Travel Surgical Tech Salary, “Total Value” & Career Opportunities

August 22, 2024 | Allied Healthcare

Summary

  • Travel surgical technicians can explore new locations while earning a competitive salary that includes base pay, tax-free per diems for housing and meals, and opportunities for higher-paying assignments in high-demand regions.
  • Travel surgical techs have the flexibility to prioritize what matters most, whether it’s higher pay or a preferred location, with the ability to easily filter job searches and receive guidance from recruiters.
  • It’s crucial to consider the “Total Value” of assignments, which includes not just pay but also benefits, relocation costs, and agency support—key factors in sustaining a successful travel surgical tech career.
  • Aya Healthcare provides travel surgical techs with the largest job network in the industry, offering diverse opportunities with real-time job updates to help professionals achieve their personal and professional goals.

Table of Contents

  1. Maximizing Total Assignment Value
  2. Access to Ongoing Opportunities

Travel surgical technicians enjoy a unique opportunity to not only explore new places, but also earn a competitive salary. As you begin your journey as a traveler, it’s important that you have an understanding of how travel surgical tech pay works. Let’s break it down. First, you’ll receive your base pay, which varies depending on factors such as location, facility and shift.

Additionally, you may be eligible for tax-free housing and meal/incident per diems. The per diems are to provide reimbursement for expenses incurred while traveling away from home for an assignment. With the flexibility to choose when and where you work, travel surgical techs can take advantage of higher-paying salary opportunities in regions with higher demand, allowing you to maximize your earning potential while satisfying a desire to explore and diversify your clinical and life experiences!

As mentioned, your traveling surgical tech salary range will depend on a variety of factors. One of the best things about being a travel surgical tech is that you get to decide what’s important to you!

If you’re looking for the highest-paying surgical tech opportunities, you can sort by pay when searching for jobs in your Aya account. If location is more important to you, narrow your search by city or state. Your recruiter can provide all the details once you find a job you’re interested in.

Maximizing Total Assignment Value

When thinking about your travel surgical tech career path, it’s important to look beyond just the paycheck. While compensation is a large factor for any job, it’s useful to frame your assignment with the “Total Value” in mind. Let’s break this down.

When considering potential assignments, on the surface it’s easy to get fixated on the weekly compensation numbers, but it’s important to remember there’s a great deal of value beyond pay. Some agencies or job boards may try to catch your eye with higher pay rates, but often cut value in other areas.

Things to consider when evaluating assignments include benefits, relocation costs (including cost of living) and agency support while on location. These factors make a huge difference in improving your experience, offsetting costs and contributing to your ability to sustain a career as a travel surgical tech.

So, as you weigh your options, remember that transparency and support go a long way. You’re not just filling a role — you’re partnering with an agency that values your expertise and is committed to your success every step of the way.

Search Travel Surgical Tech Jobs Now

Access to Ongoing Opportunities

In addition to compensation, benefits and the freedom to choose when and where you work, one of the most important things you’ll need in your travel surgical tech career is access to jobs. Particularly in the allied health field, it can be hard to find an agency that has the job network and relationships you need to find the assignment you want. That’s where Aya comes in.

Whether you’re looking for surgical tech jobs near you or seeking the adventure of travel assignments, Aya offers diverse opportunities to help you reach your personal and professional goals. Aya has the most jobs in the industry, and job details are updated in real time, which means you can rely on the accuracy of information you see.

If you’re ready to start on your travel surg tech journey, register now to search all jobs and express interest with one click.

Profile of Zac Shepherd, RN

A lifelong commitment to healthcare defines Zac. From accompanying his father on hospital rounds as a child to working as an MA and phlebotomist in a clinic as a teenager and working in care homes for the intellectually disabled throughout college, healthcare has always been his passion. That passion led Zac to nursing, where he’s dedicated the past 11 years of his career to direct patient care as a bedside nurse in the ICU specialty. After spending the first five years of his nursing career as a staff RN in an ICU in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, Zac transitioned to travel nursing. He has since traveled across the US as an ICU nurse, completing nearly 30 assignments in over 20 hospitals.

During the pandemic, Zac worked on the frontlines in the most heavily affected areas across the US and began writing and sharing some of his experiences. Through a chance connection, a piece he wrote that began as a social media post ended up being published as an op-ed in a nationally syndicated news publication. That began a journey into more writing and clinician advocacy that led him to where he is today.

Starting in August of 2023, Zac joined Aya as a Nurse Fellow. In this role, he helps enhance the clinician experience by creating content and practical resources for clinicians and representing the nursing voice.

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