How to get the most pay as a traveler

Now that you know the basics on how travelers get paid and the general breakdown of the pay package, let’s discuss the best strategy to get the most money out of your assignment. When negotiating the pay package of a contract, it’s always a good idea to look closely at the following categories.

Maximize tax-free stipends

Every recruiter should be able to max out your tax-free stipends, if you are eligible for them. The best way to make sure your housing and M&I (meals and incidentals) stipends are maxed out is through GSA.gov. You can enter the location of your assignment and search for the government allowable maximum stipends for that location. Just take the daily allowance provided for each section, and multiply it by 7 days per week. This will give you the maximum tax-free amount that you could—and should—be receiving each week during your contract.

Negotiate your hourly rate

Determining a fair hourly rate is more difficult than securing your maximum tax-free stipends. There are a few different routes you can take that become easier as you gain more experience as a traveler. First of all, compare your pay package to a similar job. Many agencies have access to the same contracts. Oftentimes the pay rate may be higher with a different agency, so be sure to shop around before you commit to your contracted pay package. There are a few websites that share gross weekly rates for the position that is posted. Some are agency specific like Fusion and AYA). Other websites like, Wanderly and Vivian allow multiple agencies to list their job postings. These are great resources to cross reference the job you are interested in and find the highest pay. Sometimes you can search the location of the job and find multiple offers for that exact position. If you are already working with an agency and have an offer for a specific job, your agency might “price match” if you show them you found a higher rate for the same job. The agency wants to keep your business and should be willing to compete with other companies.

Another way to max out your hourly rate is by asking your recruiter for the contract bill rate, which is the amount the hospital is paying your travel agency for each hour you work. This may be a bit more complicated and requires more trust between recruiter and traveler, but it’s a great way to know you’re getting the most out of your pay package. Staffing agencies typically can operate using 25-35% of the bill rate. Once you know your bill rate, you can calculate a fair weekly gross pay based on that information.

For example if the bill rate is $150/hr, working a 40 hour week. That’s $6000/ week that your agency is billing the hospital. You know that the agency can operate off of 25%. Therefore your gross rate would be $4500/week.

If the GSA maximum allowance for your location is $1,785/week, this leaves $2,715 to be paid to you in your hourly taxable rate ($67.88/hour)

Once you share your desired rate with your recruiter, they may renegotiate with you for a higher margin. Never settle for less than 65% of the bill rate. Knowing the bill rate puts you in a position of power. Without this knowledge, you don’t know if the agency is taking more than their fair share. An honest and transparent recruiter should be willing to share the bill rate with the traveler.

Calculate your blended and overtime rates

When a traveler works overtime, the agency can charge the hospital a higher rate for those additional hours. This can sometimes be 1.1x to 1.5x the original bill rate. However, this extra money is not always paid to the traveler. After the traveler has worked their 40 hr commitment, they don’t receive extra stipends for additional hours worked.

It’s common to receive an overtime rate that is 1.5x your taxable hourly rate. However, this is not always a fair rate and can be less than your blended rate as a traveler. When working in cities with larger GSA stipends, your hourly rate could be drastically lower and may result in your OT rate being inaccurately calculated. To calculate a fair overtime rate, you must first find your blended rate.

Your Blended rate is your total gross pay (stipends included) divided by the number of hours worked per week. In the example above, the blended rate would be $112.5/hour ($4500 ÷ 40hrs = $112.5/hr). Once you have your blended rate, multiply it by 1.5. This will give you a fair OT rate. For the example above, the overtime rate would be $112.5 x 1.5 = $168.75/hr.

Some agencies capitalize on the fact that travelers don’t negotiate their OT in a fair manner. It is common that a traveler might feel as if OT is not worth it because the pay is drastically less for the extra hours worked. Using this formula will help you calculate a fair OT rate and make those extra hours worth your time.

Business is business

As with any negotiation, it is important to be able to recognize a bad deal and be willing to walk away. By gathering as much information and educating yourself through the available resources, you can go into negotiations prepared. Using these strategies will show your recruiter you are knowledgeable and want to get the most out of your contract. Be persistent and don’t settle for less than your worth. If you have any additional strategies for maximizing your pay package, please share them in the comments section below.