travel nurse pay package

Travel Nurse Pay Package: Complete Guide (With Examples)

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So your recruiter has sent you a “travel nurse pay package”.  You can’t submit and agree to this pay without knowing what exactly it is.  It looks enticing but what is a pay package? How does an agency come up with this amount? Most importantly, where can you find the highest pay packages?

What is a “Pay Package”

Puzzled Travel Nurse

Travel Nurse confused by “Pay Package”

A pay package is a the travel nurse weekly pay.  Travel nurses work for a week (Sunday to Saturday at most facilities) and is paid the following week on the designated pay day, usually Friday. For example, if you worked Sunday July 1st through Saturday July 7th, you would then be paid that first coming Friday July 13th. This is not how all travel nursing agencies pay their contract nurses but the vast majority do.

This pay package amount depends on location, specialty, and facility need or urgency.  For more information, check out our page on travel nurse salary. The salary of traveling nurses depends on those factors and you can see higher pay depending on those factors.

 

The 3 Components of a Travel Nurse Pay Package

There are 3 major components to a pay package.  Hourly Pay which is taxed, the Housing Stipend, and the Meals and Incidentals Stipend.  You’ll notice the salary for travel nurses mainly is paid from the housing and meals and incidentals stipend amounts. This is not by accident. Agencies “package” your pay into these 2 stipends in order to be able to pay you a higher tax-exempt amount and allow the travel nurse the ability to avoid a large portion of taxes. This is a benefit to traveling workers that are working a “significant distance” from their tax home. Now lets break these 3 travel nursing pay segments.

Hourly Rate (Per Hour Rate)

The first component of your Pay Package is Hourly Rate. Hourly rate is the dollar per hour amount you make for each hour you work. It is the taxed portion of a pay package.  You might be asking yourself, “well how come I can’t just be paid in stipends?”. The answer is, you must be paid some form of hourly pay for the hours that you work.  This is a federal requirement.  The amount varies.  Agencies want to pay you as little hourly pay as possible in order to make their pay packages look more attractive to a prospective travel nurse. Different agencies will have minimum hourly amounts.  Below is an example of how a different hourly rate amount can affect net pay.

Let’s say an agency can pay a nurse $2,000 a week to a travel nurse

Ex:

$20.00/per hour x 36 hour contract = $720.00

with an estimated tax rate of 20%..

$720.00 – $144 (Taxes) = $576.00

$2,000 Weekly Amount minus the $720 in hourly rate, means they can pay nurses $1,280 in stipends.

Adding that to your taxed hourly rate and your Pay Package will say:

Gross Pay: $2,000.00/Wk for a 36 hour pay period

Net Pay: $1,856.00/Wk for 36 hour pay period

Lets compare this a $17/hr hourly rate

$17.00/per hour x 36 hour contract = $612.00

with an estimated tax rate of 20%..

$612.00 – $122.40 (Taxes) = $489.60

$2,000 Weekly Amount minus the $612 in hourly pay, means they can pay nurses $1,388 in stipends.

Adding that to your taxed hourly rate and your Pay Package will say:

Gross Pay: $2,000.00/Wk for a 36 hour pay period

Net Pay: $1,877.60/Wk for 36 hour pay period

travel nurse stipend

Travel Nursing Stipends

Now lets go over the tax-exempt portion of a pay package.  The Housing & Meals and Incidentals Stipends.  After the hourly pay is determined, whatever money the agency is going to pay their travel nurses are is portioned into these 2 stipends.  Nurses are able to be paid in these stipends as a benefit for being a travelling worker and traveling that “significant distance” from their tax home.  The government recognizes that housing and things like meals and incidentals are extra expenses this worker will have to pay for, so in turn they allow them to be paid as tax-exempt stipends.

The GSA – General Service Administration

The amount of your stipends will depend on the GSA’s (General Service Administration) maximum amounts for both st particular county of the country the assignment is in. The agency can only pay up to the maximum amount and any additional pay would need to be added on to the nurses hourly rate. This is why in some areas you will see hourly rates much higher than others. In that instance, the agency “packaged” as much pay into the stipends and there was more left over. It is then calculated and added on to hourly rate. This can happen in areas that have a low cost of living but are in a high pay area.

For example, Central California has areas such as Bakersfield, Stockton and Fresno.  There you will make great California travel nursing pay, but will pay more in taxes because GSA maximum amounts are lower than other parts of the state.  Lets say the stipends to be paid for an assignment in Los Angeles, CA combined is $1,250.  The agency will pay the nursing pay in this way:

Housing: $1,000/Week

Meals & Inc: $250/Week

In total…

$720 (Hourly Pay) + $1000 (housing) + $250 (Meals) =

$1970 Gross Weekly Pay

Subtract 20% Hypothetical Tax Rate for the $20/per hour Base Wage and you get…

$1,826 Net Weekly Pay

Lets take a look at at as assignment in Stockton, CA with the same amount left over after a $20/per hour needing to be paid BUT this time lets say the GSA maximum amounts for Housing and Meal Stockton,CA are $1,070

Housing: $875/Week

Meals & Inc: $195/Week

In total…

$900 (Hourly Pay) + $875(Housing) + $195(Meals) =

$1970 Gross Weekly Pay

Subtract 20% Hypothetical Tax Rate for the now $25/per hour Base Wage and you get…

$1,790 Net Weekly Pay

As you can see, differences is stipend amounts and what you make per hour will change your Net Pay. This completely alters your travel nursing pay.

Additional Compensation

Travel nursing is much about the net pay you make. But it is beneficial to factor in other offerings. 401k and Benefits are the biggest selling points agencies like to use to entice a nurse to work with them.

Benefits

Benefits offered by travel nursing agencies are commonly marketed in creative ways.  Knowing when your benefits start is imperative. Some agencies will offer health coverage the day your contract starts. Others will have your coverage begin the first day of the following month. Being educated and asking the right questions will help you understand what you can expect.

401k

401k plans with an employer match, reimbursements, and coverage details are all perks you should inform yourself on up front before you sign anything. You commonly must become “vested” after a certain amount of time in order to be a part of their 401k offerings. Get detailed information about this from your recruiter prior to agreeing to any contract.

 

Whether you’re an established nurse looking to shake things up or you’re just starting a career as an RN, TravelNursingDirect.com is here to help.  Join our community of future and current travel nurses by clicking HERE

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