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Quick outline

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  • Why I took travel ultrasound work
  • What I actually made on real contracts
  • How the pay is built (plain words)
  • Things that raise or lower pay
  • Sneaky costs that eat your check
  • Seasons and places that pay more
  • My go-to tools and simple tips
  • Final take

My road note on pay

I’m Kayla, an RDMS sonographer who went travel when my clinic cut hours. I was scared. Then I saw my first weekly check, and my jaw dropped a little. Not rich, but better. Also messy. Travel pay looks big on paper, but life takes bites. Let me explain. If you’re reading this from another modality—say X-ray—you’ll find this breakdown of a travel radiology tech salary eye-opening because the big-versus-real pay story is strikingly similar.

What I really made (real contracts, real numbers)

These are from my last two years. All were 36–40 hours, 13 weeks, W-2 through an agency. I carried general and vascular; some echo help.

  • Dallas, TX (spring)

    • Base: $36/hour taxed x 36 hours = $1,296 taxed
    • Housing: $1,050/week tax-free
    • Meals: $413/week tax-free
    • All-in: about $2,759/week
    • Take-home after taxes: about $2,350/week
    • Notes: Days. Light call. Free parking. Cheap tacos saved me.

  • Seattle, WA (summer, nights)

    • Base: $45/hour taxed x 40 hours = $1,800 taxed
    • Housing: $1,450/week tax-free
    • Meals: $420/week tax-free
    • All-in: about $3,670/week
    • Take-home: about $3,050/week
    • Notes: Nights paid more. Parking was $22/day. Ouch.

  • Rural Montana (winter fill-in)

    • Base: $38/hour taxed x 36 hours = $1,368 taxed
    • Housing: Agency-paid apartment (no stipend). I still got $280/week meals tax-free
    • Call: $4/hour standby, $60 per call-back; I averaged $300 extra/week
    • All-in: about $1,948/week plus call, so near $2,250/week
    • Notes: Snow, snow, snow. Less pay, but slow life felt good.

  • San Jose, CA (spring, heavy OB + vascular)

    • Base: $50/hour taxed x 40 hours = $2,000 taxed
    • Housing: $1,700/week tax-free
    • Meals: $490/week tax-free
    • All-in: about $4,190/week
    • Take-home: about $3,400/week
    • Notes: High pay, but a burrito was $15. I miss that burrito though.

  • Boston, MA (fall, days + call)

    • Base: $42/hour taxed x 36 hours = $1,512 taxed
    • Housing: $1,300/week tax-free
    • Meals: $385/week tax-free
    • Call: about $180/week average
    • All-in: around $3,377/week
    • Take-home: about $2,800/week
    • Notes: I paid $28 for parking once. I still sigh.

You’ll see a theme. My weekly pay ranged from about $2,200 to $4,200 all-in. Most weeks fell near $2,600–$3,400. Nights, California, and big cities pushed it up. Rural or agency housing brought it down a bit.
For a deeper dive into current travel sonography rates by city, you can check the free pay calculator at ValidTravel. Another resource I lean on is the interactive travel sonographer salary estimator at SalarySolver, which lets you plug in location and shift details to see how your numbers stack up.

How the money is built (plain words)

Travel pay has two buckets:

  • Taxed hourly pay: this is your base rate (like $36–$50/hour). Taxes hit this.
  • Tax-free stipends: money for housing and meals. This is tax-free if you have a real “tax home” and you’re far enough away.

Blended rate is the buzzword. It means the whole pile (hourly + stipends) spread over your hours. So “$80/hour blended” might be $38/hour taxed plus $1,400/week tax-free divided by 36 hours. Sounds fancy. It’s just math. For quick snapshots of what staff and travel ultrasound techs are averaging this year, the running ultrasound tech salary data page from Nomad Health is also worth a bookmark.

What bumps pay up (and what drags it down)

Up:

  • Nights, weekends, and call. Nights added $300–$600/week for me.
  • High-cost cities (Seattle, Bay Area, Boston).
  • Short notice starts. One job gave me a $500 start bonus.
  • Extra skills. My RVT raised offers by $3–$5/hour.

Down:

  • Agency-provided housing. Nice and simple, but you lose the housing cash.
  • Canceled hours. If “guaranteed hours” isn’t in writing, you can get cut.
  • Parking, tolls, and long commutes. Death by a thousand swipes.
  • Holiday gaps. If the unit is slow, those hours vanish.

Dialysis units, for example, often spike rates when census jumps—this candid write-up on travel dialysis tech jobs shows the same “last-minute premium” in action.

Little costs that bite

  • Licenses and CEUs. My last state license was $150. It adds up.
  • Scrubs and shoes. My feet demand good shoes. My wallet groans.
  • Travel there and back. Gas, flights, checked bags, pet fees.
  • Furnished places. Furnished Finder is great, but deposits can be steep.
  • Taxes later. Even with stipends, your taxed wages can nudge your bracket.

You know what? A cheap coffee maker saved me more than I like to admit. My pharmacist friends feel these sneaky expenses too; one broke it all down as a real-life travel pharmacy technician, and our numbers match up more than you’d think.

Seasons and places that swing pay

Pay moves with weather and need. Winter up north paid me more (staff call out, roads ice). Summer in beach towns? Cute, but lower. Big teaching hospitals often pay steady. Small rural sites may pay less base but throw you call money and sweet staff snacks. I’m not kidding—the cookies were elite. Even a travel phlebotomist will tell you the cookie-to-pay ratio matters.

The agency piece (quick and real)

I’ve worked with Aya, Cross Country Allied, and Fusion. Good recruiters matter. A fast one got me Seattle in two days. Always ask:

  • What’s the taxed rate? What are the weekly stipends?
  • How many guaranteed hours? Cancel policy?
  • Call pay details? Holiday rate?
  • Parking help? Any start or extension bonus?

If they dodge, I pass. Simple as that.

My tools and tiny tricks

  • Furnished Finder for housing. I message hosts early and polite.
  • GSA per diem pages to check if stipends look fair for the city.
  • GasBuddy for road trips and, yes, snack math.
  • A simple budget app. I use Mint and a chunky spreadsheet.
  • Keep receipts the first week. You’ll spot money leaks fast.
  • If you snag a contract in Orange County (think Hoag or CHOC) and you’re curious about the after-hours scene, the hyper-local directory at AdultLook Irvine can help you quickly vet reputable options and make the most of those rare nights off without wasting time on trial-and-error wandering.

While road life can be exciting, it can also get lonely between shifts and new cities; on quiet nights I’ll pop into the browser-based chat rooms at GayChat.io to swap city tips with other LGBTQ+ travelers and unwind without the hassle of sign-ups—free, instant conversation that makes the miles feel shorter.

I borrowed that receipt-tracking habit from a friend who shared what she learned as a travel pharmacy tech on the road.

So… is travel sonography pay worth it?

For me, yes. Not every week was huge. But most were strong. I paid off a card, saw three new states, and learned to love night shift podcasts. I had one rough contract with low hours. I had one great one with a view of Mount Rainier. The money felt fair for the miles I put on my car and my back.

If you’re thinking about it, try one 13-week contract. Ask

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