Travel Nurse Pay in Vermont (2026)

Key numbers at a glance

Travel nurse pay in Vermont: the numbers

The staff baseline is the surprise. Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), Vermont employs just 7,410 registered nurses — one of the smallest RN workforces in the country — yet pays a median of $46.86 an hour, $97,460 a year, with a mean of $96,650. That median sits essentially on top of the national $97,550. Scarcity does that: one academic anchor (the University of Vermont Medical Center), an aging rural population spread across critical-access hospitals, and a thin labor pool keep wages at big-state levels despite the small-state market.

Read the travel band as hedged context: a rural critical-access hospital's med-surg opening can quote below it, while Burlington ICU, L&D or periop contracts can clear above it, and winter coverage gaps in the mountains occasionally produce sharp spikes. The tax row is the drag: Vermont's graduated individual income tax runs from 3.35% to a top rate of 8.75%, per the Vermont Department of Taxes and the Tax Foundation — among the highest top marginal rates in the nation. Nonresidents generally owe Vermont tax on Vermont-earned wages, with a credit typically available in the home state; model both sides before signing.

Licensing used to be Vermont's friction point; it is not anymore. Vermont implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on February 1, 2022, per NCSBN, becoming the 36th member state — a multistate license now covers you there. The border caveat matters, though: New York, just across Lake Champlain, is not a compact state, and many Northeast travelers hold NY licenses. Vermont's contracts concentrate in Burlington (UVM Medical Center), with community and critical-access needs in Rutland, Berlin, Brattleboro and the Northeast Kingdom, where the deepest staffing gaps — and the best premiums — tend to surface. See the regional picture on the travel nurse pay by state hub.

How stipends change the math in Vermont

With an 8.75% top tax rate, the taxable/tax-free split matters more in Vermont than almost anywhere. Housing and meal stipends are tax-free only while you maintain a valid tax home and duplicated living expenses, capped by the GSA per diem tables for the assignment city — and Burlington's GSA lodging maximum is modest by big-city standards. Every dollar shifted from taxable wage into compliant stipend escapes both the 8.75% state bite and FICA. That makes the stipend split, not the gross quote, the number to negotiate in this state.

An illustrative Burlington contract: $23 an hour taxable times 36 guaranteed hours is $828 of weekly taxable gross. Federal income tax runs about $60 a week for a single filer after the standard deduction, FICA about $63, and Vermont income tax roughly $72 at the top rate. That leaves about $632 net from the taxable side. Add $1,500 housing plus $400 meals and incidentals — untaxed with a valid tax home — and weekly take-home is roughly $2,530, a blended rate near $70 an hour. Thirteen weeks lands around $32,900. Run your own offer through the take-home pay calculator; this is an estimate, not tax advice.

Notice what just happened: Vermont's state tax took about $72 a week while the stipends added $1,900 untaxed. The lesson generalizes — in high-tax states, a lopsided stipend split is worth real money, and an offer with a suspiciously high taxable wage and thin stipends is quietly expensive. Keep the duplicated-expense paper trail intact, because Vermont is exactly the kind of state where an aggressive split gets scrutiny. Compare any two offers after-tax with the contract comparison calculator or the blended rate calculator, settle the housing question before you sign, and walk the first assignment checklist if this is your debut contract.