10 Best Cities for Travel Nurses

What are the best places to live as a nurse? The answer depends on your ideal lifestyle!

We’ve selected the best cities for nurses on travel assignment based on a number of professional and lifestyle indicators:

cutting edge medical care
top city lifestyle
best outdoor adventures

Let’s take a look!

Best Cities for Nurses: Cutting Edge Medical Care

If your objective as a travel nurse is to work in some of the most advanced medical facilities, the following cities are a good choice.

1. The New York Metropolitan Area

An apple a day keeps the doctor away—but that doesn’t mean the Big Apple doesn’t offer some impressive opportunities for travel nurses to beef up their résumés.

The city’s top medical institutions include:

New York-Presbyterian University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
New York State Psychiatric Institute
NYU Langone Medical Center
Mount Sinai Hospital
Hospital for Special Surgery
Hackensack University Medical Center

2. The Greater Boston Metropolitan Area

Boston, Cambridge, and the surrounding areas are some of the best cities for nurses to live. They are known for world-famous medical schools and research institutes, including Harvard Medical School, Tufts Medical School, and Connell School of Nursing at Boston College.

So it’s not surprising that some of the most pioneering treatments are developed and applied in the hospitals in this area.

The following are all known as leading hospitals—and having worked there is a huge feather in any travel nurse’s cap:

Massachusetts General Hospital
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
McLean Hospital
Boston Children’s Hospital
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Dana Farber Cancer Institute

3. The Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

This city’s hospitals are among the world’s most advanced in a wide range of areas.

Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is ranked as one of the most technologically advanced in the world, with virtual robotic telemedicine, robotically assisted surgery, and more cutting edge techniques available.

Other top ranked medical facilities in the nation include:

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Keck Medical Center of USC
Huntington Memorial Hospital

Other Best Cities for Nurses to Work

Is your primary objective of being a travel nurse is to sample city life throughout the United States?

The following places each offer a unique experience that every city slicker will enjoy.

4. Chicago

Traditionally a city of immigrants, Chicago offers a colorful blend of cultures that shines through in its neighborhoods, art, music, museums, festivals, cuisine, and shopping areas.

There are also more than 570 parks and four sports teams that call this city home!

5. San Francisco

In San Francisco, there’s plenty to explore and enjoy in terms of architecture, shopping, cuisine, and culture with neighborhoods like:

Fisherman’s Wharf
Haight Ashbury
Mission Hill
Castro District
Chinatown

If you enjoy museums, then the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, the Museum of African Diaspora, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are all a definite must-see.

And festival lovers will have a blast here, with every month offering an array of events ranging from well-known celebrations such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Castro Street Fair to the Black Choreographers Festival and the Tater Tots and Beer Festival.

6. Miami

For an entirely different kind of city experience, visit Miami, a unique blend of business and culture with very significant Hispanic influences.

Its many neighborhoods include Downtown, the Design District, picturesque Coconut Grove, and Little Havana—each worth spending at least a weekend to explore.

Shopping opportunities, nightlife activities, and beaches are all in and around the city as well!

7. Orlando

Orlando and its surrounding towns have grown into a booming metropolis, full of five-star cuisine, arts, history and culture, and golf courses galore.

With literally dozens of hospitals within the city limits, Orlando is one of the best places to live as a nurse, especially if you love having fun!

Popular vacation spots like Miami, St. Petersburg Beach, St. Augustine and Savannah can all be reached in under four hours when driving from Orlando.

Best Places to Live as a Nurse for Outdoor Adventure

Being a travel nurse is also an excellent way to explore the many natural wonders of our country. If this is you, then you’ll love these places!

8. Boulder

Named the No.1 Sports Town in the U.S.A. by Outside magazine, Boulder, Colorado is simply the best place for people who enjoy:

hiking
biking
rock climbing
horseback riding
camping
kayaking
tubing
swimming
skiing
snowboarding
…and much more!

A love for adventure, the outdoors, and environmental conservation is what brings most people to this modest town—and it shows.

9. Kauai

Kauai is the fourth largest of the Hawaiian Islands and only has approximately 67,000 inhabitants. It’s easy to imagine why Hawaii is one of the best places to live as a nurse.

Kauai’s natural beauty and mild climate attract more than 1.3 million visitors every year—which means there are plenty of employment opportunities for traveling nurses.

In addition to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, you can explore Waimea Canyon, hike the Kalalau Trail, or spend a day on the Na Pali Coast.

10. Charleston

Looking for a small town feel while still living in a bustling cityscape? Charleston is easily one of the best cities for nurses thanks to its endless southern charm.

With neighboring city Mount Pleasant across the river, the medical field is booming in this region, locally known as the “Lowcountry.” Nature abounds in the Lowcountry known for its tidal salt marshes, hundred-year-old oak trees, and endless wildlife. Charleston is made for outdoorsy-types thanks to its proximity to both the ocean and the mountains.

Now, Charleston isn’t only for the nature-lovers! Loving food and fun is also a good thing if you choose Charleston. Endless local fare and some of the best southern boutiques can be found throughout town.

Trying New Areas

Of course, this is just a small sampling of the many beautiful, interesting, and exciting places to explore in our vast country! To know which location you enjoy the most, it’s best to travel to a few different places.