How much???

The couple friends I have that are travelers state they are paid a stipend for room and board or a higher hourly wage if they waive the stipend.

That's With a $800/ week stipend. That salary includes everything.

A hotel room? Why? Don't you have to pay for food when you are staff? At least as a traveler, it is with non-taxed money.

A bit confusing when you post your financial questions on three different threads with different numbers. You also need to check with other agencies, you should not be getting less than staff pay unless you are staff somewhere like San Francisco or Boston.

I cook food and feed my husband. So yes I eat but the good is not my biggest concern. Paying for somewhere to sleep is!

...oh and I'm estimating. No "hard" numbers only quotes. But I'm saying that with what I may have to pay for a room I might dip below what I made staff in NC

It depends on where you're planning on traveling as to how much you're going to make. I've been offered as low as $17 an hour in NM and FL (I thought they were joking...), to over $100 an hour in CA. Coming from OK, where I made ~$30 an hour, I've always been able to make more as a traveler. You just have to pick the better paying assignments.

It's been almost 3 years since I was a traveler, but what you are quoting was on the very low side of what I would take for my hourly pay. In addition, I would get between $1200 and $2000 untaxed per month for a housing stipend when I found my own accomodations. Are you sure they don't give you an additional non-taxed housing stipend/per diem rate?

I'm VERY confused by your numbers. First off, 1200-1300 minus 800 is not 900, so I'm not understanding that. Second, 800/week for housing is a LOT of money. I just worked out my stipend/week, it's not even close to that. Are you in NYC because that stipend is crazy high; even if per diems (groceries) are added in there. I'm currently in So Cal and 1200-1500/week is pretty standard here for take home after taxes. Think about how much that is per month, it's a LOT of money, unless you're spending like it's the end of the world.

Also, don't live in a hotel, that's a huge waste. Most travelers take paid housing or find somewhere to live on their own (I'm currently in a lovely townhouse with 2 roommates). At the most go to an extended stay hotel.

BD RN I wouldn't call it crazy money. I have to pay my regular bills out of it plus find somewhere to live lol. I have a mortgage payment, car payment, multiple bills. So it's slightly higher than my staff jobs have been but certainly not crazy money. Yes that Is the stipend...that assignment was 30 mins out of NYC. Very costly living. I accepted a differant assignment because I didn't feel comfortable going somewhere that would it cost an arm and a leg.

Oh and my hourly pay is $8.00/ hr. But then added on is the per diem pay and housing...all tax protected.

Be extremely leery of low wages like $8/hr. Say if you were making $30/hr before and dropped to $8, it could flag your tax return. I have a friend that got hosed by the IRS for this. Also, that will be what you have to apply for a loan (most wont consider nontaxable wages) and what you get back if you had to go on workers comp or unemployment (unlikely, but potentially scary).

The IRS has no access to hourly wages: it sees only total income reports. If rich people have significant fluctuations in their annual income, this can trigger an audit. By itself, that is not possible with taxpayers in our income range. Nor is discovering low wages in an audit an issue for a traveler. Your friend had other issues uncovered during an audit triggered for other reasons. While I don't know what the trigger issue was, I can make a good guess that it was discovered during the audit that she did not have a valid tax home and thus was assessed for back taxes, interest, and penalties for all the tax free money she accepted illegitimately including housing. This can potentially add up to as much as $50,000 over three years of earnings.

Most banks consider all sources of income when considering loans. Some don't, and you just move on to another lender. Nurses have well known and above average annual earning potential, and travel companies changing the compensation scheme does not change annual earnings. Workers comp will take into account all sources of compensation and routinely do just that for travelers, even including supplied housing. Private insurance is available as well for those concerned (think AFLAC). But you are indeed correct about unemployment: it will only consider taxable income. For travel nurses, unemployment eligibility is unlikely except for short periods between contracts so that is not a major concern.

I admit I've never heard of travelers being paid $8 an hour before, usually the bottom is more like $10/12 an hour. But that doesn't change the audit risk one bit absent a legitimate tax home.