Travel Nurse Pay Breakdown

Over the past couple of years, travel nurses have made news headlines centered around their frontline efforts during a global pandemic, the nationwide nursing shortage, and how travel nurses can earn top-dollar salaries, as compared to their staff nurse counterparts. Now, if you’ve ever found yourself wondering how travel nurse pay works, you’ve come to the right place.

• How does travel nurse pay work?
• The pay structure for travel nurses
• How to boost travel nurse pay
• Travel nurse pay by state

As it turns out, travel nurse pay can be complicated. In short, travel nurses typically have four major components to a travel nursing pay package, and they are hourly wages, housing stipend, a per diem, and travel expenses. Knowing this, let’s take a look at travel nurse pay packages and what you can expect to earn per state.

How does travel nurse pay work?

Who would’ve thought that there’s more to travel nursing pay than a simple weekly paycheck? Sure, most travel nurses get paid each week, but that doesn’t mean that all travel nurses make the same. In fact, what you make depends on a few things, like your level of experience, your field of expertise, the staffing agency you work with, and the healthcare facility you work in.

Travel nursing pay is known as a “blended rate,” made up of an hourly wage, housing stipend, per diem, and travel expense reimbursement, and only part of the package is taxed. However, you’re only eligible for the non-taxable portions if you’re able to claim a permanent tax home. As defined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a tax home is “the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home.”

Not to be confused with your permanent home, which is where you get your mail and register your driver’s license, a tax home is a geographical area where you work. If you spend too much time somewhere that’s not your tax home, the IRS may say otherwise and consider that new location your new tax home.

To qualify for non-taxable stipends, you must prove to the IRS that you have a tax home. Here’s how:

• Maintain a current driver’s license from your tax home state
• Register to vote in your tax home state
• Register your car in your tax home state
• Maintain a bank account in your tax home state
• Keep documents that prove your stay at your permanent residence in your tax home state at least once a year
• Keep records that maintain your permanent home year-round like mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, home maintenance expenses, or home sitter payments
• File your resident tax return in your tax home state

Typically, travel nursing pay packages can be broken up into sections: Hourly wages, housing stipend, per diem, and travel expenses. Of course, these components can vary depending on your tax state and where you work. So, before you accept a position, get a clear breakdown of each section so you know what exactly to expect from your travel nursing pay package.

Hourly wages

One component of travel nurse pay packages is the hourly wage, which includes bill rate and pay rate. The bill rate is the hourly amount that a staffing agency can charge a hospital for your work and because where you work changes so often, the bill rate can also vary. Then, the pay rate is what you’re going to pocket out of the deal per hour. Since this part of your pay package is taxed, here you’ll see your payroll taxes and benefits deducted and any overtime added.

It might seem like travel nurses have lower hourly pay, but that’s because travel nurses often take home more cash, thanks to the tax-free stipends. So, don’t judge a book by its cover, and do some research into the job to see how much you’ll truly make.

Or make it easy on yourself and use Fusion Marketplace. With enhanced transparency and a focus on travelers, Marketplace shows you the estimated weekly gross pay for each job posting, so you don’t have to be know how to calculate travel nurse pay. Instead, you’ll just know.

Housing stipend

Since travel nurses assist healthcare facilities in locations across the U.S., the cost of lodging can quickly add up. To help alleviate the financial burden, eligible travel nurses (aka those with an acceptable tax home) can receive a non-taxable housing stipend.

This perk depends on the staffing agency you work with, so housing options may look different across the board. That said, most agencies give travelers the choice of a housing stipend to find their own housing or to forfeit the money and go with agency-sponsored housing. When you use Fusion Marketplace to find your next travel nursing job, you can simultaneously review nearby lodging units. Finding the perfect place to stay is a personal process, so make it your own and go with what feels right.

Now, the exact amount you’ll get depends on where you’re working. For example, because the West Coast historically has a higher cost of living than the Midwest, you may find you’re entitled to a larger housing stipend in California than you are in Nebraska.

Per diem

Being away from home for weeks at a time can be expensive. That’s why travel nurses have per diem rates to cover the cost of meals and incidental expenditures (M&IE) while on an assignment. Like the housing stipend, per diem rates vary for travel nurses depending on their location of work.

The General Services Administration (GSA), an agency within the federal government, sets the limit for per diem rates in the U.S. and the Department of Defense (DoD) sets per diem rates for states outside of the continental U.S., like Hawaii and Alaska. When it comes to U.S. states, the standard per diem rate for M&IE ranges between $59 and $70, but that rate could be less or more depending on your travel nurse job location.

Travel expenses

The last part of travel nurse pay package is dedicated to other travel expenses incurred along the way. This can include things like mileage, airfare, or other transportation to get to your travel nursing assignment. Here is also where you’ll find agency-specific reimbursements such as certifications and other continued education reimbursements. What exactly goes into travel expenses depends on the healthcare staffing agency you work with, so make sure you ask for clarity on these items before you accept a travel nursing contract.

The pay structure for travel nurses

As you’re getting started on a new travel assignment, you’ve worked your full week, you're turning your timecard to get paid that following Friday—you are paid a week behind. It’s important to prepare for this lag in cash influx because it can essentially be two to three weeks without pay. That can become a big deal if you aren’t expecting that cash flow to slow while you have bills and payments to make.

Evaluating your finances helps you prepare ahead of time. Factor in the initial cost as you're starting licensing and verification in new states, the housing fees, and the timing of your initial pay. While you’ll get reimbursed for licensing, travel, and housing costs, it’s important to make sure you can front the costs in the meantime. These costs will affect how you function when you take a travel assignment, so make a budget and be ready with some savings to get you through the first few weeks of an assignment.

How to boost travel nurse pay

It can be tough to make less than what you were expecting. Luckily, if this ever happens, you can always negotiate your pay to try and earn more. If negotiating isn’t usually your thing, use these steps to help get you the pay you deserve:

1. Show your worth as a travel nurse. Start with sharing your impeccable attendance record, your pleasant work attitude, your commitment to your patients, and anything else that sets you apart from your fellow nurses.

2. Do some research to see what other agencies are paying travel nurses in the area you want to go. To make it easier on yourself, use Fusion Marketplace to compare travel jobs and pay at a quick glance.

3. Find a healthcare recruiter that you work well with. Having a good relationship with your recruiter is vital as a travel nurse. Not only does trust help solidify the bond between you two, but it also makes it less intimidating to negotiate pay and ask for what you want. Check out recruiter ratings and reviews on Fusion Marketplace to get a sneak peek of what to expect from a recruiter.

4. Be specific because there’s a lot to negotiate. If there’s something you want to be included in your contract, like Internet and phone reimbursements, you must be specific with your request. The worst thing they can say is no.

5. Review your contract and ensure everything that should be included is there. If an agency verbally promised you something, double-check that it’s clearly outlined in writing within your contract.

Of course, there are other ways to boost your travel nursing pay without negotiating your contract. As you build your negotiation skills, try out these ways to increase your travel nursing pay:

Pick up extra per diem shifts

Per diem or per day, shifts are a great way to collect a few extra bucks on your next paycheck. Ask your agency or healthcare facility if you can pick up extra shifts or work a double! Not only does it put more money in your pocket, but it also benefits the short-staffed facility and patients in need.

Take advantage of overtime pay

Some travel contracts will offer you overtime during your travel assignment. This, by law, must be paid time and a half of your taxable rate. If you consider working overtime on your assignment, you can try to negotiate a higher taxable rate with lower non-taxed reimbursements and stipends to get the most value in the long run.

Maintain multiple state nursing licenses

The more state licenses you have, the more states you’re eligible to work in. It’s that simple! Or instead of obtaining 50 different nursing licenses, apply for the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). This special nursing license allows registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs) to travel to multiple states without the hassle of applying for and purchasing new state licenses.

Although not every U.S. state participates in the NLC, so prepare to organize multiple licenses either way. Luckily, your Fusion Marketplace profile makes this effortless for you by giving you the option to upload and save your credentials in one accessible location. That way, you don’t have to re-enter the information, but rather update it, as needed.

If you need a license for a different state, you’ll have an upfront cost of the license and verifications that go along with it. Send any verification, application, and anything else needed via overnight mail. This way, it gets there in one day, it is trackable, and the receipts will be available so you can be reimbursed on your first check.

Become more specialized

Travel nurses work in a wide variety of healthcare facilities from hospitals to long-term care units. To help give you the experience and expertise needed to master all areas of nursing, collect different nursing specialties. Here are a few nursing specializations that are making a buzz in healthcare:

• Cardiac care
• Case management
• Critical care
• Home health
• Labor and delivery (L&D)
• Long-term care (LTC)
• Medical-surgical
• Pediatric
• Orthopedic
• Psychiatric
• Intensive care unit (ICU)
• Operating room (OR)

By collecting different nursing specialties, you become even more valuable to the healthcare community. Plus, it opens up even more travel nursing jobs for you to choose from!

Refer a traveler friend

Because most healthcare staffing industries offer a referral bonus, you can easily earn some extra cash by simply referring a friend to the business! Of course, before you do so, double-check with the agency that this is an option. Some may have further requirements where your referral has to stay on for a certain amount of time before you get your bonus. Whatever the details, make sure you know them before you give any valuable information away. And then, start to think of all the ways you can spend your referral bonus!

Travel nurse pay by state

Now that we’ve explored how travel nursing pay works, what it entails, and how to boost your pay, let’s take a look at a breakdown of travel nursing pay by state so you can figure out where you can make the most:

You have the opportunity to earn a high-paying salary as a professional travel nurse. Before you accept a travel nursing job, read through your contract to ensure the breakdown for your hourly pay, housing stipend, tax-free per diems, and other travel expenses are what they should be. And if it’s not what you were expecting, give negotiation a try or experiment with another way to boost your travel nursing pay.

No matter where you want to go for your next travel nursing assignment, use Fusion Marketplace to easily get there. With just a few simple steps, you can create a traveler profile and save all your important information under one umbrella. Once your Marketplace profile is completely set up, use it as your resume to apply for travel nursing jobs! Thanks to enhanced transparency, you can browse travel nurse jobs with pay listed and know ahead of time what you'll get paid, what hours you’ll work, and what kind of facility you’ll be in. With help from Fusion Marketplace, you’ll find your ideal travel nursing job in no time.