Travel nurse stipend & take-home pay estimator
See what a travel contract actually pays per week: a taxable hourly wage plus tax-free housing and meal stipends, compared with a job where all of it is taxed. Free, no sign-up.
This is an estimate, not tax advice
Actual take-home depends on your specific tax bracket, state, filing status, and whether you genuinely qualify for a "tax home" that makes stipends non-taxable. Talk to a tax professional familiar with travel healthcare before relying on this for a real decision.
This contract (wage + stipend)
$1794/wk
$792 taxable, taxed, plus $1200 stipend
All-taxable equivalent
$1494/wk
Same total gross ($1992), all taxed
Estimated weekly difference
+$300/wk
How travel nurse pay works
Most travel contracts split your pay into two parts: a taxable hourly wage and stipends for housing, meals and incidentals. When the stipends are tax-free, a contract can put more money in your pocket than a staff job with the same total pay. That's the difference the estimator above shows.
When are stipends tax-free?
Stipends are meant to cover the extra cost of working away from home. For them to be tax-free, you generally need a tax home that you're traveling away from. Under IRS rules:
- Your tax home is usually your regular place of work.
- If you don't have one, it can be the home where you regularly live, especially if you keep paying for that home while you're away, still do some work in that area, and haven't abandoned it.
- If you have neither, the IRS treats you as an itinerant: your tax home is wherever you work, and stipends are generally taxable.
The one-year rule
An assignment you realistically expect to last one year or less is temporary, so your tax home doesn't move. One you expect to last more than a year makes that location your new tax home. A run of back-to-back contracts in the same area can count as one long assignment, so be careful about extending in the same place for too long.
Where stipend amounts come from
Many agencies base their housing and meal stipends on the federal GSA per diem rates, which are set by location and updated every federal fiscal year. A higher-cost city usually means higher stipends.
Using the estimator
- Enter the taxable hourly rate and weekly hours from your contract offer.
- Add up the weekly housing and meal stipends into one weekly stipend number.
- For the tax rate, a rough combined federal, state and payroll rate is fine. 20 to 30% is common.
- Compare offers by running each one. A higher hourly rate isn't always the better contract.
Keep your licenses and certifications in one place
Travel Health Wallet tracks your licenses, BLS/ACLS and other certifications, reminds you before anything expires, and lets you share verified credentials with recruiters. It's free to start.
Create your free walletCommon questions
Are travel nurse stipends taxable?
Housing and meal stipends are generally not taxed when you have a qualifying tax home and you're working away from it on a temporary assignment. If you don't have a tax home (the IRS calls this being an itinerant), stipends are generally treated as taxable income.
What is a tax home for a travel nurse?
Usually it's your regular place of work. If you don't have one, it can be the home where you regularly live, as long as you keep paying for it while you're away, still do some work in that area, and haven't abandoned it. If you have neither, you don't have a tax home for travel purposes.
What is the one-year rule?
An assignment you realistically expect to last one year or less in one place is temporary, so your tax home stays put. If you expect it to last more than a year, that location becomes your new tax home and stipends there are generally taxable.
How much can a travel nurse stipend be?
Many agencies keep tax-free housing and meal stipends at or below the federal GSA per diem rates for the assignment's location. Those rates change by city and are updated each federal fiscal year.
Sources: IRS Publication 463 (tax home and temporary assignments) and GSA per diem rates. General information only, not tax advice.