Travel Nurse Income Calculator

1. Copy the taxable hourly rate, the weekly hours and the contract length from your written offer.
2. Enter the weekly housing stipend, the weekly meals stipend and any travel reimbursement. Add overtime hours and the overtime rate only when the contract states them.
3. Add what housing will really cost you, the unpaid weeks you expect after the contract, and a staff salary to compare.

A travel nurse income calculator is a tool that turns one travel contract into comparable pay figures. It answers a plain question: what does this offer pay per week, per hour and per year?

A travel contract is usually quoted in parts. One part is a taxable hourly wage. The other parts are weekly amounts for lodging and for meals, and sometimes a payment for getting to the assignment. A single weekly number hides that split, and two offers with the same total can be built very differently.

This page keeps the parts separate and adds them in the open. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes no wage series for travel nurses, so the page shows no "typical" package and no specialty table. Pay for all registered nurses is covered by the registered nurse salary calculator in the related tools below, which compares a staff wage with BLS percentiles.

Two other tools on this site overlap in part. The freelancer hourly rate calculator works backwards from an income goal to a rate. The creator salary calculator turns several income streams into a salary figure. Neither handles stipends, contract length or gaps between contracts.

The calculator adds taxable wages and stipends for one week, scales that to the contract, then spreads the contract over a year that includes your unpaid weeks.

1. It multiplies the taxable rate by regular hours and adds overtime pay at the rate you entered.
2. It adds the two weekly stipends to get the weekly gross package.
3. It divides the package by hours worked to get the blended hourly rate.
4. It multiplies by contract weeks and adds the one-time travel reimbursement.
5. It treats one contract plus its unpaid weeks as a cycle and repeats that cycle across 52 weeks.

The annualised figure assumes every later contract matches this one. That is a planning assumption, not a forecast. The page estimates no tax, because the tax treatment of a stipend depends on facts the tool cannot see.

Example values only, not typical pay. A contract offers $30 an hour for 36 hours a week over 13 weeks. It adds $1,000 a week for housing, $400 a week for meals and $600 for travel. The nurse expects to pay $850 a week for lodging and to take 3 unpaid weeks afterwards. A staff job pays $95,000.

The contract pays $2,480 a week, but only $1,080 of that is hourly wages. Over a year of the same pattern, taxable wages come to $45,630 and stipends and travel payments to $61,100. The nurse is paid for 42.25 of 52 weeks.

The Split Between Wages and Stipends

Two contracts with the same weekly total can carry different wages. In the example, stipends make up 56.5% of the package and the hourly wage is $30, not $68.89. Ask how each offer divides the same total before you compare them.

Unpaid Weeks Between Contracts

Gaps cut the annual figure quickly. With no gap the example annualises to $131,360. With 3 unpaid weeks it is $106,730, and with 6 it falls to $89,877.89.

Your Real Housing Cost

A stipend is only extra income to the extent that it exceeds what you spend. The example leaves $150 a week, or $1,950 over 13 weeks. A dearer rental would turn that into a shortfall.

Guaranteed Hours

The weekly package depends on the hours you are really given. At 40 hours in place of 36, the example package rises to $2,600, yet the blended rate falls to $65.00, because stipends do not grow with hours.

Overtime Terms

Contracts set their own overtime rate and the hours after which it starts. The tool uses the rate you type and applies no multiplier of its own. The guide on how overtime pay is calculated explains the usual basis.

A stipend is not tax-free just because a contract calls it a stipend. US federal treatment depends on your tax home and on how long the assignment is expected to last. This section reports IRS rules read on 2026-10-02. It is not tax advice.

The three tax home factors are these. You do part of your work near your main home and lodge there while doing it. You have living expenses at that home that you duplicate while away. You have not abandoned the area, family members live at the home, or you often lodge there. The IRS says meeting all three gives you a tax home where you regularly live. Meeting two depends on the facts. Meeting one makes you an itinerant.

The "federal rate" for lodging and meals is the federal per diem rate. The General Services Administration (GSA) sets these rates for federal employees on official travel in the continental United States. A standard rate applies to most of the country, and about 300 non-standard areas have their own rates. Rates follow the federal fiscal year, which starts on October 1. The GSA states that it sets rates for federal travelers only and cannot answer questions about payments to contractors. This page publishes no per diem dollar figure: look up your assignment on the GSA site by city, state or ZIP code.

The practical point for an offer is simple. Treat the wage and the stipends as two separate lines, and ask a tax professional whether the stipend lines qualify in your case. The guide on gross vs net income covers the general difference between pay before and after tax.

Comparing Two Agency Offers

Run each offer in turn and press Save. A second offer of $42 an hour with $700 housing and $300 meals totals $2,512 a week, only $32 above the example. Its taxable wages are $1,512 against $1,080, and its housing stipend is $150 short of an $850 rental.

Weighing Travel Work Against a Staff Job

Enter the staff salary. The gap shows gross pay only. A staff job may include paid leave, health cover and retirement contributions that a contract does not.

Planning Time Off

Change the unpaid weeks to see what a longer break costs across the year.

Checking an Extension

Enter the extension as its own contract with no travel reimbursement and no gap. Keep the IRS 1-year rule in mind when the total time in one place grows.

Putting the Wage on a Yearly Basis

The salary to hourly calculator converts the taxable wage alone to a standard 2,080-hour year.

1. Multiplying the Weekly Package by 52

The example package times 52 is $128,960. With 3 unpaid weeks after each contract, the annualised total is $106,730.

2. Reading the Blended Rate as the Wage

The blended rate of $68.89 includes stipends. The hourly wage in the contract is $30.00, and the stipends depend on conditions the wage does not.

3. Assuming Stipends Are Always Tax-Free

The IRS ties the treatment to your tax home and to the 1-year rule. An allowance for an indefinite assignment must be included in income.

4. Ignoring What Housing Really Costs

A $1,000 stipend against a $1,200 rental is a $200 weekly cost, not a benefit. Enter the real figure.

5. Comparing Offers on the Weekly Total Alone

Totals $32 apart can hide a $432 difference in weekly wages. Compare the wage line, the stipend lines and the hours.

6. Using a per Diem Table as a Pay Promise

GSA rates are what federal agencies reimburse their own travelers. They are not a rate your agency must pay you.

The arithmetic is exact for the numbers you enter. The result is a gross planning figure, and it is only as good as the contract terms behind it.

This is an estimate, not tax or financial advice. Read the full contract and confirm the tax treatment before you accept.

Multiply the taxable hourly rate by weekly hours, then add the weekly housing and meals stipends. $30 for 36 hours plus $1,400 of stipends is $2,480 a week.

A blended rate is the whole weekly package divided by hours worked. It mixes wages and stipends, so it is higher than the hourly wage in the contract.

This page quotes no average, because BLS publishes no wage series for travel nurses. Your annualised total depends on your own contract and your unpaid weeks.

It depends on your tax home and the length of the assignment. The IRS says amounts for living expenses on an indefinite assignment must be included in income. Ask a tax professional.

The IRS says your tax home is generally your regular place of business or post of duty. With no regular place of work, it may be the place where you regularly live.

The IRS treats an assignment in one location as temporary when it is realistically expected to last, and does last, 1 year or less.

No. GSA sets per diem rates for federal employees on official travel and says it cannot address payments to contractors. Your agency sets your stipend.

Unpaid weeks between contracts carry no pay. A 13-week contract followed by 3 unpaid weeks pays for 42.25 weeks of the year, not 52.

Yes, when you enter overtime hours and the overtime rate from your contract. The page applies no overtime multiplier of its own.

That tool compares a staff wage with BLS percentiles for all registered nurses. This one adds up a contract with stipends and unpaid weeks.

No. The maths runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us. Save keeps a result only in this browser.

• IRS Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (US Internal Revenue Service, page updated 30-Apr-2026; tax home, the 1-year rule for temporary assignments, accountable plans and per diem allowances. Read 2026-10-02.)
• IRS Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses (US Internal Revenue Service, page reviewed 24-Sep-2026; tax home, temporary and indefinite assignments.)
• GSA Per Diem Rates (US General Services Administration, page updated 3-Sep-2026; who the federal per diem rates are for and the lookup by city, state or ZIP code.)
• GSA Per Diem Frequently Asked Questions (US General Services Administration, page updated 21-Sep-2026; what per diem is, first and last travel day, and contractors.)