Travel Nurse Pay- Is this a Good Contract Offer?

There are several factors that go into determining if the pay for a travel nurse contract is good or not. In this article, we will dissect the different parts of a contract in order to understand what is being offered. From there, we will be able to figure out if the pay is a good offer or not.

Hourly Pay VS Stipends

Hourly pay is the part of your pay that is taxed (just like most job-related pay). Often, this number is lower than what you would see as your hourly pay at a staff job, and that’s okay! This is because, as travel nurses, a significant portion of our income comes in the form of stipends. 

Stipends are money provided by your agency that is meant to pay for housing, meals and other incidentals related to working somewhere far from home. Usually, you will receive more money in stipends than you spend on housing, meals and incidentals. You get to pocket that extra money.

Stipends are allowed by the US government to be exempt from taxation. This is an awesome benefit to travel nursing! However, it is really important that you understand and actually qualify for tax-free stipends. Otherwise, you could be committing tax fraud which would get you in trouble with the IRS if you get audited. If you want to learn more about stipends, and if you qualify for them, click the hyperlink to go to my article titled “What Travel Nurses Need to Know about Stipends and Tax Homes”. 

Together your hourly pay + your stipends make up your weekly paycheck (most travel nurses get paid weekly). 

If you are someone that picks up overtime, pay attention to your overtime rate as well. Ideally, you want your overtime rate to be more than time and a half or include a “bonus’ for additional shifts. This is because your hourly rate is likely low and not a true reflection of your pay- don’t let your agency pull one over on you. They get a lot of extra money for your overtime shifts without any extra work or overhead on their end. 

Calculate Your Take Home Pay

To calculate your take home pay, you can simply multiply your hourly rate x the number of hours you are contracted per week (usually 36 hours per week). Next, add that number to your stipends. This will give you your gross (pre-tax) pay. 

I prefer to calculate my net (after-tax) pay so that I know how much is actually going to be on my paycheck each week. To get this number, plug your hourly pay into a paycheck calculator like the free on at smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator. DO NOT plug your stipend pay into the paycheck calculator because that money is tax free. Instead, add the weekly pay result from the calculator to your weekly stipends. 

How Much Will Travel Nurse Housing Cost?

So, we’ve talked about travel nurse pay and how stipends are intertwined. But, we still need to consider how much housing will cost as a travel nurse. Housing takes a large chunk out of your stipends. This makes perfect sense considering that’s the primary purpose of travel stipends. The more you can save on housing, the more money from your stipend you get to keep. 

One thing you need to understand about travel stipends- you must duplicate expenses in order to qualify for travel stipends. This means you have to incur living expenses both at home and where you are traveling for work. I go more into detail on this in my article, about travel nurse stipends and tax homes. That’s important, so I’ve mentioned it twice. Moving on…

Where to Find Affordable Travel Nurse Housing

There are several places to look for housing as a travel nurse. In general, most travel nurses are looking for furnished short-term or month-to-month leases. Airbnb is usually what first comes to mind, but if you want to save money I’ll share a travel nurse secret- Furnished Finder. I almost always find my housing for travel assignments on Furnished Finder as it is almost always less expensive than Airbnb. 

Factor in Cost of Living

When I am evaluating whether or not a travel nurse contract is good, I always factor in the cost of living. If I have to spend $3000 per month for housing in one area versus $1500 in another area, it’s going to make a big difference in my income. 

Once I have an idea of where I want to take a contract, I browse Furnished Finder (mentioned above) to get an idea of what housing will cost. Be sure to filter for your specific needs. It doesn’t help to look at housing that doesn’t allow dogs if you plan to bring your pet with you as the price differences can be significant. 

Once you find an average for housing costs in the area you want to travel nurse, subtract the cost of housing from your take home pay. This will give you a more realistic view of how much money you will make.

Is this good Pay for a travel nurse contract?

Now that you have a good idea of how much you will make as a travel nurse, you need to decide how much you need for the contract to be “worth it”. Here are the factors commonly considered:

• How does the pay compare to what you would make as a staff nurse?
• How does the pay compare to other travel nurse contracts? 
• Is this a location you want to be in?  (Side note- if you want more more information on locations for travel nursing, check out my travel destination page)
• Is it a hospital you want to work in? (Facebook travel nurse groups are great for getting reviews of hospitals written by other travel nurses)
• Do you prefer freedom and flexibility over stability?

I hope this article was helpful in helping you determine if a travel nurse contract is a good offer. 

If you want help choosing a travel nurse assignment, check out this article: How to Choose a Travel Assignment.

If you are interested in more articles for travel nurses, head over to the “for travel nurses” page.