Money
Money: pay, offers, taxes and travel
Compare an offer, see what the job pays in your state, read the contract terms that move the money, and sort out taxes and stipends. Free, with official sources.
General information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Estimates rest on the assumptions shown on each page; confirm anything you act on with the agency or a qualified professional.
Compare an offer
Put the offer in as it is posted and see what you keep after tax, rent and travel.
- Offer calculator: Up to four offers, after taxes and the cost of living near each job.
- Rotation check: True hourly on a 7 on / 7 off or 14/14 rotation once travel days count.
- Offer checklist: The terms to confirm in writing, with a printable summary.
- Compare two contracts: A worked weekly budget for an hourly-plus-stipend offer and a weekly package.
What jobs pay
Survey wages for every state, what employers are posting this week, and how your own rate compares.
- Salaries by role and state: BLS wages for RNs, LPNs, CNAs, NPs, CRNAs, paramedics and EMTs.
- Top-paying jobs this week: The best posted pay for each profession, by state.
- Posted pay by state: What postings pay, state by state.
- Is your pay any good?: Rank your rate against posted jobs and BLS wages.
- Did your raises keep up?: Your raises against inflation and rent.
- Paystub check: Does one paystub match your offer? Each difference in dollars a week, with the question for payroll.
- PRN, staff or contract: What each arrangement pays per hour and over a year.
- What a career route costs: Published exam, course and license fees for each route, and a break-even check with your own numbers.
Contract terms
The lines in a contract that move the money more than the headline rate.
- Read a pay package: Taxable hourly, stipends, guaranteed hours, cancellation and the overtime base.
- Blended pay quotes: How a blended rate splits into wages and allowances.
- W-2 or 1099: Who decides, and what changes for tax, overtime, unemployment and insurance.
- Travel paramedic work: Deployments, rotations, day rates and travel days.
- Before you sign: Questions to ask, short-term housing and security deposits.
- Your rights on travel and contract work: What your agency or 1099 status changes, who your employer is when an agency places you, and where noncompetes stand.
- Certifications: What each card is and where to take it, for jobs that ask for it.
Taxes
Withholding, what you actually owe, more than one state, and how to file.
- Taxes for clinicians: Start here: pick your situation.
- Federal basics: Brackets, withholding on uneven pay, two jobs and estimated payments.
- W-2 and 1099 taxes: Withholding, self-employment tax and expenses.
- More than one state: Work and home states, credits and agreements.
- State directory: Official forms for every state and D.C.
- Deductions and credits: What a clinician can and cannot deduct.
- Records: The work calendar and expense log to keep.
- Cost ledger: What licenses, fingerprints, travel and deposits cost you, and what was paid back.
- Filing help: Free routes, software and checking a preparer.
Stipends and per diem
When a stipend is really tax-free, and what the federal rate is for the place you are going.
- Stipends and tax home: Tax home, temporary assignments and accountable plans.
- Federal per diem rates: GSA lodging and meal rates by destination.
Housing and cost of living
Rent, home prices and everyday costs where the job is.
- Housing costs by area: HUD fair market rents and Census home values.
- Cost planning resources: Official cost and education references.