Nurse Overtime + Shift Differential Calculator

Hospital RNs see a base hourly rate on their offer letter but actual take-home runs 30-60% higher once night, weekend, holiday, on-call, and overtime differentials stack. A $45/hour base nurse working a typical 36-hour ICU schedule with night and weekend coverage often earns an effective $60-72/hour. This calculator layers all the differentials so you can compare staff jobs, travel contracts, and per-diem opportunities apples-to-apples.

How Differentials Stack

Most hospitals apply differentials as a percentage uplift to the base rate, paid only for the qualifying hours. Night shift: 10-25% (typical $5-15/hour extra). Weekend: 5-15%. Holiday: 50-100% (paid on top of regular pay for the calendar holiday). On-call: $3-10/hour while actively on call, $1-3/hour standby, plus minimum 2-4 hours regular pay when called in. Specialty: ICU, ED, OR, L&D, and Trauma typically pay 5-15% additional. Stacking matters: a night-weekend-ICU nurse earning $45 base often nets $58-65 effective.

Travel Nursing vs Staff Comparison

Travel nurse contracts advertise $2,500-4,000/week gross — that includes a non-taxable lodging and meal stipend (typically $1,000-1,500/week). Once you net out the stipend (only tax-free if you maintain a permanent tax home), the actual hourly is comparable to a strong staff position. What travel loses: employer health insurance subsidy ($14K+/year), 401(k) match (~$8K/year), accrued PTO (~$5K/year), pension if applicable, and tenure-based protections. What travel gains: schedule flexibility, location variety, and quick high-cash bursts. For most nurses with families, the all-in math favors staff once differentials and benefits are counted properly.

Nurse Overtime Rules: The 8/80 Rule and the Regular Rate

Two federal rules decide what your overtime hour is actually worth, and both are routinely missed on nursing pay stubs. First, hospitals and residential care facilities may use the 8/80 agreement under the Fair Labor Standards Act: instead of paying overtime after 40 hours in a week, they pay time-and-a-half for hours over 8 in a day or over 80 in a 14-day period, whichever gives more. That is why a 12-hour shift can generate 4 overtime hours even in a light week. Second, shift differentials are not excluded from the overtime base — the US Department of Labor requires night, weekend, and specialty differentials to be folded into the "regular rate" before the 1.5 multiplier is applied. Worked example: base $45 plus a $6 night differential means the overtime hour is 1.5 × $51 = $76.50, not 1.5 × $45 = $67.50. If your pay stub multiplies the base alone, you are being underpaid on every overtime hour. See the DOL guidance at Fact Sheet #54 — The Health Care Industry and Calculating Overtime Pay.

Last updated September 2026. Sources: BLS RN Wages, US DOL Fact Sheet #54, American Nurses Association.