Start here: housing and meals stipends, and the rates behind them
This site is for travel therapists who want to understand the tax-free part of their pay: the housing and meals stipends and the federal per diem rates that cap them. Look up the FY2027 rate for the county where you will sleep, then check your offer against it step by step.
Who is this site 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.
A housing stipend and a meals stipend can be paid tax-free only when you are traveling away from your tax home, and only up to the federal rate for the place. Which place is set out in IRS Publication 463: “For per diem amounts, use the rate in effect for the locality where you stop for sleep or rest.”
Where should you start?
- Stipend calculator: pick a state and metro area to see the weekly housing and meals amounts from GSA’s federal per diem rates.
- Stipends by state: the FY2027 lodging and meals rates for every state, with the rate for each state’s main metro area.
- How to check a stipend offer against the FY2027 rates: a newer guide that walks an offer through GSA’s rates for the county where you sleep, and through the IRS’s simplified two-rate method.
- Understanding GSA per diem rates: where the rates come from and how they set your stipend.
- Is your travel reimbursement taxable? A newer guide on when the travel money on a contract stays tax-free and when it becomes wages.
Assignments in Alaska or Hawaii follow different rules, and the Alaska and Hawaii guide explains where their federal rate comes from.
If you want an offer’s stipend lines set against the rate for the county where you will sleep, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.
What on this site comes from data, and what is written?
The calculator and the state pages read the same file: GSA’s FY2027 per diem rates, drawn from GSA’s per diem data service, with the standard rate wherever a county has no rate of its own. Each state page names its main metro area from the Census Bureau’s population estimates and looks up that county’s rate in the file. GSA’s per diem page says “A standard rate applies to most of CONUS,” and for FY2027 that standard rate is $113 a night for lodging and $68 a day for meals and incidentals.
The tax answers on the home page and the FAQ page quote IRS Publication 463 directly, and the health insurance page is filled in from a benefits fact file. The state pages also show open contracts in that state from the job feed, as of each page’s last update, and link the same state’s pages on the network’s other sites. The newer guides are generated from a data file that lists every source with the date it was read.
The housing and meals explainers and the tips on the home page are written guidance. When they disagree with a rate in the calculator, trust the calculator and the GSA page it is drawn from.
What should you check on an offer?
Four lines, in writing: the housing stipend and the county its rate comes from; the meals and incidentals stipend and the same county; the travel reimbursement and how it is paid; and the taxable hourly wage that sits beside them. Then set each stipend against the rate for the county where you will sleep, for the fiscal year the contract runs in.
A stipend below the rate is not wrong; an agency can pay less than the ceiling. A stipend above it is partly taxable. And an hourly wage that looks low beside generous stipends is worth a question, because the stipends stay tax-free only while you keep a tax home and travel away from it. The step-by-step check walks through each line.
How do you reach a recruiter?
Use the “Find my next contract” link on this page or the form at the foot of a guide. 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.
ProTherapy Staffing, which publishes this site, is owned and run by licensed physical therapists. If you would rather watch postings first, the job alerts page sends new contracts in your discipline, in one state or anywhere, by email daily or weekly as you choose.
Frequently asked questions
Which rate applies if I sleep in a different county from the facility?
The rate for the place where you sleep. IRS Publication 463 says to use the rate in effect for the locality where you stop for sleep or rest, so a rental in a neighboring county uses that county's rate, or the standard rate if it has none.
What is the standard rate for FY2027?
GSA's standard rate is $113 a night for lodging and $68 a day for meals and incidentals, for any county in the continental United States without a rate of its own.
Is a stipend above the federal rate still tax-free?
Only up to the federal rate. IRS Publication 463 says the excess allowance is included in your taxable wages, so a stipend set above the rate for your county is partly taxable.
Sources
- IRS Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, read October 25, 2026
- GSA per diem rates, read October 25, 2026