Locum tenens pay rates and market conditions by state. GSA per diem data, licensing requirements, demand levels, and compensation ranges for physicians and APPs across all 50 states.
Utah’s locum tenens market combines a dominant integrated health system, significant rural shortage geography, and a 2026 legislative reform that materially changed the non-compete landscape for healthcare clinicians. Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health anchor the Wasatch Front, while more than 20 of the state’s 29 counties carry federal HPSA designations — creating steady…
Kentucky’s locum tenens market is defined by one of the most acute rural physician shortage geographies in the country. Eastern Kentucky’s Appalachian counties carry federal HPSA designations across more than 20 counties, with shortage scores that reflect demand exceeding half of estimated need in primary care. UK HealthCare anchors the central and eastern market from…
Georgia’s locum tenens market combines the scale of a major Southeast hub with persistent rural shortage geography that extends well beyond the Atlanta metro. Emory Healthcare, Wellstar Health System, Grady Memorial, and Piedmont Healthcare anchor the urban and suburban market, while community hospitals and federally qualified health centers across the state’s rural counties create steady…
South Carolina’s locum tenens market is shaped less by a single flagship employer than by one of the most widespread rural shortage geographies in the Southeast. More than 40 of the state’s 46 counties carry federal HPSA designations, creating sustained demand for primary care and hard-to-fill specialties across community hospitals, regional health systems, and federally…
Indiana punches above its weight as a locum tenens market. A 3.23% flat income tax — one of the lowest in any state that taxes income at all — a 2025 law that voided physician non-competes with hospitals and hospital systems, a functional IMLC compact pathway, and a large rural shortage footprint across a state…
Tennessee sits at the intersection of two things that matter most to locum physicians: no state income tax on wages and a healthcare market anchored by Nashville — the corporate headquarters of HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital system in the world. Add persistent rural demand in eastern Appalachian counties, a significant safety-net market in…
Virginia offers one of the more compelling regulatory environments for locum physicians in 2026. A functioning IMLC compact pathway, a non-compete framework that has become progressively more physician-friendly through three significant legislative changes since 2020, and a market anchored by the Northern Virginia/DC corridor on one end and persistent rural Appalachian and Shenandoah Valley shortages…
New Jersey is one of the most complex locum tenens markets in the country — high demand, high compensation, high taxes, and a regulatory environment that shifted materially in the first quarter of 2026. The state’s density, proximity to New York City, and persistent physician shortage create a consistent assignment market across specialties. But NJ’s…
North Carolina became a meaningfully different locum tenens market on January 1, 2026. That is when the state joined the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, converting what had been a four-month standard licensure process into a 14-business-day target pathway for qualifying compact applicants. For locum physicians who previously passed over NC assignments because of the licensing…
Illinois is one of the most consequential locum tenens markets in the Midwest. Chicago anchors a dense academic and trauma network that generates consistent specialist demand, while downstate Illinois — from Peoria to rural southern counties — runs a persistent primary care and hospitalist shortage that locum coverage helps absorb. The state’s regulatory environment is…