Published Mar 9, 2017
dmstanl1
55 Posts
Hello! I am an RN with 3 years experience living in Chicago. I am a tele nurse. I want to take a travel nurse job to Houston in May. I am curious what the travel pay in Houston is in 2017? I make $34/hr in Chicago without night shift differential. Also, I am using American Mobile. Any thoughts on travel agencies would be great, but really interested in travel nurse pay in Houston and also the regular nurse pay in Houston. Thanks!
traumaRUs, MSN, APRN
88 Articles; 21,268 Posts
Moved to Travel Nursing
bensonbsn
2 Posts
I am not a traveler. I am a staff nurse. I work at an acute care hospital in a suburb of Houston. I have 9 years med/surg/tele/onc experience. My base pay is $38.00, shift diff is about $2.50.
Of course, people make a bit more in the Med Center.
Thanks for your reply! Sounds like pay in Houston is similar to Chicago which is great.
livingkennedy
25 Posts
Many agencies will do around 20 per hour with 245 weekly per diem and a 2500ish housing stipend. With tax savings this is probably a little over $40 per hour.
Thanks Livingkennedy. I am learning how this works. I got quoted $24.59 per hour, $245 weekly per diem and a $1,932 stipend which would come out to more like $34 per hour. I want to make $40 or above per hour considering I'm coming from Chicago. This is a clinic I got offered. Does stipend pay change based on hospital? I guess the stipend is wear they can mess with ya
Math is not my strong suit, so I may be missing something. What hours do they have you working, 36? When I do a quick number crunch at 36 hours, you're making more than the numbers you gave. I get you grossing $1613 weekly, with a net of $1417. That's around $44 per hour. (I seriously could be missing something, so let me know if I am). Given the tax savings on that, if you were paid straight hourly you would have to make somewhere around 55/hour according to this payment calculator.
NedRN
1 Article; 5,782 Posts
Does stipend pay change based on hospital? I guess the stipend is wear they can mess with ya
Allowable stipends are based on the location. You can look up the maximum IRS allowable amount on GSA (google for link). Different agencies will pay different stipends, but any agency should pay the same amount for the same location no matter the hospital. If they don't, they could get into hot water with the IRS. This doesn't affect you as the traveler, and you can even negotiate stipends with some agencies (like lower hourly for higher stipends).
After looking further, I suppose that possibly you're not including the housing stipend as hourly rate. Some include it and some don't. I tend to include it as my pay and will calculate it in to form a total hourly rate. This works better for me as I like to compare overall pay.
Hey LivingKennedy, I have my travel pay broken down hourly. This is for an assignment at a clinic working 8 hour shifts, so 40 hours per week. Base rate = $24.59/day, Meals per Diem = $35/day, and Stipend = $69.07/day. I hope that makes more sense. Math is not my strong suit, either. I appreciate your feedback!
If that describes your entire compensation, that is low for a travel contract. I calculate yours at about $45 an hour. You may also be getting a travel or mileage reimbursement and health insurance? I think of $50 as the very lowest a traveler should accept on most contracts.
Hey NedRN. I calculated with the agency I'd be making $1502.22 per week with those figures I listed below. I'm not sure where you got $45? I calculated it to be lower like $37-$41 hour. How do you calculate? I am looking into other travel agencies. Also, where in the 3 pieces of the pie am I getting low balled? The base rate seems higher than most places. The per diem seems the same as most places. Is my stipend too low? I quoted some figures for Seattle and Los Angeles with Medical Solutions and those figures had lower base rates but slightly higher stipends. They seemed low too. Is this because I am new to travel nursing? Thanks!