The median advertised pay for a travel PACU (post-anesthesia care unit) contract in Massachusetts is $2,498 per week, with the middle half between $2,498 and $2,780. Measured across 5 active travel PACU contracts in Massachusetts at 4 facilities, as of 2026-10-31.
Advertised weekly totals before tax, usually including tax-free stipends; for almost all postings the top of an advertised range. Not take-home.
That is 2 percent over the $2,455 national median for travel PACU contracts.
Massachusetts has enacted the Nurse Licensure Compact but has not implemented it, so a multistate license does not cover you here yet. You need a Massachusetts license. The compact state list explains which states issue one, and the compact checker tells you whether yours covers you here.
| Weekly rate | Open contracts |
|---|---|
| $2,400 to $2,500 | 3 |
| $2,500 to $2,600 | 0 |
| $2,600 to $2,700 | 0 |
| $2,700 to $2,800 | 1 |
| $2,800 to $2,900 | 0 |
| $2,900 to $3,000 | 1 |
All 5 open contracts, banded by advertised weekly rate. The outer bands are open-ended so nothing falls outside the chart.
Massachusetts has the 7th highest price level of the 51 states and territories the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures: 6 percent over the national average overall. The premium is concentrated in housing, at 28 percent over, while goods sit 1 percent under and services 3 percent over. That matters more than the headline number, because housing is the part a tax-free stipend is meant to cover and the rest comes out of taxed wages.
| Metro | Open contracts | Median weekly | Rent, 1 bed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston | 3 | $2,498 | $2,600/mo |
| Fall River | 1 | $2,928 | $1,260/mo |
| Worcester | 1 | $2,780 | $1,400/mo |
Rent is the one-bedroom Fair Market Rent HUD publishes for that metro, which is what a housing stipend is trying to cover. The open-contract count beside each metro is the sample its median rests on, and outside the largest markets that sample is small: a median over one or two contracts is a single posting's rate rather than a market rate, so read the count first.
Browse the board for current PACU assignments in Massachusetts.
All 33 states with PACU openings