Advantis salary data Updated today · 838 open Physical Therapy jobs

Traveling Physical Therapist Salary

Median weekly · Physical Therapy
$2,126
Across 838 live contracts nationwide
Current weekly range
$1,220–$3,239
Where most open contracts land
Highest-paying state
Wisconsin
$2,637/wk median rate

A traveling physical therapist's pay is set by the week, and a lot feeds into that number. This page lays it out step by step. The current median across open Advantis Medical PT contracts is $2,126 a week. Below that, you'll see how rates spread out, which states offer the best value after rent, why demand for travel PTs keeps growing, and what makes up a weekly package. First contract or fifteenth, it's all here.

Pay intelligence

How much does a traveling physical therapist make

Medians hide the spread. This shows the full distribution of weekly pay across open Advantis physical therapy contracts, so the real width of the range is visible. Start with every open PT contract, then choose a state to focus on the markets where travel physical therapists are needed most.

Across all open contracts
<$1.6k $1.6–1.9k $1.9–2.2k $2.2–2.6k $2.6–2.9k $2.9k+
$2,126
Median weekly
$1,220–$3,239
Current range
Distribution of weekly pay across open Advantis physical therapy contracts, loaded from the live feed. Weekly marketplace contract value, not a staff therapist wage.
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The biggest lever

How travel physical therapist pay compares

The kind of work is the single biggest lever on a travel PT salary, ahead of the state on the listing. The work, the pace, and the credentialing differ enough that the same therapist can see a real pay swing just by changing where the next assignment is. Acute care and home health tend to pay at the top, skilled nursing and outpatient are the most common settings, and school-based work trades pay timing for a calendar with summers off.

Type Work pattern What shapes the rate
Acute care (hospital) Top of range High, credentialed Clinical complexity and hospital credentialing, plus a faster pace and higher acuity, push the weekly rate up.
Home health Top of range High Pay can lead the market, but visit productivity, mileage, territory, and documentation shape what the rate is really worth.
Inpatient rehab (IRF) Upper-mid Steady A required three hours of therapy a day and a higher-acuity caseload keep rates firm.
Skilled nursing (SNF) Mid, steady Highest volume The most common, generalist assignment type; caseload and productivity targets set the day.
Outpatient ortho Mid, steady Predictable Consistent schedules and an orthopedic caseload, which is where an OCS specialty fits best.
Schools and pediatrics Academic-year Seasonal Contracts track the school calendar, often with summers off, and reward pediatric experience.
Acute care (hospital) Top of range
Work pattern High, credentialed What shapes the rate Clinical complexity and hospital credentialing, plus a faster pace and higher acuity, push the weekly rate up.
Home health Top of range
Work pattern High What shapes the rate Pay can lead the market, but visit productivity, mileage, territory, and documentation shape what the rate is really worth.
Inpatient rehab (IRF) Upper-mid
Work pattern Steady What shapes the rate A required three hours of therapy a day and a higher-acuity caseload keep rates firm.
Skilled nursing (SNF) Mid, steady
Work pattern Highest volume What shapes the rate The most common, generalist assignment type; caseload and productivity targets set the day.
Outpatient ortho Mid, steady
Work pattern Predictable What shapes the rate Consistent schedules and an orthopedic caseload, which is where an OCS specialty fits best.
Schools and pediatrics Academic-year
Work pattern Seasonal What shapes the rate Contracts track the school calendar, often with summers off, and reward pediatric experience.
Relative pay tiers reflect 2026 physical therapy travel-market patterns, not a single live figure. The current median and range are shown at the top of the page.
What sets the rate

What affects a travel physical therapist salary

Clinical setting shapes a travel PT contract's weekly rate as much as anything, and the section further down outlines how pay tends to vary. After that comes market demand and location, because pay follows the places where rehab coverage is hardest to staff. The scheduled week is usually a fixed input, since most travel PT assignments run 40 hours across about a 13-week term, so caseload and productivity targets and contract length are what move the number from there. Credentials work at the margin. A board specialty such as the OCS shifts which contracts a therapist can take rather than the number on any one of them, moving them toward the acute and hospital-based work at the top of the range.

Why the demand holds

Why physical therapy demand keeps travel PT pay strong

Physical therapy demand is spread across more than one kind of workplace, which is exactly why travel PT contracts keep moving. PTs carry post-surgical recovery, orthopedic and neurologic rehab, mobility after a hospital stay, fall prevention, and long-term function, work that shows up in outpatient clinics, hospitals, home health, skilled nursing, and rehab units alike. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts about 267,200 physical therapist jobs in 2024 and projects the field to grow 11 percent through 2034, far above the 3 percent average for all occupations, with roughly 13,200 openings a year. A big part of that pull is demographic: 61.2 million Americans are now 65 or older, the group that leans most on rehab and mobility care, layered on top of rising chronic conditions and a shift toward non-opioid pain management. Supply is gated by a long credential path: every PT earns a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, passes the NPTE, and holds an active state license . For travelers, the PT Compact now links more than 30 states plus Washington, D.C., so a qualified therapist can add a member state in days rather than waiting on a full new license, and ABPTS board specialties such as the OCS or NCS open higher-acuity contracts. Broad, setting-spread demand on one side and a gated, credentialed supply on the other are what keep travel PT weekly rates firm.

Sources: physical therapist employment, projected growth, and openings, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Residents age 65 and older, U.S. Census Bureau. Licensure, APTA. PT Compact membership, FSBPT. Board specialties, ABPTS. Each figure verified against its primary source.
Compare states

Travel physical therapist salary by state

The same weekly rate supports very different lives in different states. This lines up the busiest travel PT markets on median weekly pay and, more usefully, on what is left each month after rent. The PT median and the after-rent value update straight from open contracts; tax, cost-of-living, and rent are reference data kept in the Advantis state master, refreshed only when the underlying source changes.

State Median pay/wk
California $2,599/wk up to 13.3% (graduated) 110.7 $2,599 $8,655
Texas $2,111/wk No 97.1 $1,517 $7,624
Florida $2,067/wk No 103.4 $1,935 $7,015
Arizona $2,388/wk 2.5% flat 100.7 $1,706 $8,634
Washington $2,392/wk No 107.0 $2,013 $8,344
North Carolina $1,982/wk 3.99% flat 94.3 $1,373 $7,209
Tennessee $1,854/wk No 91.9 $1,176 $6,852
California $2,599/wk
State tax up to 13.3% (graduated) COL (BEA) 110.7 2-BR rent $2,599 Pay value/mo $8,655
Texas $2,111/wk
State tax No COL (BEA) 97.1 2-BR rent $1,517 Pay value/mo $7,624
Florida $2,067/wk
State tax No COL (BEA) 103.4 2-BR rent $1,935 Pay value/mo $7,015
Arizona $2,388/wk
State tax 2.5% flat COL (BEA) 100.7 2-BR rent $1,706 Pay value/mo $8,634
Washington $2,392/wk
State tax No COL (BEA) 107.0 2-BR rent $2,013 Pay value/mo $8,344
North Carolina $1,982/wk
State tax 3.99% flat COL (BEA) 94.3 2-BR rent $1,373 Pay value/mo $7,209
Tennessee $1,854/wk
State tax No COL (BEA) 91.9 2-BR rent $1,176 Pay value/mo $6,852
About these numbers: each PT figure is the median weekly rate on open Advantis physical therapy contracts, used instead of an average so a few unusually high postings do not skew it.
What the number includes

How a Travel PT Weekly Rate Comes Together

The weekly number on a PT assignment is really three pieces rolled together: an hourly base, a weekly housing stipend, and a meal and incidentals allowance. Where PT pay diverges from nursing is the work model underneath it: home-health and skilled-nursing contracts often tie earnings to visit volume or a productivity target, and home health can add per-visit or mileage pay for territory, so the real total tracks caseload as much as the stipend split. Because the visit target and productivity expectation sit underneath the headline, what a travel PT week is really worth tracks the caseload as much as the stipend. The breakdown below lays those terms out alongside the stipend split.

Hourly base, the wage portion of the rate Housing stipend, a weekly housing allowance Meals & incidentals, a daily meals allowance
The exact split varies by contract and location.
Right now

Top-paying PT contracts open now

Right now these are the top weekly rates among open Advantis physical therapy contracts, drawn straight from the live feed. The lineup turns over as new assignments post and others fill, and because the highest rates tend to follow particular settings and harder-to-staff locations, what sits at the top can look different from one day to the next.

Physical Therapy · Templeton, CA
Days · 8 wks
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Physical Therapy · Santa Rosa, CA
Days · 13 wks
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Physical Therapy · Bakersfield, CA
Days · 8 wks
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Physical Therapy · Bakersfield, CA
Variable · 8 wks
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Physical Therapy · Lodi, CA
Days · 8 wks
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Physical Therapy · Quincy, CA
Days · 13 wks
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Physical Therapy · Napa, CA
Days · 13 wks
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Good to know

Traveling physical therapist salary questions, answered

What does a traveling physical therapist earn in a typical week?
Weekly pay on a traveling physical therapist contract moves with setting, caseload, and location, so there is no single fixed number. Advantis posts live weekly pay on every PT listing, and Advantis publishes the live median and range for open contracts. The most accurate average is that live median: because travel PT pay is a weekly contract rate rather than a salary, a yearly ballpark is simply the weekly figure carried across the weeks you expect to fill.
Is travel physical therapy salary just another name for travel PT salary?
Yes. PT is short for physical therapy, so a travel PT salary and a travel physical therapy salary point to the same weekly contract pay. The terms run interchangeably here, alongside traveling physical therapist salary. Whichever phrasing a posting uses, compare contracts on the weekly total and the setting, not the label. That keeps searches simple across all three phrasings.
Which setting pays travel PTs the most?
Acute care and home health usually sit at the top, with inpatient rehab close behind. Skilled nursing and outpatient pay a little less but are the most common, generalist settings. The setting table breaks down each one. Setting also predicts the caseload's pace, so the highest-paying environment is only the best one if the acuity suits you.
Do I need a license in every state to travel as a PT?
Not if you use the PT Compact. With an active home-state license in a member state, a qualified PT can buy a compact privilege in another member state in days. More than 30 states plus D.C. take part; non-member states still need a full license. Start the privilege purchase as soon as a market interests you; it is fast, but only after your home license verifies.
Can a new-grad PT travel?
Some agencies place newer PTs, often starting in skilled nursing or outpatient where caseloads are steadier, then opening up acute care and home health as experience builds. Those higher-acuity settings tend to pay more, so the range of work you can take widens over time. A focused first staff year in a high-volume setting shortens that runway considerably.
Will an OCS or NCS specialty raise your travel PT pay?
A specialty does not set the rate by itself. An OCS or NCS will not appear as a line item on the offer; what it does is open the door to the more specialized caseloads that command more, so the effect is on which contracts you can take rather than on any single rate. If you are already specialty-boarded, filter for the caseloads that use it; that is where the credential converts to dollars.
What can a travel physical therapist expect for a starting salary?
A first travel PT salary usually lands in the lower part of the live range. What lifts it is less about seniority than the contract itself: harder-to-staff locations and the more demanding settings pay toward the top, so the assignment drives the number. Flexibility on setting and market is what moves a first-year traveler up the range fastest.
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Traveling physical therapist pay & jobs

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