does a travel Oncology nurse make in California?
The median advertised pay for a travel Oncology contract in California is $2,604 a week, with the middle half of contracts between $2,408 and $2,956. Measured across 28 active travel Oncology contracts in California at 20 facilities, as of 2026-10-30. 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 Oncology 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.
Is travel Oncology pay in California going up or down?
Down. Over the last seven days the median advertised rate fell 4.9 percent, from $2,770 to $2,636 a week, measured against the seven days before it across 25 open postings, 2026-10-17 to 2026-10-30. This compares advertised rates within one specialty in one state, the only cut where a move in the median is likely to mean a move in price rather than a change in which contracts happen to be posted.