Couple Travel Nursing to Los Angeles

[RaiYen]

Hello all!

My fiancé and I are looking to start a travel nursing assignment next February/March in California. We should be getting our license in January. We haven't talked with a recruiter yet because I wanted to find out my information about traveling as a couple.

Would it be more beneficial to travel as a couple or would it be better to travel individually having contracts in the same area? As individuals we could both benefit from living stipends. I understand that as a couple you may only have one living stipend.

We are looking to move to the Fullerton/Irvine/Torrance area. Is there any particular area that has the highest concentration of hospitals?

Some background information: I am currently a PACU nurse with one year of experience in PACU and 2 years in Med/Surg. My fiancé has 3 years of experience in an ICU at a level II Trauma Center. We are looking to move to California so she can apply to CRNA school at Cal State Fullerton. We were looking to do travel nursing for extra cash to pay for our wedding next December but wanted to remain in one area.

Thank you so much for reading this rather long post.

[NedRN]

If you are moving to California, it will be to your great advantage to get a staff job. Not only will you get better total compensation with benefits (paid vacations and holidays and PTO and good health insurance), but you should also be able to score a healthy moving stipend and possibly a sign on bonus.

A major financial benefit of being a traveler is that a good bit of your compensation is untaxed: housing stipend and per diems. This only applies if you are working away from home on business. If you no longer maintain a residence, all your compensation is taxed. No benefit to being a traveler in California over staff.

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

Much better off becoming a resident a year before the program starts so you can get instate tuition. The three cities you list two are in Orange county and one in LA county. Fullerton would be the better concentration. Traffic stinks all over LA county and Orange county.