What does 'true blended hourly' actually mean?

It is the total dollar value of the contract divided by the total hours worked. Total includes the taxable hourly base plus non-taxable housing and meals & incidentals stipends plus any bonuses. Travel offers headline a low taxable base because the rest of the comp moves through stipends; the blended hourly is the only fair way to compare two contracts or a contract against a permanent role.

Are travel nurse stipends really tax-free?

Only if you maintain a tax home per IRS Section 162. A tax home is a regular place of business or a primary residence where you incur duplicate expenses while working away. If you do not maintain a tax home, every stipend dollar becomes taxable wages retroactively, plus penalties. The IRS Audit Technique Guide for travel medical professionals is the authoritative source.

How is overtime calculated on a travel contract?

Federal FLSA overtime applies to hours above 40 per workweek and is paid at half the regular rate on top of straight time. The regular rate for OT is the taxable hourly base only. Stipends do not get factored in. So OT premium is base × 0.5 × overtime hours, not blended × 0.5. Most third-party calculators get this wrong; the math here applies the FLSA rule correctly.

Why is the taxable base so low on travel contracts?

Agencies push as much comp as possible through non-taxable stipends because that comp dodges federal income tax, FICA, and state tax. A higher base would mean more tax for both you and the agency. The trade-off is that the IRS limits how high stipends can go before they get reclassified, which is why the GSA per diem rate matters.

What if my employer pays stipends above GSA per diem?

GSA publishes per diem rates by location. If your housing or M&IE stipend materially exceeds the GSA rate for the assignment city, the IRS can reclassify the excess as taxable wages at audit. The calculator flags stipends above conservative typical bounds; for the actual ceiling on a specific assignment, look up the location at gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates.

How should I read the comparison vs. permanent rate?

The comparison applies your same effective tax rate to a workweek at the permanent rate, with FLSA overtime on hours above 40. Travel contracts often come out ahead because the stipend portion isn't taxed, but they don't include health insurance, 401(k) match, PTO, or career stability. The dollar delta is one input. Benefits, tax-home obligations, and lifestyle preferences are the rest.

Where does my data go?

Nowhere. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. No inputs are sent to a server, stored in cookies, or logged. Closing the tab clears everything.

Vitals// Pay

Travel contract calculator. Blended hourly, weekly take-home, GSA stipend check.

Tool: Live
Reviewed: 2026.05.04
Privacy: Browser-only

Methodology

How travel contracts actually pay.

A travel offer comes apart into three buckets. There is the taxable hourly base, which is W-2 wages and gets withholding, FICA, and state tax. There are non-taxable stipends for housing and meals, structured under IRS Section 162 as reimbursement for duplicate expenses while working away from your tax home. And there are taxable bonuses (sign-on, completion, sometimes travel reimbursement) paid in lump sums.

Agencies route as much pay as possible through stipends because stipend dollars do not get taxed at all. A $25/hr base + $1,200/wk housing + $60/day M&IE contract is a much higher real package than a $50/hr base permanent role at the same hours, even though the headline rate looks lower. The blended hourly above is what makes the comparison honest.

The catch: stipends are non-taxable only if you have a tax home.

A tax home is a regular place of business or a primary residence where you maintain duplicate expenses (rent, utilities, mortgage) while working the contract. If you let your tax home lapse (sublet your apartment, sell your house, hit the road full-time without a base), every stipend dollar becomes taxable wages retroactively, plus penalties and interest. The IRS Audit Technique Guide for traveling medical professionals spells this out.

The other ceiling is GSA per diem. The General Services Administration publishes daily lodging and M&IE rates by city for federal travel; the IRS treats those rates as the line above which stipends start looking like disguised wages. Most cities are well under $2,000/wk lodging and $80/day M&IE; the calculator flags amounts above those bounds, and the actual ceiling for a specific assignment lives at gsa.gov per diem rates.

Overtime on a travel contract follows federal FLSA. Hours above 40 per workweek earn an OT premium of half the regular rate on top of straight time. Critical detail: the regular rate is the taxable hourly base only. Stipends do not factor into FLSA OT. So OT premium is base × 0.5 × overtime hours, not blended × 0.5. Many travel calculators get this wrong and overstate take-home; the math here applies the federal rule correctly. The DOL Fact Sheet #56A walks through the regular rate calculation.

A few states layer their own daily-OT rules on top of FLSA. California, Alaska, Nevada, and Colorado pay 1.5× after 8 hours per day and 2× after 12 in most cases; California adds seventh-consecutive-day premiums. If your assignment is in one of those states, the contract’s real OT will be higher than what this calculator returns. Treat the federal number as a floor.

What this calculator does not model: FICA (7.65% of taxable wages, both halves if you go 1099), state daily-OT rules above, state-specific surtaxes, multi-state filing for a contract crossing state lines, agency hidden fees (uniform reimbursement caps, missed-shift penalties), and benefits delta against a permanent role (health insurance, 401(k) match, PTO, sick pay). The numbers here are an estimate sized to triage offers, not a substitute for a tax pro on a contract you are about to sign.

Common questions

Things readers ask first.

What does 'true blended hourly' actually mean?: It is the total dollar value of the contract divided by the total hours worked. Total includes the taxable hourly base plus non-taxable housing and meals & incidentals stipends plus any bonuses. Travel offers headline a low taxable base because the rest of the comp moves through stipends; the blended hourly is the only fair way to compare two contracts or a contract against a permanent role.
Are travel nurse stipends really tax-free?: Only if you maintain a tax home per IRS Section 162. A tax home is a regular place of business or a primary residence where you incur duplicate expenses while working away. If you do not maintain a tax home, every stipend dollar becomes taxable wages retroactively, plus penalties. The IRS Audit Technique Guide for travel medical professionals is the authoritative source.
How is overtime calculated on a travel contract?: Federal FLSA overtime applies to hours above 40 per workweek and is paid at half the regular rate on top of straight time. The regular rate for OT is the taxable hourly base only. Stipends do not get factored in. So OT premium is base × 0.5 × overtime hours, not blended × 0.5. Most third-party calculators get this wrong; the math here applies the FLSA rule correctly.
Why is the taxable base so low on travel contracts?: Agencies push as much comp as possible through non-taxable stipends because that comp dodges federal income tax, FICA, and state tax. A higher base would mean more tax for both you and the agency. The trade-off is that the IRS limits how high stipends can go before they get reclassified, which is why the GSA per diem rate matters.
What if my employer pays stipends above GSA per diem?: GSA publishes per diem rates by location. If your housing or M&IE stipend materially exceeds the GSA rate for the assignment city, the IRS can reclassify the excess as taxable wages at audit. The calculator flags stipends above conservative typical bounds; for the actual ceiling on a specific assignment, look up the location at gsa.gov/travel/plan-book/per-diem-rates.
How should I read the comparison vs. permanent rate?: The comparison applies your same effective tax rate to a workweek at the permanent rate, with FLSA overtime on hours above 40. Travel contracts often come out ahead because the stipend portion isn't taxed, but they don't include health insurance, 401(k) match, PTO, or career stability. The dollar delta is one input. Benefits, tax-home obligations, and lifestyle preferences are the rest.
Where does my data go?: Nowhere. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. No inputs are sent to a server, stored in cookies, or logged. Closing the tab clears everything.

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