Travel Radiology Tech Salary in 2026: Pay, CT vs MRI, and ARRT

By CircleRN Team | Published 2026-06-30 | Updated 2026-10-26 | 10 min read

Travel radiology tech salary in 2026: rad tech pay hourly and weekly vs the $80,110 BLS median, CT vs MRI, tax-free stipends, and ARRT and license rules.

A travel radiology tech is paid a taxable hourly base (often below the staff wage) plus tax-free housing and meal stipends, which at the standard FY2027 GSA rate can add up to $1,267 a week; our worked example, a $30 base plus $1,100 in stipends, comes to about $2,180 a week. For the staff baseline, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that radiologic technologists and technicians earned a national median of $80,110 a year, or $38.52 an hour, in May 2025.

Rad tech is a common travel role in allied health. Imaging runs around the clock at every hospital, techs are chronically short, and the work transfers cleanly from one facility to the next. This guide covers what travel radiology techs make in 2026, hourly and weekly, whether CT or MRI pays more, what drives pay by location, how the tax-free stipends work, the ARRT and state license requirements, and how to tell whether a contract is actually a good deal.

How much do travel radiology techs make in 2026?

Travel pay is not tracked separately, so the honest baseline is the prevailing staff wage. By the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data, radiologic technologists and technicians (which includes X-ray and CT) earned a national median wage of $80,110 a year, about $38.52 an hour, across roughly 230,000 jobs. A travel contract typically pays more than that, because on top of a taxable hourly base you receive tax-free housing and meal stipends.

Here is how the structure works, using round example numbers rather than a quoted market rate: a package might pair a $30 per hour taxable base (about $1,080 for a 36-hour week) with $1,100 a week in tax-free housing and meal stipends, for roughly $2,180 a week. The base looks low next to a staff salary, but the stipend is untaxed, so the take-home is what matters. See verified pay data for real reported packages, and model any offer with the pay calculator.

How much do travel rad techs make per hour and per week?

Staff rad techs are usually quoted by the hour or the year, and travel contracts by the week, so convert before you compare. The BLS median of $38.52 an hour works out to about $1,541 for a 40-hour week. A travel package is quoted as a weekly total, so divide it by the guaranteed hours to get a blended hourly figure: the example above, $2,180 for 36 hours, is about $60.56 an hour blended. That blended number overstates the taxable rate, because most of the gap is tax-free stipend, so it is useful for comparing offers with each other but not for comparing a travel contract with a staff paycheck. For that, compare after-tax take-home per week.

Does CT or MRI pay more for travel techs?

MRI generally pays more. By the same BLS May 2025 data, MRI technologists earned a national median of $95,480 a year, well above the $80,110 median for radiologic technologists, and the Bureau projects MRI employment to grow faster, 8 percent from 2025 to 2035 against 5 percent for radiologic technologists. CT does not have its own federal wage figure, because the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts CT technologists within radiologic technologists rather than as a separate category, so there is no distinct national CT number to quote. The CT tech guide covers the ARRT(CT) credential. In practice, cross-training into more modalities (CT, MRI, mammography, interventional) is the most reliable way for a rad tech to raise travel pay, because multi-modality techs fill more contracts and harder-to-staff roles.

Which states and cities pay travel rad techs the most?

Location drives travel take-home more than the base rate does, but not simply through the highest wage. Three levers matter: the GSA housing stipend cap for the area, local rent, and state income tax. A city with a high stipend cap and moderate rent lets you keep more of the stipend tax-free, and a no-income-tax state (Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Washington, Nevada) leaves more of your taxable base in your pocket. So the best-paying market for you is the one where those three line up, not necessarily the one with the biggest posted rate. We break the full framework down in best cities for travelers, which applies to rad techs the same as nurses.

Do travel rad techs get tax-free stipends?

Yes, on the same IRS rules as travel nurses. If you work a temporary assignment away from a valid tax home, your agency can pay tax-free housing and meal stipends up to the GSA per diem cap for the location. For fiscal year 2027 the standard cap is $113 per day for lodging and $68 for meals and incidentals, which is $791 and $476 a week, or $1,267 a week in total, and more in high-cost cities. The stipends stay tax-free only if you maintain a real tax home and the assignment is temporary. Full detail is in do allied health travelers get tax-free stipends.

What are the requirements to become a travel rad tech?

Beyond the imaging skills themselves, agencies and facilities generally look for:

Requirements vary by state and facility, so confirm the specific license and modality certifications a contract needs before you accept it. There is currently no interstate licensure compact for radiologic technologists, so each new state can mean a new license application.

Is travel rad tech worth it in 2026?

For most techs who can keep a tax home, yes. Demand is steady: the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for radiologic and MRI technologists to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, faster than the average for all occupations, with about 15,300 openings a year on average (the agency reports these two occupations together). Travel take-home generally beats staff pay thanks to the tax-free stipends, and imaging has enough contract volume that you can be selective about location. The trade-offs are the usual ones: possible gaps between contracts, hours that are not always guaranteed, and the need to keep a valid tax home. Compare a real offer against your current pay on take-home before deciding.

How do you find housing on a travel rad tech assignment?

Like other travelers, you either take the housing stipend and find your own furnished short-term rental, keeping whatever you do not spend, or take agency-arranged housing. Most experienced techs take the stipend. See how to find travel housing for the decision and the scams to avoid, and browse furnished rentals from verified hosts in your assignment city.

How do you compare travel rad tech offers?

Compare on after-tax take-home, not the headline rate or the total package. Ask for the taxable base and the weekly housing and M&IE stipends listed separately, confirm whether overtime is paid and at what rate, and check whether you keep your stipends in a week you are called off. Then run the numbers with the pay calculator and read hospital reviews for the facility before you sign. The full method is in how to read a travel pay package.

Bottom Line

Travel radiology techs build on a staff median of about $80,110 a year, or $38.52 an hour (BLS, May 2025), with travel packages running higher once tax-free stipends of up to $1,267 a week at the standard GSA rate are added. MRI pays more than general radiography (a $95,480 median), CT has no separate federal wage because it is counted within rad tech, and cross-training into more modalities is the surest way to raise your pay. Demand is growing 5 percent through 2035, the stipends work exactly as they do for nurses, and the best-paying market is the one where stipend cap, rent, and state tax line up in your favor. Compare every offer on take-home.

CircleRN gives rad techs the same tools as nurses: verified pay data, hospital reviews, a pay calculator, furnished housing from verified hosts, and open travel assignments. New to travel? Start with travel allied health jobs.

Sources

Primary and authoritative sources referenced in this guide:

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