2026 published ceilings · not average pay
2026 travel nurse pay caps by state: what state rate ceilings actually control
The rules tracked here limit specified temporary-staffing agency or service charges in covered settings. They do not set one universal travel nurse salary or typical worker wage.
What does a travel nurse pay cap mean?
A travel nurse pay cap generally limits what a staffing agency may bill a covered facility under a specific state rule. It is not automatically the nurse's taxable wage, total package, paycheck, or take-home pay.
The covered role and setting matter: a nursing-facility RN ceiling cannot be treated as a statewide hospital salary limit, and a regional specialist ceiling cannot be applied as one universal rate.
For 2026, PayBeacon tracks published temporary healthcare staffing ceilings from Oregon, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. Each rule has its own covered facilities, roles, regions, or day types, so the number must be read with its official scope.
| State | Published RN rate | Scope and PayBeacon treatment | Vintage | Wage context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | $127.35 | Hospital RN ceiling used by the RN model; agency margin is separately regulated. | CY2026 | Separate RN wage benchmark → |
| Minnesota | $78.51 | Nursing-facility RN ceiling; editorial context only, not applied to hospital estimates. | CY2026 | Separate RN wage benchmark → |
| Massachusetts | $108.12 | Hospital RN-specialist regional ceiling; editorial context only because rates vary by region and day type. | CY2026 | Separate RN wage benchmark → |
Official state publications are linked in the first column. The wage-context links use PayBeacon's separate BLS/CMS model and must not be read as the legal ceiling. Source snapshot generated 2026-07-19.
How PayBeacon uses legal rate ceilings
Only Oregon's suitable hospital RN ceiling is used as a direct constraint in the current RN model. Minnesota's nursing-facility ceiling and Massachusetts' region- and day-specific hospital RN-specialist ceiling are shown as source-backed context rather than forced onto unrelated estimates.
Rules can change. PayBeacon's automated source guard checks the pinned publications, but readers should still open the official state source before making a legal, staffing, or contracting decision.