Don't understand take home pay

perfexion, ASN, RN · May 11, 2015

That means your paycheck will be roughly $1400 a week. That's what you should expect to have in your pocket after everything is taken out.

cincin1222 · May 11, 2015

Thanks for the response, but I want to know if the package that I put up there amount to that, and how she came up with the figures. I am not looking for her to just tell me, I want to know how to calculate it correctly if I were to get other offers. I am asking if someone can break it down to me

Atl-Murse · May 11, 2015

watch this video

HikingNinja, BSN, MSN, DNP, RN, APRN, NP · May 11, 2015

PanTravelers - Home

Use the calculator in their resource section on the left hand side.

NedRN · May 12, 2015

first, can someone tell me the difference between housing stipend and or getting free housing where the agency provide you with it. example, agency's offer $2200 for housing since they will provide housing for me, does it mean they will add whatever it comes to weekly to my hourly and per diem pay?

With the exception of only one agency I know of, you either take the provided housing or the housing stipend. They are using the housing stipend number to figure your take home pay though. If you take the provided housing, obviously you don't get that much take home, but you also don't have to pay for your own housing, furniture, and utilities. Many travelers prefer taking the housing stipend as generally you can get your housing for less and pocket the difference. A lot more hassle of course to find and fund your own housing.

my rep told me that my package is an equivalent of $57/hr .. but I am having a hard time understanding where she is getting it from
here is the package:
hr pay rate:$31.50
taxable rate $22.09
non taxable $35/day
$500 car rental.
housing $2200
she is telling me my take home pay is about @$1400 /wkly after taxes
and that's for MA,
can someone share some light on this for me

I'll second the Travelers Calculator on PanTravelers for helping you make sense of quotes, especially when you are trying to compare quotes (which everyone should do, and can't be done if you work with only one agency).

But here is a quick analysis assuming you are working 36 hours a week for 13 weeks or 468 total hours. Housing is $6,600. Divide by 468 and you have $13.80 an hour. I'm not sure about the time frame for $500 car rental, but let's see what happens if that is monthly or $1,500 for the 3 month assignment (presumably tax free): that is another $3.20 an hour. So $17 an hour added to $31.50 is $48.50 an hour.

For a 36 hour work week, that is $1,746 gross. Your taxable pay is $22.06 times 36 is $794. Taxes on that would be (roughly) $265 - $317 a week (33% to 40%). Subtract that from your gross of $1,746 and you end up with $1,481 - $1,421. Pretty dang close to what your recruiter said.

Now that is rough math for sure as I'm not sure about the car rental. You also left out travel pay and health insurance.

cincin1222 · May 12, 2015

Travel $500 to go and come back the $500 rental she said I would get the first week on my pay when I asked for finishing bonus she suggests that either she give me the 500 as a complete bonus instead of the car allowance if I want that instead

cincin1222 · May 12, 2015

But she saying its $57 not 48

NedRN · May 12, 2015

Why not ask your recruiter? I often wonder about the choices travelers make. If you are too scared to ask your recruiter what she means, I don't think that can be a productive business relationship. Would you buy a car from someone who snows you with a bunch of talk you don't understand?

But here is my guess, she means the regular hourly you would need at a staff job to generate $1,400 a week take home. $57 an hour x 36 is $2,052. Less a third for taxes is $1,367.

cincin1222 · May 12, 2015

Well Ned,

I did ask her to send me all the information possible via email so that I can understand it better which she did, I was just asking a second opinion here to see if the numbers makes since.

Crazynut · May 25, 2015

Travel nursing pay is way more confusing than it has to be! It's because these companies use the tax free money in a way it was not originally intented. Basically it's illegal. It's a way to cheat the government out of taxes. All while making it seem like you're making alot more money. It's a business. Business is all about risk! Just be careful!

BD-RN, BSN, RN · May 26, 2015

I always found the travel companies calculation of the total hourly pay to be off, but the take-home was always accurate. I would just ask them to email me the break-down and do the math myself. My math was always much more accurate.

It's actually not that hard: the only taxable income is the hourly and any bonuses. I don't add the bonuses to my weekly take home since they are one- time. You just have to figure out the tax rate where you are based on your income (it's usually not too bad since you're only making $20-30/hr) I think paycheckcity.com or something will help you figure that out.

As long as you have a legitimate tax home, all the tax free stipends and per diems are VERY legal, and there's even more you can deduct.