Advantis salary data Updated today · 279 open ICU jobs

ICU Travel Nurse Salary by State

Median weekly · ICU
$2,137
Across 279 live contracts nationwide
Current weekly range
$1,587–$3,220
Where most open contracts land
Highest-paying state
Minnesota
$2,346/wk median rate

Travel ICU pay changes with the market, so this page sticks to current numbers. The median across open Advantis Medical ICU contracts sits at $2,137 a week right now. From there, you can see where critical care rates run highest, why some contracts pay more than others, what's inside a weekly rate, and which states leave you with the most after rent, with state income tax shown separately. It's the homework, already done.

Pay intelligence

How much do travel ICU nurses make

A single median hides how wide critical care pay really runs. The histogram breaks the open Advantis ICU board into weekly pay bands so the full spread shows at a glance. The default view holds every open contract; filter to a single state and it redraws for where the highest-acuity demand concentrates.

Across all open contracts
<$1.9k $1.9–2.1k $2.1–2.4k $2.4–2.7k $2.7–2.9k $2.9k+
$2,137
Median weekly
$1,587–$3,220
Current range
Distribution of weekly pay across open Advantis ICU contracts, loaded from the live feed. Weekly marketplace contract value, not a staff nurse wage.
See salary by specialty ER Labor and Delivery Operating Room
The biggest lever

How ICU travel nurse pay compares

On an ICU contract, acuity matters more than the state on the posting. A cardiothoracic or neuro ICU running ECMO, balloon pumps, and complex drips anchors the top of the scale; a general medical ICU, broader and less specialized, falls toward the middle. Read the tiers below as a ladder, the scarcest and highest-acuity work at the top; today's open ICU contracts and medians appear higher up the page.

Type Work pattern What shapes the rate
CVICU / CTICU Top of range 1:1-1:2 Balloon pumps, ECMO, and complex drips; the CSC and CMC are prized and the skill set is scarce.
Neuro ICU Top of range 1:1-1:2 Neuro drips, ICP and EVD monitoring, stroke and post-craniotomy care; a specialized skill set.
Surgical / trauma ICU Upper-mid 1:1-1:2 Post-op and trauma swings with fast turnover, fed by the OR and ED pipeline.
Medical ICU (MICU) Mid, steady 1:2 Sepsis, respiratory failure, and multi-organ support; the broadest medical-ICU caseload.
Cardiac care (CCU) Mid, steady 1:2 Telemetry, post-MI care, and drip titration on a more predictable rhythm.
Burn ICU Niche, top 1:1 Deeply specialized wound and fluid management; scarce, so it pays up when it opens.
CVICU / CTICU Top of range
Work pattern 1:1-1:2 What shapes the rate Balloon pumps, ECMO, and complex drips; the CSC and CMC are prized and the skill set is scarce.
Neuro ICU Top of range
Work pattern 1:1-1:2 What shapes the rate Neuro drips, ICP and EVD monitoring, stroke and post-craniotomy care; a specialized skill set.
Surgical / trauma ICU Upper-mid
Work pattern 1:1-1:2 What shapes the rate Post-op and trauma swings with fast turnover, fed by the OR and ED pipeline.
Medical ICU (MICU) Mid, steady
Work pattern 1:2 What shapes the rate Sepsis, respiratory failure, and multi-organ support; the broadest medical-ICU caseload.
Cardiac care (CCU) Mid, steady
Work pattern 1:2 What shapes the rate Telemetry, post-MI care, and drip titration on a more predictable rhythm.
Burn ICU Niche, top
Work pattern 1:1 What shapes the rate Deeply specialized wound and fluid management; scarce, so it pays up when it opens.
Relative pay tiers reflect 2026 critical care market patterns, not a single live figure. Your live weekly options and medians are at the top of this page.
What sets the rate

What affects ICU travel nurse salary

Acuity is the thread that runs through ICU pay. The unit, the one-to-one or one-to-two ratio, and how unstable the patients are all feed the weekly rate, which is why the unit breakdown below shifts the number more than the state by itself. Demand stacks on top of that: contracts pay up where critical care coverage is hardest to hold and where census and turnover run high. Hours are usually fixed, since most ICU assignments are written around a 36- or 48-hour week, so once the schedule is set, the start date, the contract length, and how urgently a bed needs filling carry the rest. Certifications work at the edges. A CCRN, with a CSC or CMC for cardiac work, behaves as a gate rather than a raise, qualifying nurses for the units that already command the top of the scale.

Why the demand holds

Intensive care volume and staffing pressure

Intensive care units run around the clock, and the patients are the most fragile in the hospital. U.S. ICUs admit more than 5 million patients a year, per SCCM ICU statistics, and sepsis alone affects about 1.7 million adults a year and is a leading cause of hospital death, per CDC sepsis data. Because every patient needs constant monitoring, ICU nursing runs lean, often one nurse to two patients and one to one for the most unstable, which is why critical-care coverage is so staffing-intensive. Most ICU contracts hire against ACLS and unit-specific competencies, with many employers preferring the CCRN from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. That mix of sustained acuity and credential-gated supply is what holds ICU contract rates up.

Sources: ICU admissions, SCCM Critical Care Statistics. Sepsis, CDC. Staffing and CCRN credential, AACN. Each figure verified against its primary source.
Compare states

ICU travel nurse salary by state

A headline weekly rate reads differently once rent and state taxes enter the math. Set side by side here are the major ICU markets, first on median weekly pay, then on the figure that matters more: what a contract clears each month after a typical two-bedroom rent. The pay columns update live from the critical care feed; the tax, cost-of-living, and rent values are held constant in the Advantis state master between refreshes.

State Median pay/wk
California $2,287/wk $2,674 $7,234 110.7 up to 13.3% (graduated)
Texas $1,668/wk $1,520 $5,708 97.1 No
New York $2,168/wk $2,374 $7,021 107.9 up to 10.9% (graduated) + NYC local
Connecticut $2,290/wk $2,027 $7,894 103.6 up to 6.99% (graduated)
Massachusetts $2,344/wk $2,495 $7,662 105.8 5.0% flat + 4% surtax (top 9.0%)
Alabama $1,933/wk $1,079 $7,297 88.8 up to 5.0% (graduated)
North Carolina $1,965/wk $1,389 $7,126 94.3 3.99% flat
Ohio $2,101/wk $1,219 $7,885 92.8 2.75% flat
California $2,287/wk
2-BR rent $2,674 Pay after rent/mo $7,234 Cost of living 110.7 State tax up to 13.3% (graduated)
Texas $1,668/wk
2-BR rent $1,520 Pay after rent/mo $5,708 Cost of living 97.1 State tax No
New York $2,168/wk
2-BR rent $2,374 Pay after rent/mo $7,021 Cost of living 107.9 State tax up to 10.9% (graduated) + NYC local
Connecticut $2,290/wk
2-BR rent $2,027 Pay after rent/mo $7,894 Cost of living 103.6 State tax up to 6.99% (graduated)
Massachusetts $2,344/wk
2-BR rent $2,495 Pay after rent/mo $7,662 Cost of living 105.8 State tax 5.0% flat + 4% surtax (top 9.0%)
Alabama $1,933/wk
2-BR rent $1,079 Pay after rent/mo $7,297 Cost of living 88.8 State tax up to 5.0% (graduated)
North Carolina $1,965/wk
2-BR rent $1,389 Pay after rent/mo $7,126 Cost of living 94.3 State tax 3.99% flat
Ohio $2,101/wk
2-BR rent $1,219 Pay after rent/mo $7,885 Cost of living 92.8 State tax 2.75% flat
About these numbers: ICU pay is the median weekly rate on open Advantis contracts, so a few high postings do not skew it. 2-BR rent is an Advantis statewide benchmark built from HUD FY2026 Fair Market Rent areas, not an official HUD figure or a prediction of what you will pay. Pay after rent is median weekly pay × 52 ÷ 12 minus that rent, before taxes; it is not take-home pay. Cost of living is BEA Regional Price Parity (U.S. = 100). Tax rates are 2026 figures, not tax advice.
What the number includes

Inside the ICU Travel Weekly Package

The weekly number on an ICU contract is a blend, not a wage, and on critical-care assignments the housing stipend is often the piece that moves most. The high-acuity units that drive ICU demand cluster in academic medical centers and high-cost metros, where the stipend has to cover steep local rent and can swing the take from one market to the next. The result is real spread between ICU contracts that look identical on the headline. The split below shows how much of a rate is stipend rather than base, which is where that spread opens up.

Hourly base, the wage portion of the rate Housing stipend, a weekly housing allowance Meals & incidentals, a daily meals allowance
The exact split varies by contract and location.
Right now

Top-paying ICU contracts open today

Listed below are the open ICU contracts paying the most per week at the moment, taken directly from the live Advantis feed. Unit, location, and shift differ from one to the next, so the order reshuffles as contracts fill and new ones post.

ICU · San Francisco, CA
Rotating · 25 wks
 View →
ICU · San Luis Obispo, CA
Days · 13 wks
 View →
ICU · Iron Mountain, MI
Nights · 13 wks
 View →
ICU · Anaheim, CA
Days · 26 wks
 View →
ICU · Anaheim, CA
Nights · 26 wks
 View →
ICU · Minneapolis, MN
Days · 13 wks
 View →
ICU · San Luis Obispo, CA
Evenings · 13 wks
 View →
Good to know

ICU travel nurse salary questions, answered

What does an ICU travel nurse make in a typical week?
Weekly pay on an ICU contract tracks unit acuity, the nurse-to-patient ratio, shift, and how hard the market is to staff, so there is no one number. Advantis publishes the live median and range across open critical care contracts, so the number to trust is always the current one. The unit type matters as much as the market: a CVICU opening and a medical ICU opening in the same city can post very different numbers for the same shift.
Which ICU units pay travelers the most?
Cardiothoracic (CVICU) and neuro ICU usually top the range, given their acuity and 1:1 to 1:2 ratios. Medical ICU takes the most generalist ICU caseload. The unit-type table shows how pay tends to run across each. If you hold the cases for the top units, filter for them first; the spread between unit types is often wider than the spread between states.
Does the CCRN raise ICU travel pay?
Not by itself. A CCRN, or a CSC or CMC for cardiac units, will not change a posted rate directly, but it makes the ECMO, CVICU, and neuro contracts available to you, and those scarcer units sit at the top of the scale. Think of the credential as access to the top tier rather than a repricing of the one you are on.
Is a critical care travel nurse salary the same as an ICU travel nurse salary?
Yes. Critical care and ICU describe the same work, so a critical care travel nurse salary, a traveling nurse critical care salary, and an ICU travel nurse salary all point to the same weekly contract pay. The figures draw on live Advantis ICU contracts to show current critical care pay by state. If a posting uses one label and your resume the other, nothing is lost; recruiters and managers read them as the same specialty.
Do ICU travel contracts run 1:1 or 1:2?
Both. Most ICU assignments are 1:2, while the sickest patients, fresh open-hearts, and unstable neuro cases are staffed 1:1. That higher acuity and tighter ratio is part of why critical care sits toward the top of the pay range. When you compare offers, ask how often the unit actually staffs 1:1; the answer tells you the real acuity behind the posted rate.
Can a new-grad nurse travel in the ICU?
Rarely at the start. Most ICU contracts expect a year or two of critical care experience, because the acuity leaves little room to ramp up, so new grads usually build their ICU hours on staff before they take travel assignments. A year on a busy staff ICU with a completed skills checklist converts to travel eligibility faster than most new grads expect.
What does an ICU travel nurse make in a year?
There is no fixed annual figure, since travelers are paid per contract rather than salaried. Start from the live weekly median, weigh it against the weeks you realistically expect to work, and leave room for gaps between assignments to reach a rough yearly range. Back-to-back critical care contracts with short gaps are what push annual totals into six figures.
Ready for your next assignment?

Open travel ICU contracts are paying a median of $2,137 per week right now.

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