Travel Psych Nurse Pay

The median advertised pay for a travel Psych (psychiatric) contract is $2,103 per week. The middle half of contracts fall between $1,916 and $2,236. Measured across 61 active travel contracts at 44 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 Psych pay by state

StateOpen contractsMedian weekly
Massachusetts10$2,099
Rhode Island5$2,432
New York4$2,057
Indiana4$1,848
Maryland4$2,200
New Hampshire3$2,146
Maine3$2,368
Oklahoma2$1,833
Illinois2$2,187
California2$2,226
New Mexico2$2,134
Missouri2$1,917
Iowa2$2,099
Pennsylvania2$2,071
Virginia1$1,903
Alabama1$1,875
Arkansas1$2,215
Connecticut1$2,252
Delaware1$1,780
Kansas1$2,055
Kentucky1$2,030
North Carolina1$1,662
North Dakota1$1,935
New Jersey1$2,471
Oregon1$2,074

The 25 states with the most open Psych contracts, of 28 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 Psych contracts, are Massachusetts at $2,099. The table above is ordered by how many contracts are open, not by pay.

Where every open Psych contract falls

Weekly rateOpen contracts
Under $1,7003
$1,700 to $1,8505
$1,850 to $2,00011
$2,000 to $2,15015
$2,150 to $2,30013
$2,300 to $2,4504
$2,450 to $2,6004
$2,600 and up6

All 61 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.

Open Psych contracts

Browse open Psych assignments on the board.

What Psych 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 Psych nurse make?
The median advertised pay for a travel Psych contract is $2,103 a week, with the middle half of contracts between $1,916 and $2,236. Measured across 61 active travel contracts at 44 facilities, as of 2026-09-15. These are advertised weekly totals, taxable base plus tax-free stipends, not take-home.
Where does this Psych 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 Psych nurses the most?
Massachusetts at $2,099, by median advertised weekly pay. Only states carrying at least 10 open Psych 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.