Travel PACU Nurse Pay

The median advertised pay for a travel PACU (post-anesthesia care unit) contract is $2,350 per week. The middle half of contracts fall between $2,117 and $2,628. Measured across 137 active travel contracts at 90 facilities, as of 2026-09-15.

These are advertised weekly totals, a taxable hourly base plus tax-free housing and meal stipends. They are not take-home, and the tax-free half depends on maintaining a tax home. How to read a pay package explains the split.

Travel PACU pay by state

StateOpen contractsMedian weekly
California24$2,702
Georgia20$1,875
Massachusetts9$2,433
Minnesota8$2,577
New York5$2,498
New Hampshire5$2,370
West Virginia4$2,094
Arizona4$2,134
Colorado4$2,414
Missouri4$2,517
Oklahoma4$1,926
Pennsylvania4$2,177
Virginia4$2,114
Maryland3$2,186
Texas3$2,241
Ohio3$2,207
Alaska3$2,795
Oregon3$2,323
Louisiana3$2,217
North Dakota2$2,487
New Mexico2$3,126
Maine2$2,049
South Dakota2$2,827
Montana2$2,500
Connecticut2$2,864

The 25 states with the most open PACU 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 10 open PACU contracts, are California at $2,702 and Georgia at $1,875. The table above is ordered by how many contracts are open, not by pay.

Where every open PACU contract falls

Weekly rateOpen contracts
Under $1,80010
$1,800 to $2,00011
$2,000 to $2,20025
$2,200 to $2,40029
$2,400 to $2,60025
$2,600 to $2,80016
$2,800 to $3,00011
$3,000 and up10

All 137 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.

Open PACU contracts

Browse open PACU assignments on the board.

What PACU 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 PACU nurse make?
The median advertised pay for a travel PACU contract is $2,350 a week, with the middle half of contracts between $2,117 and $2,628. Measured across 137 active travel contracts at 90 facilities, as of 2026-09-15. These are advertised weekly totals, taxable base plus tax-free stipends, not take-home.
Where does this PACU 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 PACU nurses the most?
California at $2,702 and Georgia at $1,875, by median advertised weekly pay. Only states carrying at least 10 open PACU contracts are ranked, because a median drawn from a handful of postings moves on one contract closing. These are advertised weekly totals, taxable base plus tax-free stipends, not take-home, and a higher median does not survive a higher cost of living on its own.