How Much Should You Pay Your Babysitter?
The first time I babysat by myself, I was in sixth grade and
I cared for two preschoolers. At the end of three hours in which I
The first time I babysat by myself, I was in sixth grade and
I cared for two preschoolers. At the end of three hours in which I
i live in Macomb Illinois and i have 3 children they are a hand full for babysitters so i let the babysitter choose how much she should get
within reason of course
We’re just entering the realm of babysitting. We get a family member to do it and we usually pay her around $5 an hour. I’m from Ohio and I’ve never heard of $15 an hour! That seems outrageous to me. I babysat when I was a teenager and I was lucky to get $5/hr. I pay my daycare $20 a day! I think it honestly just depends on where you live and what you can afford. Most teenagers would be happy with $20 for a few hours work. The baby will sleep most of the time anyway.
Hmm, on the NW side of Chicago, I pay our 22 y.o. sitter $15/ hour for a 23 month old and a 10 month old. We started out w/ $12/ hour b/f #2 arrived, and then we kind of upped it to $15 (and we usu round up). It seems like we pay on the high end, but it’s worth it to get out once in a while and our sitter is great w/ our girls. We totally trust her, and we’ll be sad when she decides to stop babysitting!
I am confused by the defensiveness of many of these comments. Why are people so touchy about how much they pay their sitters? I do think a good rule of thumb is you get what you pay for and if you are happy with what you are getting, then you are probably paying appropriately. If you find yourself groveling about how hard it is to get a good sitter, who connects with your kids, is usually available, and washes the dishes to boot, you may not be paying enough. I think the blog is clear that you can easily pay less, you just need to be clear about what your priorities are with babysitting. If you just need a neighborhood kid to make sure your kids don’t burn the house down after school or someone to watch TV while they sleep then $5-8/hr may be totally appropriate in your area of the country. If you are watching your own kids too, again that’s a different situation. However, if you find a sitter you really like, your kids jump up and down when they hear she is coming, and you want to make sure she will have an incentive to rearrange her schedule at the last minute if you need her, then you should consider paying more as your kids and your piece of mind may be worth it. Out of college and lots of childcare experience should certainly fetch >$12/hr in an urban area where the cost of living is high. Few jobs pay less to college grads, why should childcare pay less. And in general I think the article makes a good point, try to avoid much bargaining once you set a rate in the first place (i.e. well if Timmy isn’t here and you only have Sally can I pay $3/hr less), that just feels insulting.
Thanks for the article! Good topic, I think we all just have to remember there are a lot of expections but there are general principles that apply to our many situations.
DP in Chicago, you are being generous if she’s not paying taxes. That’s equivalent to pre-tax pay of like $32K at a corporation, but I assume no health insurance with you, right? However, she should be paying taxes…and then that’s more like $25K/yr? Not a huge salary to life off of in a big city? Yet, I think this article is more about part-time sitting, when most of the money is under the table, and in those conditions, yes $13 is within the ballpark esp when you are paying holidays etc. Most of all it sounds like you have a good relationship with your nanny and that’s how you should gauge whether the salary is adequate.
Well, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, it ranges from $7-20 an hour, depending on where you live, who your sitter is and their experience, the age and the duration of the time. I currently pay an old student of mine $10 an hour, which she insists is too much( she wanted only $7) but since minimum wage is $8.50 an hour for someone older than 18, I felt that caring for my son was a little more complicated and worthy of my money than flipping burgers at Burger King.Plus, she’s in university, responsible to a fault and comes at a moment’s notice is she’s not in class or at her other job. I only pay $25/day at daycare, so I’m getting off lucky with child care.
But yeah, a movie/dinner date is now about $150 after dinner, the tix, and babysitting charges.Ouch!
I pay $5-7 an hour for 14 and 15 year olds to sit my two kids, ages 5 and 3. They seem to appreciate it, and keep coming back. They can’t work legally anyway, right?
I charge $10 an hour to babysit a two-year-old a few days a week. I’m 25, and I have a college degree. But I watch her alongside my own children.
When I was 11, I babysat the sweetest four children ever. The dad was getting his PhD, and the third child had leukemia. I made $2 an hour, and I was never happier. I miss those kids, the oldest of whom has her own little one now…
It all depends on the location. $12 is the minimum for sitters here in Hollywood/Los Angeles. Most of my friends with kids pay 15-20$ an hour for a sitter and nannies who work full-time usually make around 15$ an hour as well. And that’s just for one kid. Some sitters/nannies round these parts charge double for two kids, which leaves me wondering whether we’ll ever go out when we have more than one. (We have to budget 75$ for babysitting whenever we have date nights. Scary to think we’d have to budget 100+ in the future JUST for babysitting. AH!) I think in cities where the mean income is higher, sitters and nannies should be paid to scale. It’s allllll relative.
Then again, I remember babysitting like twelve kids when I was in 6th grade and getting paid $3.50 an hour plus pizza. I guess teenage babysitters are hard to come by in urban areas, especially when they all be driving Range Rovers.
Sigh…
Love Slave, you cannot POSSIBLY be serious. Maybe the fact that your first wife never babysat should have clued you in a little more to the notion that she might not actually enjoy the company of children. The vast majority of my friends babysat as teenagers (myself included), and those that chose not to did so because they didn’t particularly like children. Those of us that DID babysit relied on it as a means of income- it is probably the only safe, reliable job that a 14- or 15-yoar old girl in this country can hold. And as for the “maternal skills that will help her attract a man,”… WOW. I’m not even sure WHAT to do with THAT.
We pay $10/hour for 3 kids. I don’t feel I am ripping off the babysitter as my kids pretty much sit in a playroom, watch TV and play video games until bedtime. Then, they just go to bed.
The pay is more for “please don’t let the house burn down” then change diapers.
Since the high school student who is our primary sitter gets $8/hr for her pizza joint job and gets taxes taken out, I figure $10 with no taxes is fair.
What about when the baby is sleeping? Do you think I could realistically pay less ($10 or less) if the baby is sleeping the whole time? If not, do you think it is realistic or fair to ask or expect some housecleaning? How does one broach that subject with the babysitter? (I live in Chicago and pay, usually, around $10 to $12–what the sitters ask)
Wow, I guess I have good in the Midwest, but I pay my college-aged sitter $8/hour for 2 kids and that is considered high in this area (Aurora, IL). The other moms in my playgroup pay $5-7 for 2 kids.
I can’t tell if this article is about full time caregiving or babysitting for nights out. Do people distinguish the two? I pay $13/hour for one 17 month old in Chicago for full time in-home nannying. I thought that we were paying on the high-end of the scale but according to this article it’s low?!?! Give me a break!! I pay vacations, sick time, always round up, give 1 wk+ pay for xmas bonus, give xmas, birthday, mothers day, valentines gifts, etc. I am respectful of my nanny, I have a great relationship with her, and my daughter adores her. She tells me that I am very generous. No way am I going to feel bad for paying $13/hr. I can’t believe you think $12 is low and not worth your time. Where do you live???
We have a regular sitter (college student) who comes to our house every Thursday night and she charges $7 an hour in Oklahoma. This is more than she makes waiting tables at the local pizza restaurant. We only have one child and he is usually asleep when she arrives, but we have such a great relationship with our sitter that she often arrives earlier in order to spend play time with our son. While we pay her $7 an hour, I know that she charges a close friend of mine $12 an hour because her three kids are a lot more work. Perhaps one should negiotiate a price with the sitter based on number of children, thei behavior and the age and experience of the sitter.
I suppose what I would like to know is, why would you pay a young girl to do something she will be doing later in life anyway? The way I see it, and perhaps others will disagree, babysitting is just a way to prepare her for her life as a future mother. I think the payment is the experience itself. While she babysits, she will learn all the maternal skills that will help her attract a man. In fact, my second wife was once the babysitter to my children. My first wife never babysat as a teenager, and perhaps that is the reason she was, or rather is, a terrible mother. Maybe if my first wife had been a babysitter, I would not have left her. Alas, that was not the case.
we live in a very isolated area, and we don’t go out much – we’ve got six children and i’ve heard the rate is around 5$ per hour per child – that’s 30$ an hour
– and we’ve never paid that… that said, we rarely go out at all (partly bcz of the cost of babysitting) – and i’m so glad now that my oldest two children are getting to the age where they can watch their siblings and be well compensated – plus i know what i’m getting. the babysitters i really like are usually young girls, just starting out – around 11 or 12, before boys 
– i found them to be way more enthusiastic about babies, brought toys, loved to play games with the littles – and we were glad to pay more than we could really afford to make it worth her while… But now that we have so many little children, i think it’s really asking a lot for a girl that age to care for that many children unless she comes from a big family as well…
Maybe I’m crazy, but $15 an hour is ridiculous – I could never afford that. I don’t even make $15 an hour myself!! I remember getting paid $8 and being psyched – no taxes, no dress code, no ever-present hovering boss, and Hot Wheels fun time! What’s not to like? I would say minimum wage is probably adequate, and what’s that, $7-something?
I feel the rate should depend on the situation…. I would pay my neighbors’ teenagers $5/hr to come and watch my tv and eat my food for 3-5 hours after my son is in bed. An afternoon or evening that actually involves playing with and feeding etc I would go as high as $10 max. Any more than that and I can’t afford to go out anyway.
I guess it depends on where you are located and how old the babysitter is. My friends and I discussed this recently and for a college-aged sitter, $8-$10 per hour for one child PLUS $2/hr each additional child is pretty much standard. I have a friend who charges $15/hr for 5 children (all under the age of 5 including two sets of twins!) but that’s an execption…
On a side note, my “special occasion” babysitter and I agree on a “night” fee rather than an hourly fee. Depending on the night I pay her between $35 – $50 and we don’t worry about calculating extra half hours or rushing home because we have a hard-stop time we are due back. It makes for a much more relaxing night and works quite well. The babysitter actually suggested it and it’s wonderful!
The going rate around here (central MA) is $8-12/hour for one child. That’s the rate for college students, anyway; it’s a little lower for high schoolers and for moms who will be caring for their own kids in addition to yours.
The tone in some of these comments is hilarious, as if these parents are doing them a favor by paying them to just sit around and watch their children. I’m guessing Joop doesn’t round up on her hourly rate.
Here in Chapel Hill, NC it is pretty much 8-10 an hour. I would be happy paying that, especially for a teen-ager. I was pretty surprised at the 15-20 an hour rate.
My cleaning lady gets $10 an hour and so does my babysitter. More than that really is a bit ridiculous, even in NYC.
I just signed my son up for preschool in the fall, and I need to find someone to watch my baby for two hours on Mondays because the program I chose is one that requires parental participation one day a week. I was hoping to find a college student who would be willing to come sit on my couch and watch TV while my daughter naps. And I wasn’t going to pay any more than ten dollars an hour.
Just to clarify, I strongly agree that the time of day and the number of children has a bearing on appropriate rates. $10 is definitely sufficient incentive to walk down the hall and read for a few hours while the kids are sleeping. Personally, I would prefer to work harder and make more money from a family that is happy to pay more to get more. It’s a matter of both babysitters and parents having clear financial boundaries, which helps sitters and families be appropriately matched.
I pay $10 an hour and would be hesitant to go over in my circumstances. Firstly, I pay a college student who lives in our apartment building, so she barely even has to leave home, secondly, I always make sure we go out after my daughter’s bedtime, which is at 7pm. So I put her to bed and the sitter comes over and never even sees her. My daughter will sleep right through the night in her own bed in her own room. I came to rate of $10 an hour as it is the same as college students are paid by the university where I work to wait tables at university functions or work as a student receptionist in a dorm. For awake-child babysitting or multiple children I would pay more. PS I’m in Boston where the cost of living is not cheap.
I am curious to know what people in NYC. I live in Brooklyn and am FINALLY leaving my nearly 2 year old with a sitter (teacher from her daycare). I asked what shge charged but she said she has only babysat for kids with several children and left the ball in my court. I am clueless…anyone know what I should do? I want to be generous as I think she is an ideal sitter. My daughter and her adore each other!
I used to charge $10.00 for 2 kids, but the kids had not a good behavior so now I charge more than $11.00 .
I believe less than $10.00 for 2-3kids a live-out nanny position, it’s too little.
It really depends on how many kids and what time of day the sitter is coming. I pay $12 for 2 kids at night right now. My youngest is alseep by 6:30 so really the sitter is only sitting for one child. My understanding is that the going rate for 3 kids is 15-20 an hour. Is this correct?
We live in Indiana as well and cannot afford to pay more than $10/hour. Luckily we live in a college town where there are many responsible students willing to sit for that amount. For this area I do think $15/hour is excessive. Now if we are talking NYC or LA I could understand the $15-$20 figure because the cost of living is way higher.
Also we tend to never go out until the kids are in bed anyway. They are in bed by 7:30 and rarely wake. I really don’t see how I can pay a sitter $15 to watch cable and study.
Amy – it’s not full-time, so it’s not absurd.
That said however, I’ve been babysitting for the last 11 years. When I started, I was paid 2.50/hour, not bad for an eleven year old. By the time I was fourteen, it was up to 5.00/hour. And it stayed there a great number of years. Now, I make 10/hour from most families. There are occasions when I earn 15, but that’s pretty rare around here.
And you know? The family that scoffed at it (with three children under four years old) will probably never see me again as a sitter. Because offering to pay your sitter 6/hour to drive an hour to your house is more than cheap. It’s flat out rude.
I pay $5 an hour in Indiana. Any more than that, and it’s not worth the money to go out, imho.
If you can’t afford it, see about finding a family with the same number of kids you have, then trade nights – you go out one weekend a month, they get another, no money changes hands.
No teenager needs $15 an hour. When I was working for a temp agency, most of the professional jobs I sent people on didn’t pay that much. I mean, $15 an hour is $31,000 a year at full time. That’s absurd.
I totally believe good babysitters are worth $15 an hour (though when I was babysitting I generally made about $5, and 15 is way more than the rate of inflation). That said, I’m unwilling to pay that. Occasionally my son’s daycare does a parent’s night out group babysitting deal, and we sign him up for that every time. Other than that, we don’t go out. I can’t justify spending that much money.
I would be more than happy to pay $15/hour for someone who we could trust and was good with our daughter. We had a woman who worked at my child’s daycare who was brilliant with our girl and who she had know since she was 3 months old. That being said this woman would just not show up on occasion, not a pleasant situation when there are concert tickets involved. The going rate in Los Angeles seems to be closer to $10/hour. We finally went with a service and for now that’s worked out well. It certainly makes you pickier when choosing entertainment. There are not many movies out there that are worth $50 not including dinner.