Over the last two decades, travel nursing has become a very popular choice of careers. There are many up and coming nurses as well as existing nurses that utilize many of the different travel nursing destinations offered in the profession. However, unlike human kind, all nursing travel destinations are not equal. There are a few things to consider when looking at particular travel nursing positions, some of which revolve around compensation and destination benefits.

North Carolina

Although North Carolina is not a well-known travel destination among travelers in the US, the availability of travel nursing positions in the state makes it easy to be granted an assignment. Along with availability, North Carolina has many interesting landmarks, points of history, and one of the most beautiful coastlines on the East Coast. Compensation is above average within the state as well and reflects more urbanized salaries without the headache and hustle of large cities. With such solid attributes as great travel nurse jobs, attractive pay, and interesting activities, North Carolina rounds out the list at number five.

Arizona

Wintertime temperatures of 70 degrees can be a very tempting living condition. Arizona offers a number of travel nurse positions as well as the best of two seasons. During cold winter months, Phoenix is nice and warm while the northern territories of Winslow offer a full range of seasons including snowmobiling. Arizona offers travel nurses top pay and is within close proximity of the West Coast as well as Mexico. These attributes make Arizona a very popular destination at number four.

California

There are different degrees of compensation depending on what type of assignment one takes. Sometimes, the rate of pay is commensurate with average pay throughout the state. Therefore, states that have a high standard of living offer the best pay. Although this is not always the case, this does contribute to a destination's desirability. For instance, nurses in California may get paid on average better than 70% of the rest of the country. California also has a number of desirable places to live and recreate. For this reason, California makes the top destination for traveling nurse positions at number three.

Hawaii

Of course Hawaii would make the top five destinations. With a 365 day steady temperature of 85 and a lush tropical environment, Hawaii is paradise in itself. Couple some of the highest pay for nurses with its environment and one couldn't ask for a better job. The only reason Hawaii falls inline at number two is due to position availability. There are a number of positions but with a large application pool.

Southern Florida

With an annual average temperature in the mid 70s and easy access to both the Atlantic Beach as well as the Gulf of Mexico, Florida is a travel destination in itself. For this reason alone, it scores high on this top five list. However, travel nurse positions are abundant in a state where the average age is in the mid 40s, nurses are in high demand. Along with the demand, nursing pay in Florida is one of the highest in the nation. With the major city of Miami, numerous beaches on two coasts, and the only entirely tropical destination in the continental US known as the Keys, Florida is considered a travel nurse's dream assignment and tops the list at number one.