How to read a travel therapy job listing

A travel therapy job listing tells you the discipline, the city and state, the setting, when the contract starts and the weekly pay it advertises, and each of those lines raises a question to settle before you sign. The weekly pay is a gross figure before tax that usually mixes a taxable wage with stipends, so the listing is where a comparison starts, not where it ends.

By ProTherapy Staffing, published November 2, 2026.

What does the title of a listing tell you?

The discipline and the level: a travel physical therapist, a physical therapist assistant, an occupational therapist, a certified occupational therapy assistant or a speech-language pathologist. It decides which license the facility needs and, for an assistant, how supervision will work on site.

Ask whether the role needs a license in that state before the start date, or whether a compact privilege will do. The license lookup shows what each state asks of each discipline.

What do the city, state and setting tell you?

Where you will work and what kind of caseload to expect. The setting names the kind of facility, such as a skilled nursing facility, an outpatient clinic, a hospital, home health or a school, and each one shapes the day: documentation, productivity expectations, travel between patients and the hours on offer.

The city and state also set the per diem rates that a stipend is usually measured against. GSA publishes them by county for each federal fiscal year (GSA per diem rates), so the place on the listing is the place to look up.

What does the start line mean?

When the facility wants you to begin. A listing that says it starts as soon as possible usually means the facility has a gap now, which can help when you are ready and can hurt when a license, credentialing or housing is still open.

Ask what has to be done before the first day and who does it: the license or compact privilege, the facility’s credentialing paperwork, health records and orientation. A start date you cannot meet is not an offer you can take.

What is in the weekly pay figure?

The advertised weekly gross pay before tax, as the listing’s source publishes it. On a travel contract that total is usually built from a taxable hourly wage and stipends for housing and for meals and incidentals, and the split matters: IRS Publication 463 explains when an allowance for travel away from your tax home stays out of your taxable wages (Publication 463).

The weekly figure also assumes a number of hours. Ask how many hours a week the contract commits to, how overtime is paid under the federal overtime rules, and what happens to the pay in a short week.

If you want a listing's pay set out line by line, with its hours, before you apply, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.

How do you compare two listings?

Line them up on the same fields and the same terms. Two listings with the same weekly figure can be worth different amounts, because the split between the taxable wage and the stipends changes what you keep after tax, and because one may commit to more hours than the other.

Compare the places as well as the pay. A stipend set against the per diem rate for an expensive county may still leave less after rent than a lower stipend in a county where housing costs less, so look up the rates for each place and price a month of housing in each before you decide.

Then compare the parts a listing does not show: the facility, the caseload, who you will work alongside, the cancellation terms and how quickly each start is realistic for you. A listing earns a closer look; the written offer is what you compare in the end.

What should you ask before you apply?

Turn each line of the listing into a question, and ask for the answers in writing.

For the cancellation and contract terms worth comparing across agencies, see negotiating your travel therapy contract.

Frequently asked questions

Is the weekly pay on a travel therapy listing before tax?

Yes. It is an advertised weekly gross figure before tax, and on most travel contracts it combines a taxable hourly wage with housing and meals stipends that are taxed differently.

What does it mean when a listing starts as soon as possible?

The facility wants someone now. Whether you can take it depends on what is still open for you: a license or compact privilege, credentialing and housing.

What should I ask about a listing before I apply?

Ask for the pay line by line with the hours the contract commits to, the exact location and which per diem rates apply, what must be done before the start date, and what the caseload looks like.

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