Get the best of both worlds by becoming a local travel nurse

Travel nursing is a high paying field. According to Zip Recruiter, Georgia-based travel nurses can make an average $102,909 in 2024. They are making nearly 20% more than even that on average nationwide.

Although many of these professionals venture across the country, or even internationally, to perform their duties, not all travel nurses have to completely uproot from their home states. If making a well-above-average wage at a job you love while working in your home state sounds like the best of both worlds, know it’s possible to be a local travel nurse.

“Yes, it is possible to be a travel nurse in your own state,” Atlanta-based health care staffing company Soliant reported. “While many people assume travel nursing requires nurses to take jobs across the country far from home, travel nurses offer short-term staffing wherever they are needed — whether that’s 10 or 1,000 miles away from home.

“The role of a travel nurse is to fill in gaps in nursing care across the country,” it added, “so if there is a demand for nurses in your own state, then you would simply be doing your job to help meet the needs of the community.”

Because travel nurses work directly for nurse staffing agencies, such as Soliant, it is important to find a local agency that works for you. Travel nurses have to sign contracts among themselves, the agency and the facility they will be working at. This means pay and general job responsibilities will change from contract to contract.

Wisconsin-based staffing agency PRN Healthcare offers a deep dive on what goes into making a travel nurse contract that can be found here.

According to the American Nurses Association, travel nurses will likely remain in high demand for years to come because of the nationwide nursing shortage. And Georgia is facing a massive nursing shortage all of its own.