Travel Nurse Pay & Finance Tools
Recruiters quote a blended "gross." These free tools show what you actually keep — real take-home after tax, contract-vs-contract, state-by-state, and whether your tax-free stipend holds up. Every default is sourced from the BLS, GSA, and IRS.
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- Your numbers stay privateEvery calculation runs in your browser. We never receive or store your salary, balances, or inputs.
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- No login, no emailUse every tool instantly — we never gate results behind a signup.
- Sourced defaultsStarting rates and assumptions cite real data, not made-up numbers.
The toolkit
Travel Nurse Pay & Overtime
Your real take-home from a blended package — with state overtime rules and full tax.
Compare Contracts
Put two or three offers side by side on true take-home and cost-of-living value.
Compare States
Run the same package across all 50 states. Find where your pay goes furthest.
Stipend Analysis
Check stipends against GSA limits and score your tax-home eligibility.
Pay by specialty
Higher-acuity specialties command higher travel rates. These are directional differentials versus a med-surg baseline — demand, season, and crisis premiums move them.
| Specialty | vs. med-surg | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Med-Surg / Telemetry | baseline | The highest-volume travel specialty and the baseline most rates are quoted against. |
| ICU / Critical Care | +12% | Consistently among the best-paid and most in-demand travel assignments. |
| Emergency (ER) | +10% | High-demand, high-acuity; strong rates in metro trauma centers. |
| Operating Room (OR) | +14% | Specialized skill set and chronic shortages keep OR rates elevated. |
| Labor & Delivery | +8% | Specialty certification and limited supply support premium rates. |
| PICU / NICU | +15% | Pediatric and neonatal intensive care are among the top-paying specialties. |
| Cath Lab | +16% | Niche, procedure-heavy specialty with some of the highest travel rates. |
| PACU / Recovery | +6% | Steady demand in surgical centers and hospitals. |
Travel nurse pay by state
Salary guides for major travel-nursing markets, with sourced BLS wages, GSA stipend benchmarks, tax treatment, and a representative take-home estimate.
Arizona
~$2,276/wk net
California
~$2,962/wk net
Colorado
~$2,506/wk net
Florida
~$2,365/wk net · no income tax
Georgia
~$2,208/wk net
Illinois
~$2,450/wk net
Massachusetts
~$2,956/wk net
Nevada
~$2,290/wk net · no income tax
New York
~$3,085/wk net
North Carolina
~$2,061/wk net
Oregon
~$2,391/wk net
Pennsylvania
~$2,263/wk net
Tennessee
~$2,240/wk net · no income tax
Texas
~$2,240/wk net · no income tax
Washington
~$2,530/wk net · no income tax
Travel nursing guides & explainers
Deep dives on blended rates, tax homes, stipends, contract negotiation, and the best-paying states.
Travel nursing pay FAQ
How is travel nurse pay structured?
A travel-nurse pay package has two parts: a taxable base hourly wage (often $18–$30/hr) reported on your W-2, and tax-free reimbursements for housing and meals & incidentals (M&IE) paid as weekly stipends. The recruiter usually quotes a 'blended rate' that combines both over your scheduled hours. Because most of the package is tax-free stipend, your effective tax rate is low — but overtime, mortgage qualification, and Social Security credits are all based on the low taxable base. Our tools break the package into what you actually keep.
Are travel nurse stipends really tax-free?
Only if you qualify. Housing and M&IE stipends are non-taxable when you maintain a permanent tax home, duplicate living expenses, and the assignment is temporary (≤12 months in one area). The amount must also stay within the GSA per-diem for the assignment's locality. Fail the tax-home test and the IRS treats you as an itinerant worker — making the entire stipend taxable wages. Use the Stipend Analysis tool to check both.
Which states pay travel nurses the most?
On gross rates, high-cost states like California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New York, and Oregon often post the highest weekly numbers. On take-home, the nine no-income-tax states (Texas, Florida, Washington, Tennessee, Nevada, and others) let you keep more. The best state depends on whether you optimize for gross pay, take-home, or cost-of-living-adjusted value — the Compare States tool ranks all three.
Are these travel nurse calculators free?
Yes. Every tool in the Money Scale travel-nursing suite is free, requires no signup, and runs entirely in your browser — your numbers never leave your device. Defaults are sourced from the BLS, GSA, and IRS, with the assumptions disclosed on each page.