Best Travel Nurse Agencies (2026 Rankings)

Introduction

The agency you choose shapes your entire travel nursing experience — from your weekly paycheck and benefits to the quality of your assignments and the support you get when things go sideways at 2 a.m. on a Sunday. With dozens of staffing agencies competing for your skills in 2026, the options can feel overwhelming. Some agencies dangle flashy sign-on bonuses while burying unfavorable contract terms in the fine print. Others quietly deliver consistent, transparent service that keeps travelers coming back contract after contract.

This guide ranks the best travel nurse agencies of 2026 based on pay transparency, benefits quality, recruiter responsiveness, and real feedback from working travelers. Whether you are just starting your travel nursing career or switching agencies after a disappointing experience, this breakdown will help you find the right fit.

How We Ranked These Agencies

Ranking travel nurse agencies is not a simple exercise. An agency that is perfect for a first-time ER traveler in Texas might be a poor fit for a seasoned ICU nurse targeting California contracts. Our methodology accounts for this complexity.

We evaluated agencies across five core categories: pay transparency (do they willingly share bill rates and full pay breakdowns?), benefits quality (health insurance, 401k, housing support), recruiter responsiveness (communication speed, follow-through, and honesty), assignment volume (geographic coverage and specialty availability), and traveler satisfaction (verified reviews and retention rates from nurse surveys and industry data).

Quick Comparison: Top Travel Nurse Agencies

Here is a snapshot of the top agencies to help you narrow your search before diving into the details.

Agency	Specialties	Pay Transparency	Benefits	Housing Support	Traveler Rating
Aya Healthcare	All major specialties	High (self-service pay data)	Day-one insurance, 401(k) match	Stipend + dedicated housing team	4.5/5
AMN Healthcare	All specialties + exclusive contracts	Moderate	Full benefits package	Stipend or agency-provided	4.2/5
Medical Solutions	ICU, ER, Med-Surg, OR	High (shares bill rates)	Day-one insurance, 401(k)	Stipend with housing help	4.6/5
Fusion Medical Staffing	All major specialties	High	Day-one insurance, 401(k)	Competitive stipend	4.7/5
Host Healthcare	All major specialties	High	Full benefits package	Competitive stipend	4.6/5
Cross Country Nurses	All specialties + decades of contracts	Moderate	Insurance (30-day wait), 401(k)	Stipend or agency-provided	4.3/5
FlexCare Medical Staffing	All major specialties	High	Full benefits package	Competitive stipend	4.5/5
Trustaff	ICU, ER, OR, Tele	High	Competitive benefits	Competitive stipend	4.4/5

Ratings reflect aggregated traveler reviews and are approximate. Your experience may vary by recruiter and location.

Every agency on this list has been vetted through a combination of traveler feedback, public review aggregation, and direct evaluation of their contract terms. That said, individual experiences vary. A great agency with a bad recruiter can feel terrible, and a mediocre agency with a stellar recruiter can feel outstanding. Use these rankings as a starting point, then do your own due diligence by asking the right questions before you sign anything.

Top Large Agencies

Large agencies offer the broadest assignment selection and the most robust infrastructure. If you want options in every state and every major specialty, these are the names that consistently deliver.

Aya Healthcare

Aya has solidified its position as the largest travel nurse staffing agency in the country, and for good reason. Their proprietary job platform gives travelers direct visibility into thousands of open assignments with real-time pay data — something most agencies still hide behind a recruiter call. Benefits include day-one health insurance, a 401(k) with company match, and a dedicated housing team.

Best for: Nurses who value technology, self-service job browsing, and having a huge assignment pool to choose from. Aya is especially strong for first-time travelers who benefit from a structured, well-resourced onboarding process.

Watch out for: With scale comes variability. Recruiter quality can range from exceptional to disengaged depending on who you are assigned. If your recruiter is not responsive, request a switch early.

AMN Healthcare

AMN is the parent company behind several well-known staffing brands and has deep relationships with hospital systems nationwide. Their size means they often have exclusive contracts with major facilities that smaller agencies cannot access. Benefits are competitive, and their compliance team is efficient at handling multi-state licensing.

Best for: Experienced travelers who want access to prestigious health systems and are comfortable navigating a larger corporate structure. AMN shines when you need licensing support across multiple states.

Watch out for: The corporate feel can be impersonal. Pay packages are not always the most competitive on a dollar-for-dollar basis compared to mid-size agencies.

Cross Country Nurses

Cross Country has been in the travel nursing business for decades, and their longevity shows in their facility relationships and compliance processes. They consistently rank well for benefits quality, including solid health insurance and continuing education support.

Best for: Nurses who prioritize stability, benefits, and a long track record. Cross Country is a reliable choice for travelers who plan to stick with one agency long-term.

Watch out for: Assignment volume in certain specialties and regions can be thinner than competitors like Aya or AMN.

Medical Solutions

Medical Solutions earns praise for recruiter quality more consistently than almost any other large agency. Their recruiters tend to stay with travelers across multiple contracts, building genuine relationships rather than treating you as a transaction. Pay transparency is above average, and they are one of the agencies most willing to share bill rate information.

Best for: Nurses who value a strong recruiter relationship and transparent communication. Medical Solutions consistently shows up in “best recruiter” categories in traveler surveys.

Watch out for: Their job board is less robust than Aya’s self-service platform, so you are more dependent on your recruiter for assignment discovery.

Top Mid-Size Agencies

Mid-size agencies often deliver the sweet spot of travel nursing: enough assignments to keep you working, combined with the personal attention that gets lost at larger companies. Many experienced travelers eventually land with a mid-size agency and stay there.

Fusion Medical Staffing

Fusion has built a reputation around company culture and recruiter investment. Their recruiters carry smaller caseloads than industry average, which translates to more time and attention for each traveler. Pay packages are competitive, and they are transparent about compensation structures.

Best for: Travelers who have been burned by inattentive recruiters at larger agencies and want someone who actually picks up the phone.

Host Healthcare

Host Healthcare consistently ranks among the highest-rated agencies on travel nurse review sites, and the praise centers on two things: pay and people. Their pay packages routinely come in at or near the top of comparison spreadsheets, and their recruiters receive extensive training in traveler support.

Best for: Pay-focused travelers who also want a responsive recruiter. Host is an excellent choice for nurses who use the pay calculator to compare offers and want an agency that competes on compensation.

Trustaff

Trustaff delivers consistently strong pay packages and is known for a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to contracts. They are less flashy than some competitors but reliable in execution. Their compliance process is streamlined, and their housing stipends are competitive.

Best for: Experienced travelers who know what they want and prefer efficiency over hand-holding.

FlexCare Medical Staffing

FlexCare pioneered the “S1NONLY” model — one recruiter for each traveler, guaranteed — which eliminates the common frustration of being passed between multiple contacts. This model creates accountability and continuity that travelers consistently praise.

Best for: Nurses who want a single point of contact they can trust across multiple assignments. FlexCare’s model is especially valuable during your first assignment when consistent support matters most.

Top Boutique and Specialty Agencies

Smaller agencies sacrifice volume for focus. If you have a niche specialty or want concierge-level attention, boutique agencies are worth considering.

Boutique agencies often excel in specific specialties or regions. An agency with 200 travelers might have deeper relationships with OR departments across the Southeast than a national agency with 10,000 nurses. The personal attention is real — your recruiter might carry 15 travelers instead of 50, which means faster responses and more proactive job matching.

The potential drawbacks are real too: fewer assignments overall, less infrastructure for things like housing and compliance, and occasionally less competitive benefits packages. To vet a smaller agency you have not heard of, check for Joint Commission certification, search travel nurse forums for reviews, ask for references from current travelers, and verify their history with the Better Business Bureau.

Some boutique agencies to research include Triage Staffing (known for high pay and strong culture), Advantage Medical Professionals (praised for recruiter loyalty), and Supplemental Health Care (solid in school nursing and outpatient specialties).

What to Look For in an Agency

Regardless of size, these are the non-negotiables when evaluating any agency:

Pay transparency is the single most important indicator of a trustworthy agency. You should receive a full pay breakdown that includes your taxable hourly rate, housing stipend, meals and incidentals stipend, travel reimbursement, and overtime rate. If an agency will not share the bill rate or give you a detailed pay package, walk away. Use the pay calculator to compare offers across agencies on an apples-to-apples basis.

Benefits quality varies enormously. Look at health insurance premiums and coverage levels, 401(k) match percentages and vesting schedules, housing support options, and continuing education reimbursement. Day-one health insurance is increasingly standard — if an agency makes you wait 30 days, that is a competitive disadvantage.

Recruiter responsiveness can make or break your experience. A great recruiter answers your calls, follows through on promises, advocates for you with facilities, and communicates proactively about contract details. During your initial conversations, pay attention to how quickly they respond and whether they actually listen to your preferences.

Contract terms deserve careful review. Understand the cancellation policy from both sides, guaranteed hours clauses, floating policies, and any non-compete or exclusivity language. Everything your recruiter promises verbally should appear in the written contract.

Working With Multiple Agencies

Most experienced travelers work with two to four agencies simultaneously, and you should too. Here is why: no single agency has every assignment, and comparing offers keeps everyone honest about pay.

Managing multiple recruiter relationships requires some organization. Keep a spreadsheet tracking which agencies have submitted you to which facilities — double submissions (two agencies submitting you to the same facility) can disqualify you from consideration. Be transparent with your recruiters about working with other agencies. Good recruiters understand this is standard practice and will compete on merit rather than guilt.

When comparing offers side by side, look beyond the headline weekly pay. Factor in benefits costs, housing stipend adequacy for the assignment area, overtime availability, and contract terms. The assignment checklist can help you evaluate assignments systematically.

Avoid signing exclusive agreements unless an agency is offering something genuinely exceptional in return. Your leverage as a traveler comes from having options.

Red Flags to Watch For

Not every agency deserves your trust. Watch for these warning signs:

Vague pay breakdowns are the biggest red flag. If a recruiter quotes you a weekly number but will not break it down into taxable wages, stipends, and overtime rates, they are likely hiding an unfavorable split. Reputable agencies provide detailed pay packages without you having to ask twice.

High-pressure tactics like “this assignment will not be available tomorrow” or “I need your answer by end of day” are manipulation, not urgency. Good assignments do move fast, but a trustworthy recruiter will give you reasonable time to make an informed decision.

Negative review patterns matter more than individual complaints. Every agency has some unhappy travelers, but consistent themes — late paychecks, poor communication during crises, failure to honor contract terms — indicate systemic problems.

Poor communication during onboarding is a preview of what you will experience during your assignment. If the agency is disorganized before you start, they will not magically improve when you need help at 3 a.m. with a housing emergency.

Agencies for Traveling RTs and Surgical Techs

If you are a respiratory therapist or surgical technologist exploring travel careers, the good news is that most of the agencies ranked above also place allied health professionals, not just nurses. The agency evaluation criteria — pay transparency, recruiter quality, benefits, and assignment volume — apply equally to RTs and surgical techs.

Which Agencies Place RTs and Surgical Techs?

All of the major agencies listed in this guide actively staff respiratory therapists and surgical technologists alongside travel nurses:

Aya Healthcare has one of the largest allied health divisions in the industry. Their self-service job platform includes RT and surgical tech postings with real-time pay data.
AMN Healthcare places a significant volume of RTs and surgical techs through its allied health brands. Their deep hospital system relationships translate to consistent assignment flow.
Medical Solutions staffs RTs and surgical techs with the same recruiter-focused model they use for nurses. Allied health travelers report strong recruiter relationships.
Fusion Medical Staffing actively recruits RTs and surgical techs and applies their low-caseload recruiter model across all disciplines.
Cross Country operates a dedicated allied health division (Cross Country Allied) that focuses specifically on non-nursing placements including respiratory therapy and surgical technology.

RT- and Surgical Tech-Specific Agencies

While the major generalist agencies cover most of the market, a few agencies are particularly strong in allied health or perioperative staffing:

Supplemental Health Care has a strong reputation in allied health placement, including respiratory therapy. Their RT-specific recruiters understand credentialing nuances and state licensing requirements.
CompHealth (an AMN company) is well-regarded for allied health placements and offers a personalized approach for RTs and surgical techs.
Aureus Medical Group specializes in surgical services staffing and has a dedicated perioperative division that places surgical techs, OR nurses, and sterile processing technicians.

Key Differences for Allied Health Travelers

The agency experience for RTs and surgical techs is largely identical to what travel nurses experience, with a few differences worth noting. Assignment volume is smaller — there are simply fewer RT and surgical tech travel contracts than nursing contracts at any given time, so working with multiple agencies is even more important for allied health travelers. Recruiters who specialize in allied health tend to have smaller caseloads and offer more attentive service, which is a meaningful advantage when assignments are less abundant. Benefits, housing stipends, and contract structures are the same across disciplines at most agencies.

When evaluating agencies as an RT or surgical tech, ask specifically how many active contracts they have in your discipline and whether they have recruiters who specialize in allied health rather than nursing. A recruiter who understands the difference between an RRT and a CRT, or who knows what CVOR experience means on a surgical tech resume, will advocate for you more effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions

Most experienced travelers recommend working with two to four agencies simultaneously. This gives you enough coverage to see a wide range of assignments while keeping your job search manageable. Signing with too many agencies creates confusion and makes it harder to build meaningful recruiter relationships. Start with two or three agencies that align with your specialty and priorities, then add or subtract based on your experience. Remember that you are not committing to take an assignment from every agency you sign with — you are simply expanding your options.

Can I switch agencies in the middle of a contract?

You cannot switch agencies during an active contract without completing or formally terminating that contract first. Your contract is between you, the agency, and the facility. However, you can absolutely start conversations with new agencies while on assignment and line up your next contract through a different agency. Many travelers rotate between agencies based on which one offers the best package for each assignment cycle.

Do travel nurse agencies charge nurses fees?

Legitimate travel nurse agencies never charge nurses fees for their services. Agencies make their money from the bill rate the hospital pays, taking a margin between what the hospital pays and what they pay you. If any agency asks you to pay a fee for placement, application processing, or anything else, that is a major red flag and likely a scam. Walk away immediately.

How do I know if an agency is legitimate?

Verify that the agency is certified by the Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO), which is the gold standard for healthcare staffing accreditation. Check their standing with the Better Business Bureau, search for reviews on travel nurse forums and social media groups, and ask for references from current travelers. Legitimate agencies will also have verifiable physical office addresses, established facility relationships, and proper business licensing.

Should I choose an agency based solely on pay rate?

Pay rate matters, but it should not be your only factor. An agency offering $100 more per week but providing poor health insurance, unresponsive support during crises, and a history of contract cancellations will cost you more in the long run. Consider the total package: pay, benefits, recruiter quality, assignment variety, and how the agency handles problems. The best-paying contract means nothing if the agency disappears when you need them most.

Key Takeaways

No single agency is best for everyone — your priorities determine the best fit
Large agencies offer volume and infrastructure; smaller agencies offer personalized service
Pay transparency is non-negotiable — always ask for a full breakdown and use the pay calculator
Work with 2-4 agencies to maximize your options and keep offers competitive
Benefits, recruiter quality, and crisis support matter as much as the weekly pay rate
Read recent reviews from current travelers, not just agency marketing materials
Red flags like vague pay breakdowns and high-pressure tactics should disqualify an agency immediately

Affiliate Placement Notes

Aya Healthcare, AMN Healthcare, Medical Solutions, Fusion Medical Staffing, and Host Healthcare affiliate links placed within their respective profile sections.