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The Nursing Careers

Travel nurse salary comparator

Turn a weekly pay package into a transparent assignment total — and see what changes when stipends or duplicate housing costs are treated differently.

Defaults to taxable · No tax-home inference · Inputs stay in your browser

01Taxable contract pay

Overtime hours only — not total weekly hours.

02Stipends and reimbursement
Tax treatment used in this estimate
03Cash assumptions
04Optional staff comparison

Assignment breakdown

Your contract totals will appear here

Enter pay-package values exactly as shown by the agency. The default treats stipends as taxable until you explicitly choose otherwise.

Package math first. Then find the next assignment.

After you understand taxable wages versus stipends, browse travel and staff nursing roles that match your license and specialty.

Browse nursing jobs

Calculation contract

What the comparison does

It uses only values and tax-treatment assumptions you enter. No agency rate, GSA allowance, or tax-home status is inferred.

Regular wages
Rate × hours × weeks
Overtime
Rate × multiplier × OT hours × weeks
Weekly stipends
Housing + meals × weeks
Estimated tax
User rate × taxable pay
Spendable estimate
After tax − entered costs
Annualized pace
Average week × 52

Tax-treatment boundary

A stipend label does not decide taxability

The default scenario treats all compensation as taxable. The non-taxable option is an explicit modeling choice for an agency-designated arrangement that you still must verify.

IRS Publication 463 discusses travel, temporary assignments, tax homes, and accountable plans. GSA publishes federal per diem rates, but a listed rate does not by itself make a private payment non-taxable.

Primary references

IRS and GSA

Reference links were verified August 3, 2026. This page performs arithmetic and does not provide tax or legal advice.

IRS Publication 463GSA per diem ratesIRS Topic 511

Common questions

Travel nurse pay FAQ

Are travel nurse stipends automatically tax-free?

No. The tax treatment depends on the facts, including tax-home rules and the employer’s accountable-plan handling. The tool defaults to treating all entered compensation as taxable and only uses a non-taxable estimate when you explicitly select it. Verify your situation with the agency and a qualified tax professional.

What is included in total contract value?

The calculation adds regular taxable wages, overtime wages, taxable bonus, entered weekly housing and meal stipends, and one-time travel reimbursement across the selected assignment weeks.

Why show duplicate costs?

A travel package can look larger while also requiring costs at both a tax home and assignment location. The optional duplicate-cost input subtracts only the amount you enter, helping separate contract value from estimated spendable cash.

Is annualized gross the same as annual salary?

No. Annualized gross multiplies the assignment’s average weekly value by 52. It assumes the same pay package and continuous work all year, so it is a comparison pace rather than an assignment total or salary guarantee.

Does the estimated tax rate calculate my tax return?

No. It is a simple user-entered percentage applied to compensation classified as taxable in the scenario. It does not calculate brackets, payroll taxes, deductions, credits, state residency, filing status, or tax-home eligibility.

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