As it is the time of the year in which the winter new grad therapists are taking (and passing!) their boards, I feel that it’s the perfect time to again share how beneficial traveling right out of school can be for paying back your loans, building your net worth, improving your skills, and seeing the country.
Every year I put together my financial summary which is a post that I create outlining my financial growth for the year. And every year I am astonished by how much traveling therapy has affected my ability to maximize my income as a new practitioner. In just 2 years of traveling therapy, I have been able to grow my net worth to $125,000 while working on paying back my loans.
Barriers to Traveling Therapy
There is absolutely nothing wrong with getting a full-time permanent job when you get out of PT school. You want to get established, begin building your following, and getting into a flow. But I promise that all of those things will still be waiting for you whether you decide to travel for a few assignments or not.
Another common barrier to traveling therapy is that it’s scary. As a new grad when you think about traveling immediately out of school you get anxiety, but I’m here to tell you that if you are confident enough to begin working full time, then you are confident enough for traveling therapy. You’ve had the schooling and you’ve had the clinicals, you can do this.
Plus, each contract you take, you’ll still have an orientation, build a caseload, and have to meet new colleagues and patients just as you would if you were starting a permanent job. It’s more similar than what others will lead you to believe.
And if you are worried about the mentorship that some jobs claim to offer, I am here to tell you that there are more than enough resources nowadays to be your own mentor or find/receive mentorship from a distance. Rather than your assigned mentor who just asks “how are things going?” every 2 weeks because they are too busy to take the time to truly mentor you.
As a new grad these days, we are already being severely undervalued and underpaid as doctorate students out of school. Starting new grad salaries are as low as mid $50,000 in some areas of the country…which is insulting given our education level.
Why not maximize your income potential while gaining experience before coming back to the same full-time permanent work that will always be there. Then, when you return, you’ll be able to negotiate a much higher starting salary at a perm position because you have the experience to do so. Thereby setting yourself up for even better raises in the future.
And if you don’t believe me, believe the math…
Starting New Grad Salary
According to Zip Recruiter, the annual salary for a new grad PT is $63,339. While this appears to be a little low, it is consistent with some areas that I have worked. During a few of my assignments in Boston, the starting annual salary was $56,000… But for arguments sake, let’s use a range from $56,000 to $70,000.
However, to truly compare a permanent position to a traveling position, you need to look at the take home pay since one of the main benefits of traveling PT are the tax free stipends.
Again to give a range, let’s look at the take home pay from the high end (no state income tax) and the low end (high state income tax/California).
- Low End New Grad Income: $56,000
- Take Home Pay No State Income Tax: $46,222
- Take Home Pay High State Income Tax: $44,184
- High End New Grad Income: $70,000
- Take Home Pay No State Income Tax: $56,071
- Take Home Pay High State Income Tax: $52,814
Range in Annual Take Home Pay: $44,184 – $56,071
*Income tax calculated using smartasset.com
Normal Traveler Salary
According to Zip Recruiter, the average annual traveling PT salary is around $94,583 but because this average doesn’t break down taxed vs untaxed pay I am going to use one of my previous contracts for the example since I know these numbers and it is fairly close to this average. And remember, this is outpatient therapy. If you choose to work in a SNF or home health setting then these numbers could potentially increase.
- Traveling Therapist Income: $96,824
- Take Home Pay No State Income Tax: $92,351
- Take Home Pay High State Income Tax: $91,790
Average Annual Take Home Pay: $91,790
Difference
At face value that’s a potential difference at a high end of $48,167 and a low end of $35,719 of take home pay per year…On the high end, that is doubling your take home income in the year…
That’s roughly a 60% to over a 100% increase in take home pay, whatever way you slice it.
60 – 100% increase in pay just for doing the same job just a little bit differently!
This income like all incomes can vary between people and there are outliers. So yes, there are people who come out of school and negotiate a higher contract than normal and there are people who start traveling and get taken advantage of by not knowing the process (like I did).
But in general, erroring on the conservative side, you should expect at least a 50% increase in pay as a new grad physical therapist if you start your career traveling. With the potential to make over 100% as much. Imagine the advantage that gives you to pay back your student loans or begin growing your net worth!
Conclusion
One of the reasons I started this blog was to help others to maximize their own income and to help them to avoid the same traveling mistakes that I made. My first traveling assignment, my recruiter took advantage of me being very ignorant to the career choice and I made wayyy less than I have ever seen offered to another therapist.
It was still more than I made at my full time permanent position but it was still a slap in the face based on what I know now.
This was my own fault for not seeking out the information about how much I should have been making or learning the correct questions questions I should have been asking my recruiter. But hindsight is 20/20 and at the time I didn’t know who to trust.
So my goal for this blog is to continue to educate others about an often scary career choice coming out of school. So that we can hopefully maximize our money now, to ultimately avoid the burnout later that many therapists are experiencing.
And think about it
What’s the worst thing that can happen by attempting traveling therapy? You don’t like it and you have to go get a normal job just like everybody else…
Let that sink in..
I altered it a bit, but I love that quote by Joel of FI 180
If you have any questions feel free to comment below or if have any specific questions for me about getting started, feel free to email me directly at:
Or if you want to read more about other benefits or concerns other travelers commonly have feel free to check out my page on traveling healthcare to learn more.
