Your first travel contract, part four: pay expectations
Measure a first offer against the Travel Therapy Pay Index for October 2026, which publishes median weekly gross pay by discipline from current travel postings. The index does not split pay by years of experience, so it describes what contracts in your discipline pay, not a separate new-grad rate.
What does the pay index show for October 2026?
The Travel Therapy Pay Index, which ProTherapy Staffing, the publisher of this site, computes from its live contracts, gives the October 2026 median weekly gross for travel PT, PTA, OT, COTA and SLP, and breaks the medians out by setting and by state. Weekly gross means taxable wages plus the housing and meals stipends, before tax. A median is the middle of current postings, not an offer, and the index is reissued, so note the month beside any figure you compare against.
This page does not copy the figures, because they move with each issue. The comparison on our home page prints the travel PT median from the same data, with its date.
Is there a separate pay rate for new grads?
Not in the index. Its postings record discipline, state, city, setting, pay and start date, and nothing marks a posting as open to new graduates, so no figure it publishes tells you what new grads in particular are paid. The fair comparison is between your offer and the October 2026 median for the same discipline, setting and state.
Whether a facility takes a new grad at all is a separate question, and our guide to what recruiters leave out covers it. If an offer to you sits below the posted pay for the same contract, ask the recruiter directly why.
If you are a new PTA or COTA, compare against the assistant medians, which the index publishes separately from PT and OT. And compare like with like: a school contract, a skilled nursing contract and a home health contract in the same state can sit at different medians, which is why the index breaks pay out by setting.
What is inside a weekly package?
Two parts, taxed differently. Taxable hourly wages are taxed like any paycheck. The housing and meals stipends can be paid without tax withheld only if you are traveling away from your tax home, and IRS Publication 463 says “Generally, your tax home is your regular place of business or post of duty, regardless of where you maintain your family home.”
The federal per diem rates for lodging and meals by location are set by GSA, which says it establishes “the per diem rates that federal agencies use to reimburse their employees for lodging and meals and incidental expenses.” Ask which location’s rate your stipends are based on.
That is why two offers with the same weekly gross can leave you with different amounts once tax is withheld, and why a recent graduate who has just left student housing should settle the tax-home question with a tax preparer before signing. Our new grad salary guide covers what moves pay up or down.
When you have an offer and want it read line by line against the October 2026 index, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.
Am I paid for the weeks I am not working?
Only if your agreement says so. The U.S. Department of Labor says “The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave or federal or other holidays,” and that such benefits “are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.” A year of travel pay is the weekly package times the weeks you actually work, so plan your first months with a cushion for the wait before your first check and the gap between contracts.
The same rule covers holidays and sick days on a contract: ask whether any are paid, and how missed hours affect the stipends as well as the wages, before you sign rather than in your first week.
What should I ask before I compare offers?
- What is the weekly gross, and how does it compare with the October 2026 index median for my discipline, setting and state?
- What is the taxable hourly rate, and what are the housing and meals stipends?
- Which location’s per diem rates are the stipends based on?
- How many hours a week does the contract commit to, and what happens to my pay if the facility cancels shifts?
- Is orientation paid?
- Is the rate open to negotiation, and what would change it?
Weigh the answers alongside part three’s mentorship questions, not instead of them: pay and support are separate questions. Then read part five, the first thirty days, before you start.
Frequently asked questions
Does the pay index have a new-grad rate?
No. The Travel Therapy Pay Index publishes October 2026 medians by discipline, setting and state from current postings, and the postings carry no new-grad marker, so it does not split pay by experience.
Is the pay index figure what I take home?
No. It is a median of weekly gross pay from the October 2026 issue, which counts taxable wages and the housing and meals stipends before tax.
Am I paid for the weeks between contracts?
Not unless your agreement says so. The Department of Labor says the FLSA does not require payment for time not worked; such benefits are matters of agreement between an employer and an employee.
Sources
- ProTherapy Staffing, Travel Therapy Pay Index, October 2026 (pinned), read October 24, 2026
- IRS Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (tax home; temporary assignments), read October 10, 2026
- GSA, Per Diem Rates, read October 24, 2026
- U.S. Department of Labor, Vacation Leave, read October 10, 2026