About this site: who publishes it and where its rates come from
TravelTherapyStipend.com explains the tax-free part of a travel therapy package, the housing and meals stipends and the federal per diem rates that cap them, and it is published by a travel therapy agency. Its rates come from GSA’s own data for the fiscal year, each rate names that year, and this page sets out who stands behind the site and what it does not do.
What is this site for?
It is for travelers reading an offer, travelers setting up a tax home, and anyone wondering why two contracts with the same weekly gross leave different take-home pay. The stipend calculator and the state pages give the federal lodging and meals rates for a place; the guides explain the housing stipend, meals and incidentals, how GSA sets its rates and how to check an offer against them.
If you are new, the start here page lists where to begin. This page is about who stands behind the site and how its rates are kept honest.
Who publishes it?
ProTherapy Staffing, a travel therapy agency, publishes this site, and it has been PT-owned and operated since 2012.
An agency sets the stipends on the offers it writes, so it is fair to ask why one publishes a guide to checking them. The answer the site gives is the rates themselves: they come from the federal government, not from the publisher, and the pages show you how to set any agency’s offer, the publisher’s included, against them.
What is this site not?
- It is not your stipend. A federal rate is a ceiling, not a promise. An agency can pay less than the rate, and a stipend above it is partly taxable, so only a written offer tells you what you will be paid.
- It does not decide whether your stipends are tax-free. The IRS rules do, and they turn on your own tax home and travel. The pages quote those rules; a tax professional can apply them to you.
- It does not cover every place. Alaska and Hawaii sit outside GSA’s tables for the continental states, so the calculator does not benchmark them.
- It carries no third-party ads or sponsored listings. The card at the foot of each page and the bar along the bottom of the screen are the publisher’s own, and both are labelled as coming from it.
If you want a real offer set out line by line, each stipend with its county and year, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.
Where do the rates come from, and how do they stay current?
The calculator and the state pages read the same stored copy of the per diem data that GSA publishes, with the standard rate wherever a county has no rate of its own. GSA says that rates for the coming federal fiscal year “are typically announced in mid-August.” Each state page names its main metro area from the Census Bureau’s population estimates and looks up that county’s rate.
Every GSA figure printed on a page names its fiscal year, because the whole schedule is replaced each year. A single setting names the year of the stored data, the pages that quote a rate are rewritten from that copy, and before the site is published a check recomputes each declared figure from it, so a page cannot quote last year’s rate beside this year’s.
The tax answers on the home page and the FAQ page quote the IRS travel expense publication word for word, including its rule to “use the rate in effect for the area where you stop for sleep or rest.” The housing and meals explainers are written guidance: where they and the calculator differ, trust the calculator and the GSA page it is drawn from.
Who do you contact about the site?
For a question about this site or a rate on it, call or text the business line shown on the publisher’s contact page, or use the form there.
To talk about a contract, use the “Find my next contract” link on this page; it asks your discipline and the states you want, and a recruiter takes it from there. Ask for each stipend line in writing, the county its rate is based on and the fiscal year of that rate. If you would rather watch postings first, the job alerts page sends new contracts in your discipline by email, daily or weekly as you choose.
Frequently asked questions
Who sets the rates on this site?
GSA does. The calculator and the state pages read GSA’s per diem data for the fiscal year, and each rate names that year.
Is a stipend at the federal rate always tax-free?
No. A stipend can be paid tax-free only while you keep a tax home and travel away from it, and only up to the federal rate for the place. Your own facts decide it, so check them with a tax professional.
Why are Alaska and Hawaii not in the calculator?
They sit outside GSA’s tables for the continental states, so the site does not benchmark them rather than borrow a rate that does not apply.
Sources
- GSA per diem rates, read October 26, 2026
- IRS Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, read October 26, 2026
- ProTherapy Staffing: For therapists, read October 26, 2026