ICU Travel Nurse Pay in Seattle, WA (2026): What a $2,132 Week Actually Nets

Search “ICU travel nurse pay Seattle” and the first number you’ll meet may not even agree with the listings underneath it. Vivian’s Seattle ICU travel page (last updated 30 September 2026, per the page) reports an average of $2,132/week across 271 open jobs. The same page’s listed range runs from $2,398 to $3,283/week. The average sits below the cheapest listing in the range it displays.

That isn’t an error so much as a clue about what these figures are. The average is a statistic across a wide pool of postings; the “range” is the slice of listings the page chooses to surface. Neither is a take-home number, and neither tells you how the money is split between taxable wages and tax-free stipends.

This guide explains how to read the Seattle figures, what the government-published stipend ceiling for Seattle is, and how to turn one specific offer into a real weekly number.

What the Seattle Listings Are Actually Showing

(Figures read 1 October 2026. Listings change hourly; check the source for today’s numbers. These are Vivian’s published figures, not TravelNurseCalc data.)

Two details matter for any comparison:

1. Hours differ. The top listing is 4×12 (48 hours a week). Most ICU travel contracts are written at 3×12 (36 hours). Under the usual federal weekly rule, a 48-hour week includes 8 hours past the 40-hour threshold (a contract can set a lower or daily threshold, so check the offer), and it simply contains 12 more paid hours than a 36-hour week, so setting it next to a 36-hour offer overstates the gap between them. Compare per-hour taxable rate and hours, not the weekly headline.
2. Every figure is gross. None of these breaks out taxable wages versus stipend, and that split drives both your overtime rate (calculated on the taxable portion) and your tax. See Blended Rate vs. Taxable Rate for the mechanics.

Our own Seattle city guide carries an editorial estimate for the city. It is not measured from job postings or contract data, so treat it as a starting point for the calculator, not as a market survey. Our methodology page states plainly which figures are sourced and which are ours.

The Government-Sourced Number: Seattle’s GSA Stipend Ceiling

One input to a Seattle offer is published by the federal government: the GSA per diem for King County. For fiscal year 2027, effective 1 October 2026:

• Lodging: $188/night from November through May; $255/night from June through October
• Meals & Incidental Expenses (M&IE): $92/day
• Weekly housing ceiling (lodging × 7): $1,316 (Nov–May) or $1,785 (Jun–Oct)
• Weekly M&IE (× 7): $644 all year
• Combined weekly per diem ceiling: $1,960 (Nov–May) or $2,429 (Jun–Oct)

The seasonal swing is $469 a week on the combined figure, all of it in lodging. Three things follow.

First, compare like with like. A housing stipend belongs against the lodging ceiling ($1,316 in winter, $1,785 in summer), not against the combined $1,960/$2,429 — that larger number only applies when meals and incidentals are being paid as well. Checking a housing-only stipend against the combined figure would clear a stipend that is hundreds a week over the lodging cap.

Second, the winter rate is the one that bites. A stipend comfortably under the summer ceiling can exceed the November–May ceiling, so a contract that starts in autumn is where an offer is most likely to be tested.

Third, the ceiling is a cap, not a typical stipend. It is the most an accountable-plan stipend can pay a nurse with a valid tax home before the excess is treated as taxable wages. Most real packages stipend well under it. Check any specific figure against the month-specific rate on GSA’s own per diem lookup; the GSA Rate Explorer lists each city’s annual maximum nightly lodging rate — $255 for Seattle, the June–October figure — so it reflects the summer peak and should not be used to clear a November–May offer.

Housing is the other side of the stipend question. Our editorial rent estimates for Seattle (about $2,100/month for a one-bedroom) are not measured data either, so check current listings for your actual dates before deciding whether a stipend covers housing.

Worked Example: Two $2,132 Packages, Two Different Paychecks

To show why the split matters, take the Vivian average and imagine two ways an agency could structure it. These are illustrations, not real offers. Both assume a single filer, a Washington tax home, the 2026 standard deduction, and income at this rate for the whole year; your own situation will differ.

The headline is identical; the weekly difference is about $52, and it grows if you work overtime (calculated on the taxable rate) or if the stipend is questioned later. The federal figures use the 2026 brackets and standard deduction from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the FICA rates from SSA, the same sourced inputs the Pay Calculator uses. Washington does not levy a wage income tax, so no state income tax is subtracted here. Washington does run payroll-based programs (Paid Family and Medical Leave premiums, for example) that this example does not model, so a real paystub may show small additional deductions.

Washington’s no-wage-tax status applies to income earned in Washington. If your tax home is in a state that taxes residents on all income, that state may still tax a Seattle contract. Run your own combination through the calculator rather than assuming.

Turning a Specific Offer Into a Real Number

1. Enter the offer’s taxable hourly rate, weekly hours and stipends in the Pay Calculator, assignment state Washington.
2. Confirm the stipends are under the Seattle ceilings for the months you’d work: housing against $1,316 (November–May) or $1,785 (June–October), and housing plus M&IE together against $1,960 or $2,429. (The GSA Rate Explorer shows the annual-maximum nightly rate, which for Seattle is the summer one, so don’t use it to clear a winter offer.)
3. Make sure the stipend is legitimately yours to receive: a stipend needs a valid tax home. The Tax Home Validator walks through the IRS tests.
4. Grade the whole package with Contract Grade. It scores against Washington statewide pay data scaled by specialty, not a Seattle-specific figure.
5. For the fine print a weekly headline never shows (guaranteed hours, cancellation terms, completion bonuses), see How to Read a Travel Nurse Contract Offer.

For the specialty overall, see the ICU travel nurse page; for the state picture, the Washington travel nurse pay guide.

Data reviewed October 2026. GSA per diem figures come from GSA’s published FY2027 locality rates (see our methodology). Federal tax figures come from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and SSA. Pay figures attributed to Vivian are that source’s own, as of the date shown. Our city and specialty pay estimates are editorial, not measured, surveyed or aggregated from contract data. This is general information, not tax advice.