Travel Nurse Jobs: Top 10 States in Spring 2018, Summer Market Predictions
There’s been a big shakeup in state rankings for where travelers are applying for jobs, according to Staff DNA job board data.
Most of the movement is a result of the annual summer “migration”, where travelers who came south from their home states for warmer weather are heading back north, but there are a few surprises among the ranks.
The main takeaway is the expected March spike in job applications wasn’t as high as we thought, although there was a gradual increase in the volume of applications in March and April.
Part of the slower increase can potentially be attributed to the record-breaking flu season we experienced this year, which caused a large push for swamped healthcare facilities to offer contract extensions earlier.
More extensions mean a delay in job applications, so we could see an increase in job applications by the end of this month, but we expect that number of submissions will plateau going into June as travelers lock down their mid-year, vacation contracts.
“We’re not seeing additional needs at facilities, but instead it’s a transferring of needs,” said Oren Lavi, a director of client advisory at LiquidAgents Healthcare. “The net number of new nurses entering the market is not as high, but the job demand is still there as hospitals look to fill backfill positions and curb seasonal turnover.”
Let’s take a closer look at changes to our state rankings.
Ohio, Illinois, Arizona and Michigan crack the Top 10
Four states that typically hang around the middle of the pack in job applications quickly climbed the ranks this spring.
The most dramatic jump was Ohio, which moved up seven spots, almost replacing New York in the top 5 most applied for states.
Nevada makes the highest jump; Virginia falls from the top
Nevada moved from No. 32 to No. 19 in the rankings, showing the most dramatic increase in job applications.
Part of the state’s popularity could be attributed to recent job offerings out of Reno. Facilities in the city are offering noticeably high pay packages for both medical/surgical and telemetry contracts, according to StaffDNA listings.
Meanwhile, Virginia has moved from its lofty spot at No. 7 down to No. 24, dropping 17 spots to the middle of the pack.
It’s not unexpected to see this change as travelers move back north, but we expect some of that demand to return as Virginia is among the top five hottest travel destinations for summer 2018. Other popular summer vacation states like Hawaii and Colorado should also move up the ranks.
May’s Top Markets
- Texas
- California
- Florida
- North Carolina
- New York
- Ohio
- Georgia
- Michigan
- Arizona
- Illinois
- South Carolina
- New Jersey
- Tennessee
- Missouri
- Philadelphia
- Alabama
- Colorado
- Mississippi
- Nevada
- Indiana
- Arkansas
- Kentucky
- Oregon
- Virginia
- Washington
- Hawaii
- Louisiana
- Oklahoma
- West Virginia
- Iowa
- Utah
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Maryland
- Maine
- Montana
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- Wisconsin
- Delaware
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- South Dakota
- Massachusetts
- North Dakota
- Rhode Island
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Nebraska
- Vermont
- Alaska
Editor’s note: This list is created by analyzing the number of travel nurses applying for jobs in these individual states and Washington D.C. Is not necessarily an indicator of traveler interest in these states or of job volume. Application data comes from the StaffDNA jobs database.