Digging into the application numbers from travel nurse jobs posted to the StaffDNA job board in February, we saw things that we expected to see as well as a couple of surprises.
First, let’s look at what was expected. The overall number of applications was down by roughly 30 percent over January. However, most travel nurses start looking for new placements in January, so the volume to start the year is always high.
Look for another spike in March when nurses will be coming off of their first-of-the-year contracts.
Now, for a few of the surprises from the February list:
Movement inside the Top 10
The top states on the list remained mostly unchanged. Florida, California, Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina remained the top five states for travel nurse applications.
In fact, the only new entry into the Top 10 was Illinois, jumping up four spots to No. 8 for February. That means one state had to bounce out of the Top 10, and this month that was Michigan, falling all the way to 17.
The eNLC Effect
Two of the new eNLC states – Wyoming and West Virginia – made significant jumps in February. West Virginia moved all the way up to the 13th most-applied-to state for February. In January, West Virginia was solidly in the middle of our list at No. 24.
Wyoming moved up eight places, from 45 to 37.
Top 3 Movers
While the top spots on our list are often some order of the same 10 states, there is often significant movement a bit lower. Here are the three locations that made big jumps in February. Not coincidentally, all three of these locations should be beautiful once the weather starts warming up for spring.
- Maine bounced up nine spots to land at No. 30 on the list for February.
- Vermont also jumped nine spots, moving from nearly the bottom of our list in January, all the way up to 39 in February.
- Not a state, but Washington D.C climbed 10 spots to No. 36.
February’s Top Markets
This list is created by analyzing the number of travel nurses applying for jobs in these individual states and Washington D.C. Is not necessarily an indicator of traveler interest in these states and is not necessarily and indicator of job volume. Application data comes from the StaffDNA jobs database.
- Florida
- California
- Texas
- Tennessee
- North Carolina
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Illinois
- Virginia
- New York
- Alabama
- Ohio
- West Virginia
- Arizona
- Indiana
- Nevada
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- Pennsylvania
- Louisiana
- Missouri
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Arkansas
- Colorado
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Washington
- Maryland
- Maine
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Wisconsin
- Hawaii
- Massachusetts
- Washington D.C.
- Wyoming
- South Dakota
- Vermont
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Utah
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- North Dakota
- Kansas
- Delaware
- Rhode Island
Looking for your next adventure? Explore opportunities at the StaffDNA Jobs Board.