The median advertised pay for a travel PCU (progressive care unit) contract in Massachusetts is $2,796 per week, with the middle half between $2,718 and $2,843. Measured across 7 active travel PCU 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 21 percent over the $2,310 national median for travel PCU 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 |
|---|---|
| Under $2,500 | 1 |
| $2,500 to $2,550 | 0 |
| $2,550 to $2,600 | 0 |
| $2,600 to $2,650 | 0 |
| $2,650 to $2,700 | 1 |
| $2,700 to $2,750 | 0 |
| $2,750 to $2,800 | 3 |
| $2,800 and up | 2 |
All 7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | 3 | $2,796 | $2,730/mo |
| Boston | 2 | $2,827 | $2,600/mo |
| Salem | 1 | $2,460 | $2,140/mo |
| Winchester | 1 | $2,673 | $2,620/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 PCU assignments in Massachusetts.
All 45 states with PCU openings