Where travel nurses actually keep the most in 2026
Updated with 2026-07 rents · FY2026 GSA rates · 262 destinations
Two travel contracts can pay the same weekly gross and leave wildly different money in your pocket. The reason is rarely the wage — it's the gap between your tax-free lodging stipend (capped by federal GSA rates) and what housing actually costs where you land.
We compared the official GSA lodging allowance against real median asking rents (Zillow's rent index, county level) in every travel destination GSA lists. The difference over a standard 13-week contract — the housing surplus — is below, ranked.
The top 10 states right now
| # | State | Avg 13-week surplus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WyomingNo state income tax | $11,727 |
| 2 | IdahoFlat 5.3% income tax | $11,658 |
| 3 | VermontGraduated income tax up to 8.75% | $11,538 |
| 4 | MaineGraduated income tax up to 7.15% | $11,246 |
| 5 | MontanaGraduated income tax up to 5.9% | $10,865 |
| 6 | UtahFlat 4.55% income tax | $10,697 |
| 7 | South CarolinaGraduated income tax up to 6.2% | $9,472 |
| 8 | FloridaNo state income tax | $9,354 |
| 9 | Rhode IslandGraduated income tax up to 5.99% | $8,954 |
| 10 | GeorgiaFlat 5.19% income tax | $8,850 |
How to read this (honestly)
The surplus is not take-home pay. Your wage, hours, agency margin, and taxes all vary by contract — and stipends stay tax-free only if you maintain a legitimate tax home. What the surplus measures is one specific, comparable thing: how far the federal lodging allowance stretches against local asking rents. A traveler who finds housing below the median does even better.
Tax posture matters as a second filter: a $9,000 surplus in a no-income-tax state stretches further than the same surplus where wages lose several percent. Every state page shows both numbers side by side.
See your state — all 50 ranked, free
Every state and destination, tax badges included, updated monthly. New FY2027 rates land October 1 — subscribers get their state's exact change the day GSA publishes.
Explore the Pay IndexMethod: GSA FY2026 per diem rates (seasonal rates averaged); Zillow Observed Rent Index county medians of asking rents; surplus = (monthly allowance − median rent) × 3. Not tax or financial advice. Full methodology.