Travel nursing statistics at a glance
Travel nursing moved from a niche staffing segment to a major pressure point in hospital labor budgets, and the numbers show how fast the market shifted. The most useful way to read the data is as a story about hospital dependence, cost inflation, and the way agency pricing changed between 2019 and 2025.
Fast facts
- Travel nurses grew from less than 4% of total nurse hours in hospitals in January 2019 to over 23% in January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act).
- Hospitals spent a median of almost 40% of total nurse labor expenses on travel nurses in January 2022, versus under 5% in January 2019 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act).
- Travel nurse staffing agency hourly rates charged to hospitals increased 213% from January 2019 to January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act).
- The average staffing-agency margin on travel nurses rose from about 15% in 2019 to 62% in January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act).
- AMN Healthcare said travel nurse revenue was up about 415% from 2019 to 2022, then fell nearly 70% from 2022 to 2025 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
Table of contents
- The big picture
- Travel nursing cost trends
- Hospital labor and margin pressure
- Agency and provider market signals
- What the data says about staffing demand
- Related hospital finance statistics
The big picture
The headline in the data is simple: travel nursing became dramatically more expensive for hospitals, and the sector absorbed the shock through a mix of higher labor expense, tighter margins, and heavier reliance on contract labor. The change is visible in both hospital-level and agency-level data.
One of the clearest signals is that travel nurses rose from under 4% of total nurse hours in hospitals in 2019 to over 23% in 2022 (AHA Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act letter). That is not a minor staffing adjustment; it is a structural change in how many hospitals filled shifts.
A second signal is the budget impact. Hospitals reported that travel nurses accounted for almost 40% of total nurse labor expenses in January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act). When one labor channel reaches that share, the staffing model is no longer just a temporary backup. It becomes a core line item.
Big number: travel nurse agency hourly rates increased 213% from January 2019 to January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act).
That rate change explains why even a moderate increase in travel nurse utilization can push a hospital’s labor budget sharply higher. It also helps explain why hospital systems, agencies, and investors all started discussing contract labor as a strategic, not tactical, issue.
Travel nursing cost trends
The travel nursing statistics point to a classic squeeze: higher staffing demand, higher agency pricing, and higher margins for the middle layer that connects nurses to hospitals.
What changed between 2019 and 2022
| Metric | 2019 | 2022 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel nurses as share of hospital nurse hours | Less than 4% | Over 23% | Sharp rise | AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act |
| Travel nurses as share of nurse labor expenses | Under 5% | Almost 40% | Major increase | AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act |
| Travel nurse agency hourly rates | Baseline | +213% | More than tripled | AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act |
| Staffing-agency margin on travel nurses | About 15% | 62% | +47 percentage points | AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act |
This table shows a pattern worth keeping in view: utilization increased, expense share increased even faster, and agency economics improved at the same time. That combination is why travel nursing became such a contentious issue in hospital finance discussions.
Why the pricing data matters
The agency rate increase of 213% from January 2019 to January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act) is the most direct indicator that hospitals were paying a much steeper premium for temporary labor.
The margin data tells the next part of the story. When the average staffing-agency margin on travel nurses moved from about 15% in 2019 to 62% in January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act), the spread between what hospitals paid and what nurses likely took home widened materially. In practical terms, that means more of the payment increased agency capture rather than worker pay.
A closer look at hospital spending
Hospitals also reported a median shift in labor allocation: travel nurses went from under 5% of total nurse labor expenses in January 2019 to almost 40% in January 2022 (AHA Voices Support for the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act). That is one of the clearest signs that travel nursing was no longer a side expense.
It also helps explain why hospitals focused so heavily on staffing transparency and agency pricing. Once a staffing category reaches that level of spend concentration, small changes in rates can have large effects on operating results.
Hospital labor and margin pressure
Travel nursing is only one part of the broader hospital cost picture, but the related statistics show it sat inside a much larger inflation problem.
Hospitals and health systems saw 143 rural hospital closures between 2010 and 2022, including 19 closures in 2020 alone (2023 Costs of Caring). That matters because contract labor pressure does not hit hospitals evenly. Rural and smaller facilities often have fewer staffing buffers, making temporary labor more expensive to absorb.
Operating pressure in the broader hospital sector
- Overall hospital expenses increased 17.5% between 2019 and 2022 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- That 17.5% expense growth more than doubled Medicare inpatient reimbursement growth of 7.5% from 2019 to 2022 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- More than half of hospitals ended 2022 operating at a financial loss (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Hospital contract-employee full-time equivalents jumped 138.5% (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Hospital contract labor expenses increased 257.9% in 2022 relative to 2019 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Overall hospital labor expenses increased 20.8% from 2019 to 2022 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Labor expenses per patient increased 24.7% from 2019 to 2022 after accounting for patient acuity (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Non-labor expenses increased 16.6% per patient since 2019 (2023 Costs of Caring).
These figures show the travel nursing story in context. Travel nursing was not the only cost inflator, but it was part of a much larger labor-cost spike that hospitals could not easily offset.
Inflation and pricing are not the same thing
One especially useful comparison is that general inflation grew 8.0% in 2022 while hospital prices grew 2.9% (2023 Costs of Caring). That suggests hospitals were not simply passing all cost increases through to prices at the same pace.
That lag helps explain why so many facilities felt squeezed. When labor, drugs, and non-labor expenses climb faster than reimbursement or pricing power, operating margin compresses quickly.
What hospitals were dealing with in 2022
The Kaufman Hall Operating Margin Index gives a month-by-month snapshot of that squeeze:
| Month | Operating Margin Index | Source |
|---|---|---|
| January 2022 | -3.4% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| February 2022 | -3.6% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| March 2022 | -2.1% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| April 2022 | -2.4% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| May 2022 | -1.9% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| June 2022 | -0.7% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| July 2022 | -1.1% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| August 2022 | -0.6% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| September 2022 | -0.4% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| October 2022 | -0.6% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| November 2022 | -0.6% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| December 2022 | -0.6% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| January 2023 | -0.8% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
| February 2023 | -1.1% | 2023 Costs of Caring |
This is the operational backdrop for travel nursing statistics. Even when the margin index improved from early 2022 to later months, it remained negative in the periods shown.
Agency and provider market signals
The provider-side statistics add a second lens. AMN Healthcare’s investor presentation shows how quickly the travel nurse market expanded, and then normalized.
AMN travel nurse and staffing signals
- AMN Healthcare supported over 2,000 clients in its 2025 investor presentation (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN cited approximately 96,000 healthcare professional placements in 2025 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN projected about $40 billion for the 2026 U.S. healthcare staffing market size (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN reported $2.7 billion in FY2025 revenue (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said travel nurse revenue was up about 415% from 2019 to 2022 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said travel nurse revenue fell nearly 70% from 2022 to 2025 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said the travel nurse premium trended down through 2025 and fell below the pre-pandemic range (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said bill rates had been stable over the last four quarters in its 2025 investor presentation (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
These figures matter because they show the same market from the agency side. The surge from 2019 to 2022 was severe enough to lift travel nurse revenue by several multiples, but by 2025 the market had already reset materially.
What AMN’s revenue mix says
AMN said its FY2025 revenue mix was:
- 60% Nurse and Allied Solutions
- 26% Physician and Leadership Solutions
- 14% Technology and Workforce Solutions
That mix, along with the 8% operating margin in Nurse and Allied Solutions and 33% operating margin in Technology and Workforce Solutions (AMN Healthcare investor presentation), helps explain why staffing firms often diversify beyond travel nursing alone.
Recent annual report signals
AMN’s 2024 annual report shows the post-peak adjustment clearly:
- Nurse and allied solutions revenue decreased 31% to $1,815.7 million in 2024 from $2,624.5 million in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- That decline included a 24% decrease in the average number of travelers on assignment (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- It also included an approximately 10% decrease in the average bill rate (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- And a 2% decrease in average billable hours (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- AMN’s consolidated revenue was $2,983.8 million in 2024 versus $3,789.3 million in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- Income from operations was -3.4% of revenue in 2024 versus 8.9% in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- Net income was -4.9% of revenue in 2024 versus 5.6% in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
That is a sharp reversal from the 2019-to-2022 boom and shows how quickly the market moved from peak pressure to normalization.
What the data says about staffing demand
The travel nursing numbers should not be read in isolation. They sit inside a broader workforce challenge that includes shortages, turnover, and an aging provider base.
Structural demand signals
- AMN said about 4.5 million nurses globally were expected to be in shortage by 2030 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said the U.S. physician shortage was expected to be about 86,000 by 2036 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said up to 900,000 RNs could leave the workforce by the end of 2027 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said voluntary turnover was about 24% in 2025 and still among the highest on record (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said 50% of RNs and physicians were age 50+ (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said 33% of physicians would be age 65+ by 2030 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said the U.S. population age 65+ would grow from 61 million in 2024 to 78 million in 2035E (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said the U.S. had 28 million people with limited English proficiency as of 2025 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
- AMN said the U.S. had 11.5 million deaf or hard-of-hearing people as of 2025 (AMN Healthcare investor presentation).
These are not travel-nurse-only statistics, but they help explain why temporary staffing stays relevant. Demand pressure, aging clinicians, and population growth all support a persistent need for flexible staffing capacity.
Related public-sector data on nursing supply
HRSA’s nursing workforce statistics provide an additional baseline:
- HRSA’s NSSRN data warehouse covers registered nurses from 1977 through 2022 (HRSA NSSRN).
- HRSA’s 2022-2023 NSSRN collected data from nearly 50,000 registered nurses (HRSA NSSRN).
- HRSA says the NSSRN is the longest-running survey of registered nurses in the United States, beginning in 1977 (HRSA NSSRN).
- HRSA’s pre-COVID RN job satisfaction brief found 48.7% of RNs were moderately satisfied with their primary nursing position (HRSA Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses – Pre-COVID).
- HRSA’s pre-COVID RN job satisfaction brief found 40.3% of RNs were extremely satisfied with their primary nursing position (HRSA Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses – Pre-COVID).
- Together, those satisfaction levels accounted for 89.0% of RNs reporting moderate or extreme satisfaction (HRSA Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses – Pre-COVID).
That HRSA context matters because travel nursing often reflects more than wages alone. It also reflects flexibility, scheduling preferences, and workforce retention pressure.
Related hospital finance statistics
A few of the strongest supporting statistics help round out the picture:
- The median price of a new drug exceeded $200,000 for the first time in history (2023 Costs of Caring).
- The median new-drug launch price cited in the report was $222,003 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- The average cost of a new car was $45,094 in the report’s comparison set (2023 Costs of Caring).
- Median household income in the report comparison was $70,784 (2023 Costs of Caring).
- AMN’s 2024 interest expense, net, and other was $69.9 million versus $54.1 million in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- AMN’s net cash used in investing activities was $79.9 million in 2024, versus $412.5 million in 2023 and $170.7 million in 2022 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
- AMN said no cash was paid for acquisitions in 2024, compared with $292.2 million in 2023 (AMN 2024 Annual Report).
The pattern across these statistics is consistent: labor costs were only one part of a broader expense environment, and travel nursing became the clearest variable because it moved quickly, visibly, and expensively.