What Is the RN Travel Nurse Salary After Stipends and Taxes?

What is the average RN travel nurse salary per week?

The average RN travel nurse salary package was $2,289.36 per week in April 2025, according to Vivian Health data reported by Becker’s Hospital Review. The figure was down 2.17% from April 2024. Treat it as a market reference, not a guaranteed wage or a take-home amount.

Location changes the comparison. The same data put California’s average at $2,888.50 per week and Texas’s at $1,937.96. Those are state averages; an individual offer can differ by facility, specialty, hours, and package design. The available data does not give a specialty-by-specialty rate table, so ask for the exact numbers on the assignment being offered.

Use a package worksheet rather than a single headline number:

Ask the recruiter to state each amount in writing. “What is the weekly package?” produces one blended figure. “What are the taxable hourly rate, housing stipend, meals-and-incidentals stipend, and guaranteed hours?” gives you four comparable inputs.

How much does a travel nurse make in a year if they work most of the year?

A travel nurse’s annual earnings equal the weekly package multiplied by the number of paid weeks, with unpaid gaps lowering the total. For a simple illustration, multiplying the April 2025 average weekly package of $2,289.36 by 52 weeks gives $119,046.72 in package value; that is a mathematical annualization, not a reported typical annual salary or an estimate of taxable income.

To account for time between assignments, use this calculation: weekly package × paid weeks = estimated annual package. If a nurse is paid for fewer weeks, substitute that number rather than assuming a full year of continuous contracts. The sources do not establish how many weeks a typical travel nurse works, so the annual figure should be based on your own expected schedule.

Keep unlike measures apart. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a $93,600 median annual wage for registered nurses in May 2024, or $45.00 per hour in its quick facts. That benchmark covers registered nurses generally, not travel nurses specifically; it is not directly comparable to a travel package that may combine wages and stipends. Staffing Industry Analysts reported an average travel nurse bill rate of $89.78 per hour in 2024, down from $106.63 in 2023, but a bill rate is what an agency charges a client—not the nurse’s wage or take-home pay.

How much of a travel nurse's pay is taxable wages versus stipends?

The taxable-wage share is the hourly wage portion of an offer; housing and meals-and-incidentals are listed separately, but their tax treatment is not automatic. Read the written package as separate components, then determine whether the assignment and your tax-home circumstances qualify for the treatment assumed by the offer.

The IRS Publication 463 says a work assignment away from a tax home is generally temporary when it is realistically expected to last, and does last, one year or less; an assignment expected to last more than one year is indefinite. Travel away from home also requires duties substantially longer than an ordinary workday and a need for sleep or rest. These rules mean a stipend label alone does not establish that a payment is tax-free.

There is no supported universal percentage of a package that is taxable. For any offer, ask for the dollar amount and payment basis of each component, and clarify the assumptions behind its tax treatment. The IRS source describes tax rules and travel expenses; it does not calculate an individual nurse’s tax bill.

What would my take-home pay be on a typical travel RN contract?

Your take-home pay cannot be calculated from a weekly package alone; you need the taxable wage, stipend amounts, hours paid, applicable deductions, and tax circumstances. To make a realistic comparison, build a weekly estimate from the offer’s actual components, then treat that total as a starting point—not as a net-pay promise.

For a sample worksheet, enter the recruiter’s confirmed figures in these rows:

No source here supplies a sample contract’s wage, stipend amounts, or withholding assumptions, so inserting a dollar take-home estimate would be misleading. Use your own offer figures and personal tax information. Compare the resulting estimate with the annual package calculation, including weeks you expect not to be on assignment.

Overtime also needs a specific answer. The Department of Labor’s Fact Sheet #23 says covered, nonexempt employees generally must receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a fixed 168-hour workweek; hours cannot be averaged across workweeks. The regular rate generally includes employment remuneration but excludes qualifying expense payments. The Department’s Field Operations Handbook, Chapter 32 adds that expense or per-diem payments may be excluded only to the extent they reasonably approximate additional expenses; payments without those expenses, or per diems that vary with hours, may be treated differently under its guidance.

Before accepting, ask the recruiter these direct questions:

• Taxable rate: “What is my taxable hourly rate, and how many regular hours are in the weekly estimate?”
• Stipends: “What are the separate housing and meals-and-incidentals amounts, and what eligibility assumptions apply?”
• Overtime: “What is the overtime rate, when does it begin, and how are stipends handled in the regular-rate calculation?”
• Guaranteed hours: “How many hours are guaranteed, and what conditions can reduce paid hours?”

If an assignment requires a move, see programs that may help pay for moving expenses to another state as a separate cost question; moving support does not replace checking the pay components.