Travel Medical Assistant Salary in 2026: Pay, Certifications, and Where the Contracts Are

By CircleRN Team | Published 2026-09-17 | 10 min read

What travel medical assistants make in 2026: BLS pay data, why Washington leads on pay and openings, how a 13-week MA contract is paid and taxed, CMA, RMA, CCMA, and NCMA certification, the Washington MA-C credential, and how to compare offers.

Medical assistants are not the first role people picture when they hear "travel healthcare," and for years the contract market mostly agreed. That is changing. Large health systems now post 13-week medical assistant contracts the same way they post nursing contracts, for the same reason: a clinic that loses two MAs in a month cannot room patients, and a room that is not turning over is a provider who is not billing. In September 2026 the CircleRN board carries 15 medical assistant openings, every one of them in Washington, at weekly totals well above what most medical assistants earn on staff.

This guide covers what travel medical assistants make in 2026, why Washington is where the contracts are, how a medical assistant package is paid and taxed, the national certifications and the Washington MA-C credential that decide who is eligible, and how to compare offers when the weekly number is modest and the stipend is doing much of the work.

How much do travel medical assistants make in 2026?

Start with the staff wage, because travel pay is priced against it. By the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data, medical assistants earned a national median of $45,690 a year, about $21.97 an hour. The lowest 10 percent earned under $36,050 and the highest 10 percent earned more than $59,310, and there were about 833,900 medical assistants employed in 2025, which makes this one of the largest healthcare occupations in the country. Washington is the highest-paying state in the federal data, with a median near $59,290, or about $28.50 an hour.

Travel contracts pay differently. Instead of a single hourly wage you receive a taxable hourly base plus tax-free housing and meal stipends, and the total is quoted per week. The medical assistant contracts on our board in September 2026 post weekly totals of roughly $1,420 to $1,437 for a 40-hour week over 13 weeks, with one 32-hour contract at about $1,130. On a 40-hour week that is a blended $35 to $36 an hour, and because a large share of it arrives as untaxed stipend, the take-home is higher than the same number would be as ordinary wages. See open medical assistant contracts for current postings; signed-in members see the taxable and stipend split on each one.

Where are travel medical assistant jobs in 2026?

Right now, Washington. All 15 openings on our board are in the state: Seattle and Edmonds on the Puget Sound side, Olympia at the south end, and Spokane and Spokane Valley in the east. They are day-shift, 40-hour, 13-week contracts almost without exception (one runs 26 weeks), and they are clinic jobs: primary care, family medicine, urgent care, cardiology, urology, dermatology, and physiatry clinics attached to large health systems, plus one at a children's hospital. Several are backfills for a specific person on leave, and the start dates cluster in early and mid-October.

Two things are true at once about why Washington leads. It pays medical assistants more than any other state, so a facility that needs a temporary MA is already used to a high wage and the travel premium on top of it is smaller than it would be elsewhere. And Washington credentials medical assistants at the state level, which shrinks the pool of people who can start on Monday and pushes clinics toward agencies that can deliver someone already credentialed. The count changes weekly as contracts fill and new ones post, so treat 15 as a snapshot and check the board for what is open today. For the wider picture of who is hiring in the state, see Washington hospitals hiring travelers.

How is a travel medical assistant contract paid?

The same way every travel contract is paid: a taxable hourly base, plus a weekly housing stipend and a weekly meals and incidentals stipend that are tax-free when you maintain a tax home elsewhere. The stipends are capped by the GSA per diem rate for the assignment location. For fiscal year 2026 the standard rate is $110 a day for lodging and $68 for meals and incidentals, but the cities on this list run higher: Seattle's lodging rate is $188 a night from October through May and $248 from June through September with $92 for meals, and Spokane's is $126 with $86 for meals.

At a medical assistant's pay level this structure matters more than it does for a nurse. On a package of about $1,430 a week, the stipend portion can be close to half the total, and that half is not taxed. Two consequences follow. First, compare offers on after-tax take-home rather than the headline weekly number, because two packages with the same total and a different split will pay you differently. Second, the tax home rule is not a formality for you. If you cannot maintain a valid tax home, every dollar of stipend becomes taxable wages, and a $1,430 package shrinks more than a nurse's would. Model any offer with the pay calculator, and read how to read a travel pay package for the full method.

Do travel medical assistants get tax-free stipends?

Yes, on the same IRS rules as travel nurses and every other travel clinician. If you work a temporary assignment away from a tax home you genuinely maintain, your agency can pay housing and meal stipends tax-free up to the GSA cap for the location. Nothing in the rules is specific to nursing or to licensed professions; the test is whether you are duplicating living expenses because work took you away from home. The full explanation is in do allied health travelers get tax-free stipends, and the tax home rules themselves are in travel nurse tax home rules.

One practical note. Unlike many nursing contracts, most of the medical assistant postings on our board accept local candidates, and several say so "at the same rate." Read that carefully. The weekly total is the same, but if you live within commuting distance you are not duplicating living expenses, so the stipend portion is taxable wages for you, and your take-home on the same contract is lower than a traveler's. That is not a reason to skip a local contract at a strong rate; it is a reason to run the numbers with every dollar taxed before you compare it to what you earn now.

What certifications do you need to be a travel medical assistant?

Nationally, medical assisting has no single credential. Four certifications are widely recognized and any of them will satisfy most postings:

On top of certification, the contracts on our board ask for BLS on every posting, a phlebotomy credential on some, and between six months and two years of experience, with one to two years the norm. Clinic experience in the posted specialty matters: a posting in a pediatric or surgical specialty clinic will want someone who has roomed those patients before. Most states do not credential medical assistants at all, and in those states the national certification plus your experience is the whole requirement. Washington is the notable exception, and it happens to be where the contracts are.

What is Washington's MA-C credential, and can an out-of-state medical assistant get one?

Washington issues five medical assistant credentials through the Department of Health, and the one a traveler needs is Medical Assistant-Certified (MA-C). It requires two things. First, training: a program accredited by ABHES or CAAHEP, a medical assistant program of at least 720 clock hours at a school accredited by an organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, a Washington registered apprenticeship, or military training the department deems equivalent. Second, a passing score within the last five years on one of five exams: the AAMA CMA, the AMT RMA, the NHA CCMA, the NCCT NCMA, or the AMCA clinical medical assistant exam. If you hold a credential in another state, you list it and that state verifies it to Washington. If you meet every requirement except the exam, an interim certification is available that expires when you pass or after one year, whichever comes first.

Most of the postings on our board say it plainly: MA-C is required, and an MA-R will not be accepted. A couple of Spokane clinics will endorse a Medical Assistant-Registered (MA-R) themselves, which is the exception. The MA-R requires no exam and no formal program; instead a supervising practitioner attests to the tasks you may perform, and the credential depends on continuous employment with that same practitioner, clinic, or group. It is built for a permanent hire being trained on the job, and it ends when that employment does, so for a 13-week contract plan on the MA-C. Start the application before you have an offer: state credentialing is the step most likely to push a start date, and a traveler who arrives with the MA-C in hand is the one who gets the next contract too.

Is travel medical assisting worth it in 2026?

For a certified MA who can maintain a tax home, the numbers say yes, with a caveat about scale. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of medical assistants to grow 13 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than the average for all occupations, with about 109,700 openings a year over the decade as clinics expand and the workforce turns over. That is the demand behind the contracts. A $1,430 weekly package with a large tax-free share compares well against a staff median of about $879 a week in gross wages nationally, and it is a large step up for an MA coming from a state near the bottom of the wage range.

The caveat is that travel medical assisting is a smaller market than travel nursing, and it clusters. Today that cluster is Washington; six months from now it may be somewhere else, or thinner. Gaps between contracts are the real cost, along with the tax home you have to keep paying for. If you are flexible on location and can move on short notice, the premium is real. If you can only work one metro, the market may not have a contract for you when you want one. Read travel allied health jobs for how the smaller allied markets behave and how to get started in travel healthcare for the steps in order.

How do you find housing and compare travel medical assistant offers?

Housing is where a medical assistant package is won or lost. You either take the stipend and find your own furnished short-term rental, keeping whatever you do not spend, or accept agency-arranged housing. On a nurse's package the stipend usually clears local rent with room to spare; on a medical assistant's it may not in Seattle, where rent is high relative to a $1,430 week, while it clears comfortably in Spokane or Olympia. Run the rent against the stipend before you rank the offers, not after. See how to find travel housing for the decision and the scams to avoid, and browse furnished rentals from verified hosts in Seattle, Spokane, and Olympia, or the full list of travel housing in Washington.

To compare offers, ask for the taxable base and the weekly housing and M&IE stipends listed separately, confirm the overtime rate past 40 hours, check whether stipends are paid in a week the clinic cancels a shift, and get guaranteed hours in writing. Then run the numbers with the pay calculator, check reviews of the facility where they exist, and read contract red flags before you sign. On CircleRN you can apply to a medical assistant contract directly from the posting, and a recruiter walks you through the package on a short intro call before anything is submitted.

Bottom Line

Travel medical assistants build on a staff median of about $45,690 a year (BLS, May 2025), with Washington the top-paying state at roughly $59,290. The contracts on our board in September 2026 post about $1,420 to $1,437 a week for 40-hour, 13-week assignments, all of them in Washington, and a large share of that weekly total is tax-free stipend, which is why a valid tax home matters more here than in a high-wage discipline. A national certification (CMA, RMA, CCMA, or NCMA) plus BLS and one to two years of clinic experience opens most postings, and Washington's MA-C is the credential that gets you started there. Demand is growing fast, the market is small and clustered, and the traveler who wins is the one who is credentialed before the offer arrives.

CircleRN gives medical assistants the same tools as nurses: open medical assistant contracts, verified pay data, a pay calculator, furnished housing in Washington from verified hosts, and hospital reviews. Considering the OR or the emergency department instead? Read travel anesthesia tech pay and travel social worker pay.

Sources

Primary and authoritative sources referenced in this guide:

Back to blog

Common questions

What is Washington's MA-C credential, and can an out-of-state medical assistant get one?
Washington issues five medical assistant credentials, and the one a traveler needs is Medical Assistant-Certified (MA-C). It requires an approved training program (ABHES- or CAAHEP-accredited, a program of at least 720 clock hours at a school with recognized accreditation, a Washington apprenticeship, or equivalent military training) plus a passing score within five years on the AAMA CMA, AMT RMA, NHA CCMA, NCCT NCMA, or AMCA exam. Out-of-state credential holders apply with verification from their state, and an interim certification is available for applicants who have met everything but the exam. Most postings require the MA-C outright and will not accept a Medical Assistant-Registered (MA-R), which is attestation-based and tied to continuous employment with one practitioner; a few clinics will endorse an MA-R themselves, but for a 13-week contract plan on the MA-C.