Travel Surgical Tech Salary 2026: BLS Pay, BluePipes Listing Medians, Stipends and the CST

Surgical technology is a smaller travel market than therapy on BluePipes’ listing counts, and the pay package is built exactly like a travel nurse’s: a taxable hourly wage plus tax-free housing and meal stipends that are capped by GSA per diem and depend on a qualifying tax home. This page lines up the published figures. Every number comes from a page we read on the date shown, and we are a pay calculator and data site, not an agency or a job board.

What surgical technologists earn as staff (BLS)

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook page is titled Surgical Assistants and Technologists and covers both jobs. When we read it on 27 October 2026 (page last modified 27 August 2026), its quick facts said:

• 2025 median pay: $64,700 a year, $31.10 an hour, for the combined occupation.
• Number of jobs, 2025: 142,800.
• Job outlook, 2025–35: 5%, “faster than average”, an employment change of 7,400.
• Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award.

The pay section separates the two: “The median annual wage for surgical technologists was $64,650 in May 2025”, with the lowest 10 percent under $45,940 and the highest 10 percent over $96,940. Surgical assistants had a median of $66,800, with a wider spread of $39,690 to $107,610.

Those are annual staff wages across the whole occupation. A travel contract is quoted weekly and runs for a fixed number of weeks, so you cannot compare the two directly. The BLS median tells you what the facility’s own scrub techs are likely to be paid in that market, which is the context a travel rate sits in.

What travel surgical tech listings pay (BluePipes)

When we read BluePipes’ travel surgical tech jobs page on 27 October 2026, it said: “The median pay for Travel Surgical Tech jobs on BluePipes over the last 7 days is $1933 per week”, the average was $1,936, and “There are 1017 Travel Surgical Tech jobs on BluePipes as of October 27, 2026.” Its top-states list printed California with 90 listings, Colorado 66 and New Hampshire 62.

These are listing figures for the previous seven days, not signed contracts, and they move daily. Surgical tech was the lowest of the four allied categories we read that day: BluePipes’ travel rad tech page gave a median of $2,147, physical therapist $2,161 and occupational therapist $2,207. If you are a certified surgical first assistant rather than a scrub tech, note that BluePipes lists first-assist jobs under the same category heading, so the figure above blends both.

How the travel package is built

A travel surgical tech offer has two parts:

1. A taxable hourly wage, paid for hours worked and subject to federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare, and state income tax where the state levies one. Call pay and call-back pay, which are common in OR contracts, are taxable wages too.
2. Tax-free stipends for housing and for meals and incidentals, which you can receive untaxed only if you maintain a qualifying tax home and work away from it. Without one, the whole package is wages.

The stipends are capped by GSA per diem for the assignment locality. There are two ceilings:

• Housing ceiling = GSA lodging rate × 7.
• Combined per diem ceiling = (lodging + meals and incidentals) × 7.

Under GSA FY2027 per diem (1 October 2026 to 30 September 2027) the CONUS standard rate, which applies anywhere GSA lists no locality, is $113 a night lodging and $68 a day M&IE. In the three states BluePipes listed as having the most surgical tech jobs:

Measure a housing stipend against the housing column, never the combined one. A housing stipend above the lodging ceiling should be taxed as wages, and a recruiter who quotes the combined figure as the “stipend max” is overstating what can be paid tax-free for housing. Denver is seasonal, so a contract that starts in March and runs into May crosses two rates. Month-by-month schedules are on the per diem pages for California, Colorado and New Hampshire.

Run the stipend through the stipend calculator and the taxable wage through the tax calculator for federal tax and FICA. Both tools are labelled for nurses but the arithmetic is the same for any W-2 traveler paid a wage plus stipends; state tax is computed only for the states we hold sourced rates for, and elsewhere the tool says it is excluded.

The CST, state rules and what travelling adds

The credential most contracts ask about is the CST, Certified Surgical Technologist, from the National Board of Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting. The NBSTSA’s CST certification page, read on 27 October 2026, says “The CST® certification is preferred/required by most employers nationwide and required by many states”, and describes the exam as “175 multiple-choice questions, 150 of which are scored”, with four hours to complete it. Its 2025 CST candidate handbook, read the same day, lists three eligibility routes: a current or previously certified CST, a graduate of a program accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES, or a graduate of a military surgical technology program. The application fee in that handbook is $190 for AST members and $290 for all others, plus a $60 processing fee; the renewal fee is $25 and recertifying by exam costs $299 for members and $399 for non-members. The handbook excerpt we read did not state the continuing-education credit total, so we do not quote one.

The BLS page says “Employers may require or prefer that workers have certification”, that “many jobs require that surgical assistants and technologists become certified in CPR or basic life support”, and that “Some states have regulations governing the work of surgical assistants and technologists”. It does not list the states, and neither does the NBSTSA page, so treat the rule as state-specific and ask the recruiter what the assignment state requires before you commit to a start date.

Surgical technology has no interstate compact, so there is no equivalent of the Nurse Licensure Compact. Where a state registers or licenses surgical technologists, that is a separate application per state.

How allied travel differs from RN travel

The allied health hub covers the general picture and the travel respiratory therapist page is a worked example. For surgical techs specifically:

• Same package, same tax rules. Taxable wage plus GSA-capped stipends, tax home required, and your home state still taxes you if it taxes wages.
• Call is the negotiation point. OR contracts often carry call and call-back obligations. Get the call rate, call-back minimum and how often you are on the rota in writing, the same way we tell OR nurses to in the OR negotiation guide.
• Specialty scrub experience is your leverage. Facilities screen for service lines (ortho, cardiac, neuro, robotics). State which ones you have scrubbed in your profile.
• A smaller, lower-paid market than therapy. 1,017 BluePipes listings at a $1,933 median on 27 October 2026, against 13,030 PT listings at $2,161.

Finding a travel surgical tech contract

We do not place travelers and we are not a staffing agency. If you want a contract, you can tell us what you are looking for: the form is written for nurses, so choose “Other” as the specialty and put “surgical technologist”, your certifications and the states you can work in the notes. With your permission we introduce you to a partner recruiter whose agency has a referral agreement with us, or we tell you if none covers your request yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do travel surgical techs make per week?

When we read BluePipes on 27 October 2026, its travel surgical tech listings page said the median pay for travel surgical tech jobs over the previous seven days was $1,933 a week, the average was $1,936, and there were 1,017 travel surgical tech jobs on the site that day, led by California (90), Colorado (66) and New Hampshire (62). These are listing figures, not signed contracts, and they change daily.

What is the median salary for a surgical technologist?

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, read 27 October 2026, says the median annual wage for surgical technologists was $64,650 in May 2025, with the lowest 10 percent earning less than $45,940 and the highest 10 percent more than $96,940. Surgical assistants had a median of $66,800. These are staff wages for the whole occupation, not travel pay.

Do travel surgical techs need the CST?

The NBSTSA’s CST page, read 27 October 2026, says the CST certification is preferred or required by most employers nationwide and required by many states. BLS says employers may require or prefer certification and that some states regulate the work. Whether a given contract needs it depends on the state and the facility, so ask before you submit.

What is the maximum tax-free housing stipend for a travel surgical tech?

For a traveler with a qualifying tax home, the weekly housing ceiling is the GSA lodging rate for the assignment locality times seven. Under GSA FY2027 per diem the standard rate is $113 a night, so $791 a week anywhere GSA lists no locality; Manchester, New Hampshire is $952 a week all year and Denver runs from $1,190 (November to March) to $1,589 (April to October). The combined per diem ceiling adds the meals rate and is a different, higher number.

Data reviewed 27 October 2026. BLS figures are from the Occupational Outlook Handbook as read on that date (May 2025 wages, 2025–35 projections). Weekly pay figures attributed to BluePipes are that site’s own, as published on 27 October 2026. GSA figures are GSA’s FY2027 locality rates. NBSTSA statements are from nbstsa.org as read on 27 October 2026. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.