Travel Nurse Benefits vs Staff Nurses: Insurance, 401(k), PTO
By CircleRN Team | Published 2026-10-19 | 8 min read
Travel nurses usually get agency health insurance and a 401(k), rarely paid time off. Staff RN benefits are worth about $590 a week. Travel vs staff vs per diem.
Most travel nurses get health insurance through their agency, and many get a 401(k), but few get paid time off. That missing paid leave, plus thinner insurance and retirement contributions, is the gap with a staff job. For registered nurses, paid leave, insurance and retirement are worth about 35 cents for every dollar of wages, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the median RN wage, that is roughly $590 for a 36-hour week.
Below: what a travel agency usually offers, how it compares with staff and per diem jobs, what staff benefits are worth in dollars, and what to ask an agency about insurance and retirement before you sign. For coverage between contracts, see health insurance between contracts.
What benefits do travel nurses get?
Travel nurses on a W-2 contract usually get health insurance through their agency, often with dental and vision, and at many agencies a 401(k). You are also covered by workers' compensation, the agency pays Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes on your taxable wages, and in states with a paid sick leave law you earn sick time. Many agencies also reimburse licenses, certifications and travel to the assignment.
What is usually missing is paid time off. Staff nurses accrue vacation and holidays; travelers are paid for the weeks they work, and the time between contracts is unpaid. On a 1099 contract you get none of these benefits and pay both halves of Social Security and Medicare yourself, which is one of the contract red flags to question.
How do travel nurse benefits compare with staff and per diem jobs?
Staff nursing jobs carry the most benefits, travel nursing contracts carry some, and per diem jobs usually carry the fewest, with a higher hourly rate to make up for it.
| Benefit | Staff nurse | Travel nurse (W-2 agency) | Per diem nurse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health insurance | Yes, employer-paid share | Usually, through the agency; can lapse between contracts | Usually not |
| Retirement match | Common | Varies; often with waiting periods and vesting | Rare |
| Paid vacation and holidays | Yes | Rarely | No |
| Paid sick leave | Yes | Where state law requires it | Where state law requires it |
| Workers' compensation | Almost always | Almost always | Almost always |
| FMLA job-protected leave | After 12 months and 1,250 hours | Same test; time at each agency counts separately | Same test; hours are often too few |
| Tax-free stipends | No | Yes, with a tax home | No |
Texas is the one state where a private employer can opt out of workers' compensation, so ask if you take a contract there. Per diem pay is compared in more detail in per diem vs travel nursing.
How much are staff nurse benefits worth?
Staff registered nurse benefits are worth about a third of total compensation. In June 2026, employers paid registered nurses an average of $26.69 an hour worked in benefits on top of $51.27 in wages, 34.2 percent of total compensation, according to the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey.
| Benefit (registered nurses, June 2026) | Per hour worked | Usually part of a travel package? |
|---|---|---|
| Paid leave | $7.32 | Rarely |
| Insurance | $6.48 | Partly, through the agency |
| Retirement and savings | $4.02 | Partly, at some agencies |
| Legally required (Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, workers' compensation) | $5.15 | Yes, on taxable wages |
| Supplemental pay (overtime premiums, shift differentials, bonuses) | $3.71 | Usually, in the package |
The first three rows, $17.82 an hour, are the ones a traveler can lose. They equal about 35 percent of the wage. Legally required benefits and supplemental pay come with any W-2 job, so they do not change the comparison.
Do travel nurses make more than staff nurses when you include benefits?
Travel nurses and staff nurses come out roughly even at the median once staff benefits are counted, and travel comes out ahead after tax if the stipend is genuinely tax-free. The median registered nurse earns $46.90 an hour: $1,688 for a 36-hour week, or about $1,876 on the 40-hour basis used in travel vs staff nurse pay. Adding paid leave, insurance and retirement at 35 percent of wages brings that to about $2,275 to $2,530 a week. The median travel contract on CircleRN advertises up to $2,347 a week, the top of its posted range, with stipends included.
Three things move the comparison from there:
- The stipend's tax advantage. Part of a travel package is untaxed, so it takes home more than a fully taxable staff wage of the same size
- Weeks between contracts. Staff benefits include paid leave; a traveler's time off is unpaid, so every week off lowers the annual figure
- What your agency provides. If its health plan and 401(k) match are close to a hospital's, the gap is mostly paid leave, about $7 of the $18 an hour
The weekly and annual comparison is worked through in travel nurse vs staff nurse pay, and the pay calculator shows take-home pay for a specific offer.
Is travel nursing pay worth giving up benefits?
Travel nursing is usually worth giving up staff benefits if you keep a real tax home and work most of the year. Counting paid leave, insurance and retirement, a median staff RN job is worth about as much per week as the advertised pay on a median travel contract, so the gross figures alone do not favor travel. What tips it is the tax-free stipend, which raises take-home pay; what costs you is unpaid time between contracts and benefits that restart with each new agency.
Travel tends to be worth it when:
- You have a genuine tax home, so the stipend is tax-free
- You plan to work most weeks of the year
- You already have health coverage you are happy with, or your agency's plan is close to a hospital's
- You value choosing where and when you work, or want access to higher-paying markets
A staff job tends to be the better deal if you need family health coverage at the lowest cost, want paid time off, or plan to take long breaks between contracts. ICU nurses can check specialty figures in travel ICU nurse pay.
How much does agency health insurance cost travel nurses and families?
Agency health insurance costs travel nurses about what employer coverage costs other workers, and family coverage is where agency plans differ most. Workers with employer coverage paid an average of $1,440 a year for single coverage and $6,850 for family coverage in 2025, about $28 and $132 a week, according to KFF's Employer Health Benefits Survey. If you need family coverage, ask each agency for the weekly premium for your tier and the deductible before comparing pay, since a cheaper plan can be worth more than a slightly higher rate.
Most large agencies offer group health insurance to W-2 travelers, and many start it on the first day of an assignment or the first of the following month. Under the Affordable Care Act, a group plan cannot make an eligible employee wait more than 90 days, and an employer with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees must offer coverage to employees working 30 hours a week or face a penalty. What happens when a contract ends is in health insurance between contracts.
Do travel nurses get a 401(k) match?
Some travel nurses get a 401(k) match, usually after a waiting period and with vesting. Many agencies offer a 401(k), but a match often comes with a waiting period and a vesting schedule, and travelers who change agencies often may leave before either is met. Your own contributions are always yours. An employer match can be held back until you have up to three years of service under a cliff schedule, or vest gradually over up to six.
For 2026 you can contribute up to $24,500 of your own pay, plus $8,000 more from age 50, or $11,250 more at ages 60 to 63. Contributions come from taxable wages, so a package with a low taxable rate and a high stipend leaves less room to save. When you change agencies, roll the balance into your next plan or an IRA rather than cashing it out.
Do travel nurses get paid time off?
Travel nurses rarely get paid vacation or paid holidays; paid sick leave is the exception. Most travel packages do not include paid vacation or holidays, and a holiday worked is often paid at a holiday rate instead. For sick leave, about 20 states and the District of Columbia require it, so a traveler working there earns sick time on the same terms as other employees, such as one hour for every 30 worked in California and one for every 40 in Washington. Some states limit when new employees can use it; California, for example, allows use from the 90th day of employment, which matters on a 13-week contract.
Job-protected unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act requires 12 months with the same employer, 1,250 hours in the past 12 months, and a worksite where the employer has 50 employees within 75 miles; for agency travelers, that worksite is generally the agency office you report to, not the hospital. The 12 months need not be consecutive, so travelers who stay with one agency can qualify, while time with a new agency starts its own count.
What should you ask an agency about benefits?
Ask for these in writing, with the cost for your coverage tier:
- When does health insurance start, and what is the weekly premium for you, or for you and your family?
- What happens to coverage between contracts, and for how many weeks?
- Is there a 401(k) match, when do you become eligible, and what is the vesting schedule?
- Do you accrue paid sick leave or any paid time off, and does it carry over between contracts?
- What is reimbursed: licenses, certifications, travel to and from the assignment?
- Is the offer W-2? A 1099 offer carries no benefits at all
Agency profiles are in the agency directory, and how to choose a travel agency covers the rest of the comparison.
Bottom Line
Travel nurses usually get health insurance and often a 401(k) through their agency, but rarely paid time off. For registered nurses, paid leave, insurance and retirement are worth about 35 cents per dollar of wages, roughly $590 for a 36-hour week at the median wage. Add that to a staff offer before comparing it with a travel package, then subtract whatever your agency actually provides.
Compare packages with the pay calculator, look up agencies in the agency directory, or browse contracts on the jobs board.
Sources
- BLS, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (Table 2, registered nurses)
- BLS, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Registered Nurses (May 2025 median wage)
- KFF, 2025 Employer Health Benefits Survey (premiums and worker contributions)
- 29 CFR 2590.715-2708 (90-day limit on waiting periods)
- IRS, Employer Shared Responsibility Provisions (50-employee threshold and 30-hour full-time rule)
- IRS, 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026 (IR-2025-111)
- IRS, Retirement Topics: Vesting (vesting schedules)
- U.S. Department of Labor, Family and Medical Leave Act (eligibility)
- California Labor Commissioner, Paid Sick Leave and Washington L&I, Paid Sick Leave (accrual and use)
- Texas Department of Insurance, Workers' Compensation for Employers (nonsubscribers)