Compensation Guides
Plain-language explanations of federal pay rules, military compensation, state public-sector salaries, and retirement plans. Built to answer the question first, then go deep.
Featured Guides
Start with the highest-priority compensation topics on PayAtlas USA.
Labor and Delivery Nurse Salary: Staff Pay, Hourly Rates, and Travel Packages
BLS does not publish a separate labor and delivery nurse wage series—L&D nurses are RNs in hospital data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, breaks down hourly/weekly/monthly math, covers California/Texas/Florida/Ohio/Georgia/Houston/NYC, and explains travel L&D packages without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuideNICU Nurse Salary: What Staff and Travel Roles Actually Pay
BLS does not publish a separate NICU nurse wage series—neonatal ICU nurses are RNs in hospital data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, explains why job posts beat statewide medians, and covers travel NICU packages without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuidePediatric Nurse Salary: Staff Pay, Hourly Rates, and State Benchmarks
BLS does not publish a separate pediatric nurse wage series—peds nurses are RNs in hospital and clinic data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, covers PICU vs floor roles, travel pediatric contracts, and state benchmarks without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuideTravel Nurse Salary: How Weekly Pay Packages Actually Work
Travel nurse compensation is a bundle of taxable wages and tax-advantaged stipends—not a single annual salary. This guide explains how packages are built, how to compare them to staff RN pay using BLS data, and how to read a contract without overpaying on bad math.
Read GuideGS Pay Scale: How General Schedule Grades, Steps, and Locality Pay Work
A practical guide to the federal General Schedule: what GS grades and steps mean, how locality pay changes take-home compensation, and how to read an OPM pay table.
Read GuideMilitary Pay Charts: Basic Pay, BAH, BAS, and Total Compensation
How U.S. military pay is built from basic pay, housing and subsistence allowances, and special pays — and why a pay chart is not the same as take-home pay.
Read GuideTeacher Salaries by State: How Public-School Pay Actually Works
Public-school teacher pay is set by states and districts, not a national GS table. This guide explains salary schedules, what wage surveys measure, and a Florida case study from BLS-based PayAtlas occupation data.
Read GuideTSP vs 401(k): Fees, Matching, Eligibility, and Which Factors Matter
One comparison of the Thrift Savings Plan and private-sector 401(k) plans: who can use each, how matching works, how fees and investments differ, and how to think about the choice without picking a universal winner.
Read GuideLatest Guides
Recently published or updated guides, sorted by date.
Labor and Delivery Nurse Salary: Staff Pay, Hourly Rates, and Travel Packages
BLS does not publish a separate labor and delivery nurse wage series—L&D nurses are RNs in hospital data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, breaks down hourly/weekly/monthly math, covers California/Texas/Florida/Ohio/Georgia/Houston/NYC, and explains travel L&D packages without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuideNICU Nurse Salary: What Staff and Travel Roles Actually Pay
BLS does not publish a separate NICU nurse wage series—neonatal ICU nurses are RNs in hospital data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, explains why job posts beat statewide medians, and covers travel NICU packages without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuidePediatric Nurse Salary: Staff Pay, Hourly Rates, and State Benchmarks
BLS does not publish a separate pediatric nurse wage series—peds nurses are RNs in hospital and clinic data. This guide anchors pay to verified OEWS figures, covers PICU vs floor roles, travel pediatric contracts, and state benchmarks without inventing specialty averages.
Read GuideTravel Nurse Salary: How Weekly Pay Packages Actually Work
Travel nurse compensation is a bundle of taxable wages and tax-advantaged stipends—not a single annual salary. This guide explains how packages are built, how to compare them to staff RN pay using BLS data, and how to read a contract without overpaying on bad math.
Read GuideBrowse by Category
Guides are grouped with a shared taxonomy so related topics stay connected as the library grows.
Federal Pay
General Schedule grades, locality pay, and federal civilian compensation. 1 guide.
Military Pay
Basic pay, allowances, and how uniformed-service compensation is structured. 1 guide.
State Employment
State and local public-sector pay, including education and other roles. 1 guide.
Retirement
TSP, 401(k), pensions, and retirement-plan comparisons for public employees. 1 guide.
Career & Jobs
Promotions, career ladders, and how pay changes with role progression. 4 guides.
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Related PayAtlas Resources
Guides explain the rules. These pages hold the tables, state directories, and calculators.
Need a number, not an explainer?
Use the GS Pay Calculator for locality-adjusted estimates, or browse state salary pages for public-sector context.