A hospital typically pays a staffing agency $65 to $120 per hour for a contract clinician, depending on discipline, state and urgency. Of that bill rate, roughly 55–70% goes to the clinician as wages and stipends, and 30–45% covers the agency’s employment burden, insurance, overhead and margin. Markup over base wage generally runs 40–60%. Nobody in this industry publishes these numbers. We think that is the wrong instinct, so here they are.
The bill rate is a single hourly number that covers everything, which is why it looks high next to a staff wage. It is not comparable to a salaried employee’s hourly rate, because a salaried employee’s true cost to you is also not their hourly rate.
Travel RTs currently see gross weekly packages between roughly $2,300 and $3,600, which lands around $60–$70 per hour in total clinician compensation. Apply standard structure and the facility bill rate typically falls in the $85–$115 per hour range, higher for ECMO, neonatal and critical care credentials, and higher again in states where licensure takes months and supply cannot move quickly.
Travel imaging assignments generally run $2,000 to $3,500 per week in clinician compensation. Bill rates commonly land $80–$120 per hour. CT and MRI sit at the top of that band right now because vacancy rates in those modalities have reached record highs — and because an unstaffed scanner costs a facility considerably more per hour than the technologist does.
Locum hospitalists are typically paid $150–$200 per hour, averaging near $158, or roughly $1,800 per day. Facility cost sits above that once malpractice, licensure, credentialing, privileging and travel are included. Locums is quoted per day or per shift more often than per hour, and the rate moves sharply with notice period — a shift you need next week is not priced like a rotation you booked in March.
Five things move a rate more than anything else.
Usually, if the role is genuinely permanent. Contingent permanent placement is charged as a percentage of first-year base salary, invoiced when the hire starts, with a replacement guarantee. You pay once. Contract staffing costs more per hour but carries no long-term commitment, which is the right trade when the need is temporary or the budget is not approved for an FTE.
The expensive mistake is using contract labor for eighteen months to cover a role that was always permanent. If we see that, we will say so — even though the contract is worth more to us.
Contract and per diem are billed at an hourly bill rate quoted per role, in writing, before we begin. Permanent placement is contingent: a percentage of first-year base, invoiced on start, with a replacement guarantee. Locums is quoted per day or per shift.
We do not charge retainers on contingent work, and we do not invoice for a search that does not produce a hire.
The realistic fill window for that credential in that state, the current market rate, and whether we think you actually need contract, permanent or neither. If the honest answer is that the role is fillable directly and does not warrant an agency fee, we would rather say that and keep the relationship.
Ranges reflect the national market as of 2026 and move with season, region and acuity. For a rate on a specific role in a specific state, ask us and we will quote it.
Tell us the credential, the state and the start date. We will come back with a real rate and a realistic fill window, before you commit to anything.