Advantis salary data Updated today · 278 open Labor and Delivery jobs

Labor and Delivery Travel Nurse Salary

Median weekly · Labor and Delivery
$2,282
Across 278 live contracts nationwide
Current weekly range
$1,624–$3,219
Where most open contracts land
Highest-paying state
Washington
$2,824/wk median rate

Labor and delivery pay is easier to judge when everything sits side by side. Start with the current number: open Advantis Medical L&D contracts have a median of $2,282 a week. Then dig into the rest — how states compare once rent comes out, how state taxes differ, what moves a rate up or down, and how the weekly figure breaks into base pay and stipends. By the end, you'll know what a good L&D offer looks like.

Pay intelligence

How much do travel labor and delivery nurses make

The curve below plots every open Advantis labor and delivery contract by its weekly pay, so the whole spread is visible rather than a single median. Leave it on all markets for the national shape, or pick a state to focus on where deliveries concentrate.

Across all open contracts
<$1.9k $1.9–2.2k $2.2–2.4k $2.4–2.7k $2.7–3.0k $3.0k+
$2,282
Median weekly
$1,624–$3,219
Current range
Distribution of weekly pay across open Advantis labor and delivery contracts, loaded from the live feed. Weekly marketplace contract value, not a staff nurse wage.
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The biggest lever

How labor and delivery pay compares

What most moves a labor and delivery travel nurse salary, once geography is set, is the kind of work. High-risk and core labor, with one-to-one coverage and continuous fetal monitoring, sits well above antepartum, LDRP, or mother-baby lines. The tiers below sort that from the most specialized work down to the routine, with live L&D openings and medians shown at the top of the page.

Type Work pattern What shapes the rate
High-risk / MFM labor Top of range High acuity, 1:1 Complex maternal-fetal cases, magnesium drips, and intensive monitoring; the scarcest skill set in L&D.
Core labor & delivery Top of range 1:1 in active labor Continuous fetal monitoring and oxytocin management; the one-to-one standard in active labor keeps it staffing-intensive.
Antepartum Upper-mid Extended monitoring High-risk patients held before delivery; steady census and lower turnover than the active-labor floor.
OB triage Upper-mid Fast, variable Rapid assessment and throughput; demand spikes open contracts, with fetal-monitoring competency expected.
LDRP (labor through postpartum) Mid, steady Couplet care One nurse carries labor, delivery, recovery, and the newborn couplet; a broad skill set common in smaller-volume hospitals.
Mother-baby / postpartum Mid, steady Couplet, lower acuity Newborn and postpartum recovery on a more predictable rhythm; the most common assignment type.
High-risk / MFM labor Top of range
Work pattern High acuity, 1:1 What shapes the rate Complex maternal-fetal cases, magnesium drips, and intensive monitoring; the scarcest skill set in L&D.
Core labor & delivery Top of range
Work pattern 1:1 in active labor What shapes the rate Continuous fetal monitoring and oxytocin management; the one-to-one standard in active labor keeps it staffing-intensive.
Antepartum Upper-mid
Work pattern Extended monitoring What shapes the rate High-risk patients held before delivery; steady census and lower turnover than the active-labor floor.
OB triage Upper-mid
Work pattern Fast, variable What shapes the rate Rapid assessment and throughput; demand spikes open contracts, with fetal-monitoring competency expected.
LDRP (labor through postpartum) Mid, steady
Work pattern Couplet care What shapes the rate One nurse carries labor, delivery, recovery, and the newborn couplet; a broad skill set common in smaller-volume hospitals.
Mother-baby / postpartum Mid, steady
Work pattern Couplet, lower acuity What shapes the rate Newborn and postpartum recovery on a more predictable rhythm; the most common assignment type.
Relative pay tiers reflect 2026 labor and delivery travel-market patterns, not a single live figure. The current median and range are shown at the top of the page.
What sets the rate

What affects labor and delivery travel nurse salary

More than anything else, a labor and delivery contract's weekly rate tracks where obstetric coverage is short, so the same nurse can be worth noticeably more in a high-birth metro than in a fully staffed one. Hours come next: L&D assignments are usually written for 36, 40, or 48 scheduled hours, and a 48-hour week lists above an otherwise similar 36-hour one, with the gap already built into the posted rate. From there, delivery volume, the acuity of the unit, a credential such as the RNC-OB, and how long the contract runs each push the final number up or down.

Why the demand holds

Labor and delivery volume and staffing pressure

Labor and delivery units run around the clock, and every birth needs a nurse at the bedside. U.S. hospitals record about 3.6 million births a year, per CDC birth data, and roughly one in three is a cesarean delivery, per CDC cesarean data. Because active labor demands close, continuous monitoring, AWHONN's staffing standards call for one-to-one nursing in core labor situations, one nurse per patient receiving oxytocin and during second-stage labor, which is why L&D coverage is so staffing-intensive. Most L&D contracts hire against electronic fetal monitoring and neonatal resuscitation competencies, with many employers preferring the RNC-OB from the National Certification Corporation. Because that coverage cannot wait for a better-staffed day and cannot be stretched thin, hospitals with steady delivery volume keep paying to close L&D gaps as soon as they open.

Sources: births and cesarean rate, CDC National Center for Health Statistics. Labor staffing standards, AWHONN. RNC-OB credential, NCC. Each figure verified against its primary source.
Compare states

Labor and delivery travel nurse salary by state

The same posted rate delivers a very different month depending on where you take the assignment. This table lines the busiest labor and delivery markets up by median L&D pay and by what actually remains after rent, so a large gross number in a costly metro can finish behind a smaller one elsewhere. Weekly pay and housing-adjusted value come from open L&D contracts; the tax, cost-of-living, and rent figures are static, maintained in the Advantis state master.

State Median pay/wk
California $2,795/wk $2,674 $9,438 110.7 up to 13.3% (graduated)
Texas $2,120/wk $1,520 $7,667 97.1 No
Oklahoma $2,162/wk $1,122 $8,247 87.8 up to 4.5% (graduated)
Massachusetts $2,414/wk $2,495 $7,964 105.8 5.0% flat + 4% surtax (top 9.0%)
North Carolina $2,071/wk $1,389 $7,585 94.3 3.99% flat
Colorado $2,391/wk $1,866 $8,495 103.1 4.4% flat
California $2,795/wk
2-BR rent $2,674 Pay after rent/mo $9,438 Cost of living 110.7 State tax up to 13.3% (graduated)
Texas $2,120/wk
2-BR rent $1,520 Pay after rent/mo $7,667 Cost of living 97.1 State tax No
Oklahoma $2,162/wk
2-BR rent $1,122 Pay after rent/mo $8,247 Cost of living 87.8 State tax up to 4.5% (graduated)
Massachusetts $2,414/wk
2-BR rent $2,495 Pay after rent/mo $7,964 Cost of living 105.8 State tax 5.0% flat + 4% surtax (top 9.0%)
North Carolina $2,071/wk
2-BR rent $1,389 Pay after rent/mo $7,585 Cost of living 94.3 State tax 3.99% flat
Colorado $2,391/wk
2-BR rent $1,866 Pay after rent/mo $8,495 Cost of living 103.1 State tax 4.4% flat
About these numbers: L&D 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

What Makes Up L&D Travel Weekly Pay

A labor and delivery contract quotes one blended weekly figure rather than an hourly wage, and on a unit whose workload swings with the day's births, how that figure is built matters. The base and the weekly housing and meal stipends cover the scheduled hours, but many L&D contracts also carry on-call and call-back pay so the unit stays ready for deliveries even when the board is quiet, and that piece varies from one assignment to the next. Because births do not keep to a schedule, much of an L&D premium is the call-back pay for staying available when the board turns over, and that readiness pay is often what separates two otherwise-matching postings. The breakdown below shows the hourly base, housing stipend, and meals and incidentals that make up the displayed weekly package.

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 L&D contracts open today

The board below ranks the highest L&D travel nurse salary postings open in the Advantis system today. A labor and delivery contract's rate moves with the unit's census, the shift, and how quickly the manager needs coverage, so the order is never fixed: the roster leading today can change as the next round of openings posts.

Labor and Delivery · Issaquah, WA
Nights · 26 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Issaquah, WA
Nights · 13 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Issaquah, WA
Nights · 13 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Clovis, CA
Days · 13 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Los Angeles, CA
Nights · 13 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Spokane, WA
Nights · 13 wks
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Labor and Delivery · Riverside, CA
Days · 6 wks
 View →
Good to know

Labor and delivery travel nurse salary questions, answered

Where does an L&D travel nurse salary land for a week of work?
Weekly pay on a labor and delivery contract follows the unit's acuity, the shift, and the local market, so there is no one fixed number. Advantis posts the live weekly rate on every L&D opening, and Advantis publishes the live median and full range for open contracts alongside the listings. Unit census is the quiet variable: a busy labor board with thin coverage moves a rate faster than geography does.
Why does labor and delivery travel pay swing so much from contract to contract?
L&D demand is driven by births, which a hospital cannot schedule or push to a quieter day, so a unit that comes up one labor nurse short during a busy stretch will pay up quickly while a fully covered one will not. That is why two openings with the same title can post very different weekly rates depending on the market and the moment.
Do high-risk or antepartum assignments pay more than routine L&D?
Often. Contracts built around high-risk antepartum care, complex deliveries, or heavy cesarean coverage ask more of the nurse and tend to sit higher in the live range, while lower-acuity or well-covered units land nearer the floor. If you carry high-risk experience, say so up front; those postings screen for it specifically and fill from a smaller pool.
Is travel L&D pay the same as mother-baby or postpartum pay?
Usually not. Labor and delivery, mother-baby, and postpartum are separate contract types, and L&D, with its continuous labor monitoring, generally posts above couplet-care and postpartum roles. The figures here cover labor and delivery specifically, and the searches travel labor and delivery nurse salary and labor and delivery RN salary both land here. Check the unit named on a posting before comparing rates, because the same hospital often lists all three at different numbers.
Does holding the RNC-OB change what a labor and delivery travel nurse earns?
Most L&D contracts already expect electronic fetal monitoring and neonatal resuscitation (NRP) competencies, and many list the RNC-OB from the National Certification Corporation as preferred. The RNC-OB seldom moves a single posting on its own, but it signals readiness for high-risk and antepartum work, and those harder-to-staff assignments are where pay tends to climb. It reads as proof you can step onto a strange unit's monitors without a ramp-up, which is what managers are paying for.
Does a traveling labor and delivery nurse salary add up to a yearly total?
There is no salaried annual figure, since travelers are paid by the contract. A year's total comes down to how many weeks you work, which assignments you accept, and the gaps you leave between them; stay on contract for most of the year and six figures is realistic, while longer breaks between assignments settle it lower.
Which markets lead on labor and delivery travel pay?
It tracks demand and changes constantly, so the live state comparison is the most dependable read. Bear in mind the highest gross rate does not always leave the most after rent, which is why the table also shows estimated monthly pay after the 2-BR rent benchmark. Reading the after-rent column keeps an expensive metro's headline rate honest.
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Open travel L&D contracts are paying a median of $2,282 per week right now.

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