Travel Nurse Housing Explained

Embarking on the travel nurse adventure requires a lot of planning, and while your recruiter will be able to help you through most of it, you still have to decide what kind of lifestyle you want while on assignment—and travel nurse housing is an important part of this decision.

How Does Travel Nurse Housing Work?

The two main options travel nurses have when finding housing for an upcoming assignment are agency-placed housing or securing and paying for housing yourself.

With agency-placed housing, your travel nursing agency takes care of the booking and all the costs themselves. Housing options can be limited under this model, but your agency will ensure you have all the basic amenities covered and it’s as close to your facility as possible.

The second option (and most popular) is taking a travel nursing stipend. You use this stipend to pay for your own housing, and other costs associated with traveling for a nursing assignment. The amount you receive for your travel nurse housing stipend is set at the federal level and varies by the location of your assignment, as well as the contract you receive from the agency. You will also have more responsibility finding housing for yourself, although some agencies (like Health Carousel Travel Nursing) may help you with your search.

Both options have their merits, so consider which will be the best option for you on your next travel nursing assignment.

Furnished vs. Unfurnished Apartments

Accommodations for travel nurses typically fall into two categories: furnished and unfurnished.

Unfurnished apartments are great for nurses who want to get the most out of their travel nursing stipend, but it requires some more preparation (bring things like inflatable mattress, folding furniture, etc.).

Furnished apartments are great for travel nurses because they allow nurses to live somewhere that feels like home without needing to bring furniture of their own. There are many great resources for travel nurses looking for fully-furnished housing on their travel assignments, like furnishedfinder.com.

Travel Nursing Using an RV

An increasingly popular option is to live in RVs while on assignment. This approach has multiple benefits: nurses can carry their whole house with them when moving to new assignments, RV parks are common and relatively inexpensive, and nurses can pocket more from their travel stipends, since they only need to pay for the RV park pass.

RVs give travel nurses an unprecedented degree of freedom on their travel nurse assignments. To learn more about the RV travel nursing lifestyle, click here to read 10 tips from Kay Slane, the author of Highway Hypodermics.