1. Your tax picture
Social Security and Medicare (7.65%) are added on top of the rate you enter, for taxable pay only. This is one flat percentage, not a tax return. Whether you have a tax home is a tax question this tool cannot answer.
2. The offers
Leave Offer C's taxable rate empty to compare two. Housing and travel cost are what you pay at the assignment beyond what you would pay at home anyway, for example rent on a second place. For a staff job near home, enter 0. Your rent at home is not modelled, so duplicate-expense costs of keeping a tax home are on you to consider.
Offer A
Offer B
Offer C (optional)
Fill in the boxes above, then click Compare offers.
Result
Take-home by offer
| Offer | Advertised weekly gross | Taxes | Your costs | Take-home, contract | Per week, incl. gap | Per year |
|---|
Per week divides take-home by contract weeks plus unpaid gap weeks. Per year multiplies that by 52. The shaded row keeps the most.
If shifts get cancelled
| Offer | 0% cancelled | 10% | 20% | 30% |
|---|
Take-home per week under each share of scheduled shifts cancelled. An offer that guarantees hours in writing does not move.
Taxable rate needed to match the best offer
| Offer | Current taxable rate | Rate that matches the best |
|---|
How it works, and what it leaves out
- Taxable pay: (rate x guaranteed hours + rate x overtime multiplier x overtime hours) x share of shifts actually paid. Tax is your rate plus 7.65% on that.
- Stipends and travel reimbursement: untaxed if you say you keep a tax home, otherwise taxed like wages. If you enter a per-diem rate, stipends above 7 x that daily rate are flagged.
- Bonus: always taxed. Costs: health premium and housing per week, travel once. Gap: unpaid weeks add to the period the take-home is averaged over.
- Not modelled: tax brackets, state residency, the actual per-diem table, retirement matches, licence and compact fees, agency deductions, benefits beyond the premium, duplicate-expense rules and the audit risk of stipends.
- Unverified: the arithmetic is checked by hand calculation only, not against a real payroll stub. If yours disagrees, that is the priority report.
Common questions
What is the real take-home of a travel nurse contract?
Not the weekly gross in the recruiter's text. It is taxable wages after tax, plus stipends if they really are untaxed, minus your health premium, the housing and travel you pay for, and averaged over the unpaid weeks between assignments. This tool does that arithmetic for up to three offers side by side.
Why can a higher weekly gross pay less?
Stipend-heavy packages look big but depend on hours being guaranteed and on you keeping a qualifying tax home. A lower gross with a higher taxable rate can be worth more once overtime, cancelled shifts and the weeks between contracts are counted.
What is a tax home?
In general, a regular place of business or post of duty, or a home you keep and pay for where you actually live and work part of the time. If you do not have one, agencies generally must treat stipends as taxable wages. This tool only asks you to say whether you do; it cannot decide for you. Ask a tax professional.
What is a guaranteed hours clause?
A promise that you are paid for the scheduled hours even if the hospital cancels your shifts. Without it, low-census cancellations reduce pay, and some agencies also reduce the stipends in proportion. The sensitivity table shows what 10, 20 and 30 percent cancelled shifts do to each offer.
How is overtime paid?
Usually at 1.5 times the taxable hourly rate, not the total package rate. A stipend-heavy offer with a low taxable rate therefore pays much less for extra shifts. Enter the multiplier your contract states.
What does this tool leave out?
Actual tax brackets, state residency rules, the exact per-diem rate for each city and date, retirement matches, licensure and compact fees, agency-specific deductions, referral bonuses and the value of benefits beyond the premium you type. The tax rate is a single percentage you choose.
Is my information uploaded anywhere?
No. Everything you type stays in this browser tab. There are no accounts, cookies or analytics vendors.