Considering

A travel nurse makes exactly 3.2 times a staff nurse.

Well... no. Such comparisons are extremely difficult. Most travel assignments pay $40 to $50 an hour when you total all compensation which includes hourly pay, a per diem, and housing and may also include health insurance and travel pay. Your staff pay of $27 should add 30 to 50 percent on top for the cost of benefits: good health insurance, sick pay, PTO, holidays, vacations, education, and retirement.

Most hospitals will pay their in-house per diem staff somewhat more an hour to compensate for the loss of full-time benefits. That might be a fair comparison of travel versus staff, taking higher cash up front in lieu of benefits. The tax benefits most travelers receive leverage the take home pay of travelers even higher.

No agency will be able to tell you if you will make more or not but feel free to call them. They will fill your ears with lots of information about take home pay, or taxable equivalent gross pay, all based on their highest paying assignments in the highest paying specialties. Good luck translating multiple compensation details! If you do call, there is a handy calculator on PanTravelers that will help you to interpret the numbers.

Reason 1. is the only valid reason for being a traveler. Reason 2. may or may not work out depending on a lot of variables.

By the way, exactly what is subpar about making $57,000 a year? That is above U.S. median household income.

Good feedback! Thank you!