I’m Kayla. I carry my lead apron like a suitcase. I chase sunsets, coffee, and good PACS. And yes, I chase pay. Folks ask me all the time, “So what’s the pay like?” Here’s the thing. It can be great. It can also be messy. Both can be true.
I’ll share real numbers from my own jobs. City by city. Week by week. For the cliff-notes version, you can jump straight to my detailed travel radiology tech salary breakdown.
How the money usually breaks down
Let me explain how travel pay works for me:
- Taxable hourly pay: the part the IRS sees.
- Stipends: housing and meals. These are tax-free if I keep a tax home.
- Overtime: time-and-a-half on the taxable rate.
- Call and call-back: extra pay for standby and when I get pulled in.
- Travel, license, scrubs: sometimes paid. Sometimes not.
One more note. “36 hours” vs “40 hours” matters. Overtime after 36 is rare. Overtime after 40 is more common. Read the fine print. Ask for it in writing.
Phoenix, AZ: level 1 hustle, sun on my face
This was a 13-week gig. Nights. Trauma heavy. Lots of portables and fluoro. GE room. Clean department. Good lead.
- Weekly pay: about $2,650 gross.
- Taxable: $24/hr x 36 hours = $864.
- Housing: $900/week.
- Meals: $550/week.
- Call: $4/hour standby. $60 per call-back, 2-hour min.
My take-home ran about $2,100 to $2,250 a week. Taxes hit only the $864 plus any OT. Rent was cheap. I found a casita for $1,300/month and kept some stipend. I ate tacos after shifts and slept like a rock. Busy, but fair.
Boston, MA: teaching hospital, high rent, smart team
This one stretched me. Teaching cases. A lot of post-op checks. Siemens room. PACS went down one night, and we worked old-school. It bonded us.
- Weekly pay: around $3,050 gross.
- Taxable: $28/hr x 40 hours = $1,120.
- Housing: $1,300/week.
- Meals: $630/week.
- Parking: $35/week (out of pocket).
- Holidays: double-time on taxable hours.
Take-home was about $2,400. Sounds great, right? But rent was wild. I grabbed a tiny studio for $2,000/month. I still came out ahead, but not by a mile. The unit was strong though. Charge tech was kind. We learned a ton. That stuff counts too.
Rural Kansas: tiny team, heavy call, big weeks
Critical access. One x-ray room. Portables that squeaked. I was the night, the day, and the weekend, some weeks. You know what? I liked the pace. Patients were kind. I brought snacks for the nurses. They fed me back.
- Base weekly pay: about $2,200 gross.
- Taxable: $20/hr x 40 hours = $800.
- Housing: $900/week.
- Meals: $500/week.
- Call: $3/hour standby. Call-back at $45/hour, 2-hour min.
But here’s the swing. I often hit 60 hours with call-backs. Overtime at $30/hr (time-and-a-half on $20). Those weeks hit $3,000 to $3,300 gross. Take-home? $2,300 to $2,600. Then I’d crash on Sunday with a big bowl of chili. Worth it? For me, yes. For every tech? Maybe not.
Bay Area, CA: big pay, big bills
Beautiful coast. Wild traffic. We used Philips and did a lot of pain fluoro. I wore black scrubs and carried a badge for three different labs. Good team. Pricy life.
- Weekly pay: about $3,400 gross.
- Taxable: $30/hr x 36 hours = $1,080.
- Housing: $1,500/week.
- Meals: $800/week.
- Tolls and parking: $60 to $80/week (mine).
Take-home was around $2,700. But rent? I shared a place. My room was $1,800/month. If I had taken a solo studio, I’d be broke. Shift diff helped, but state tax did bite. Still, the sunsets on the bridge? Kinda made it feel okay.
Florida (winter): snowbirds, steady volume
This was a 12-week run near the coast. Day shift. A lot of chest x-rays and ortho. Steady pace. Nice team. Sand in my shoes.
- Weekly pay: about $2,500 gross.
- Taxable: $22/hr x 40 hours = $880.
- Housing: $1,050/week.
- Meals: $570/week.
- Call: light; about $50 per call-back.
Take-home hit around $2,000. Rent was mid-range. I found a clean one-bedroom for $1,600/month and covered the rest with stipend. On days off, I read on the beach. I used SPF like it was my job.
Quick math for the year
People ask, “What’s the yearly number?” It shifts. Here’s my simple math from a “typical” year for me:
- Average weekly pay: about $2,600 gross.
- Weeks worked: 48 (I take breaks between gigs).
- Gross pay: about $124,800.
- Take-home after taxes: my average was $2,000 to $2,200 per week, so about $96,000 to $105,000.
But remember: a big slice is tax-free stipends. Your W-2 shows the taxable part. That can confuse lenders when you want a mortgage. I kept pay stubs and letters from my agency to help.
If you want to stack these travel numbers against what full-time staff radiologic technologists are reporting nationwide, the American Society of Radiologic Technologists just released a comprehensive study—you can download the latest 2024 Radiologic Technologist Wage and Salary Survey here.
What made pay go up (or down)
- Nights paid more than days. Evenings helped too.
- CT cross-training boosted my offers. MRI helped even more.
- 48-hour contracts paid more but drained my soul.
- Big cities paid high, but housing ate the win.
- Rural jobs paid less on paper, but heavy call brought big checks.
- Winter in warm states stayed busy. Summer near beaches too.
- Extensions sometimes added a $500 to $2,000 bonus. I always asked.
Agencies and little things that add up
I’ve used Aya, Triage, and AMN. Recruiters matter. Some got me great rates. Some… didn’t. I always asked for the pay breakdown:
- Bill rate vs my taxable vs stipends.
- Guaranteed hours (36 or 40). Cancel pay if they low-census me.
- Overtime rules. After 36 or 40?
- Call standby rate and call-back min.
- Holiday pay rate. Which days count?
- Housing stipend vs company housing. I like taking the stipend unless it’s a tight market.
For another perspective straight from a big-name staffing company, AMN Healthcare offers a helpful overview of current radiology travel jobs and salary trends.
Licenses and CEUs? Often reimbursed. I saved every receipt. Little wins stack up.
Lessons I learned the hard way
- Get everything in the contract. Verbal promises vanish fast.
- Budget for gaps. Compliance can delay a start date.
- Bring your own lead if you like a certain fit. My back says thanks.
- Ask about scrub color. I’ve shown up in the wrong shade of blue. Oops.
- Track mileage and parking. It leaks cash.
- Keep your tax home if you want tax-free stipends. I talk to a tax pro each year. Worth it.
Curious how the numbers stack up in other modalities? Check out this honest take on travel dialysis tech jobs, read what a colleague shared about life as a travel pharmacy technician, and see what she learned on the road as a pharmacy tech. If you’re more into veins and vacutainers, here’s what it’s really like as a travel phlebotomist. Nurses? You’re covered too—peep this real-deal review of LPN travel jobs. And for the multitasking clinic warriors, there’s [my real take on life as a travel medical assistant](https://www.validtravel.com/i-tried-life