Average cost of a babysitter
Posted
July 12, 2006 at
4:19 am by
Jessica
Here’s a very interesting article I found in the Kansas City Star on how much babysitters charge and how much you can expect to pay them.
In our area, we have found that if you want someone reliable, you have to pay for it. $8 - $13 an hour is not unheard of. If you want Nanny services part-time, expect to pay on the higher side, $12 - $15 an hour. A full-time Nanny doesn’t expect as much, but in the Chicagoland area I’d still expect to pay a full-time Nanny $10 an hour.
A weekend, infrequent teenage babysitter would probably cost us at least $8 an hour, proving that it’s expensive to have a bad time, so why bother?
The 20 parents who responded to my call for information paid sitters from $2 to $10 an hour. The norm — based on this small sample — seemed to be $5 an hour.
High school or college-age sitters who can drive and take kids to events typically are paid more, and older adults who baby-sit receive a slightly higher premium.
Susan Ramza, who has two children, ages 6 and 9, broke down her salary scale this way: “I pay a youngish neighborhood kid $5 to $6 a hour, a high schooler who doesn’t drive $7 an hour, a high school or college driver $8 an hour, and if we have an adult who has a real job by day, we pay $10 an hour.”
Shirley Brogna said her going rate was $10 an hour to sit for her 6-year-old. “We only hire sitters that are 18 and older because they can drive themselves and hopefully are more mature and more reliable,” Brogna said.
Parents also said their pay rate depends on how much interaction the sitter will have with their children.
“We have two children and have a nanny from 9 to 3 during the week,” said Jayme Nolin. “When we have her baby-sit after her normal hours we pay $7 per hour while the children are awake and $5 per hour when sleeping.”
Here’s a sample of average hourly rates from four cities, based on a recent Money magazine survey:
Austin, Texas Minneapolis, Minn. New York City Santa Monica, Calif. Evening baby sitter age 18 or older $12 $10 $13 $12 Evening baby sitter age 14 to 18 $7 $6 $8 $7
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14 Responses to “Average cost of a babysitter”
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1. Lina said:
August 16, 2006 @ 12:25 pm
U need to change your hourly rate.. Babysitters are worth more than $7.00 an hour
2. Brett said:
December 24, 2007 @ 2:19 am
I would never babysit for less than $10-$15/hour, depending on the situation and location… Usually $12-$15…. and none of the parents I’ve worked for have seemed to think this was at all unreasonable. It just isn’t worth it for the time away from my studies to work for less. I’m a 23 year-old, female college student.
3. Julissa said:
February 4, 2008 @ 1:31 am
WoW!!!! I babysit 2 boys which are brothers one 6y.o old for 31/2 hours because he has school & the other 4y.o sometime 9 to 10 hours & they pay me only $20 a day. They sometime drop them off with lunch but that only like 3 time a week…I also sit a little girl 4y.o which is I also sit more then 9 to 10 hours & they also give me 20 a day but no lunch…Im I getting pay to little????
Maybe i should get a other job
4. Allison said:
February 4, 2008 @ 10:38 am
$20 a day!?!?
That’s a rip-off!
5. Maureen said:
February 5, 2008 @ 10:29 am
$20 a day? That does seem a little low! If you are watching a kid the whole day, you are only making $2 an hour?? You could make more at a regular job. I don’t know where you live but that is below minimum wage! Ask for a raise.
6. Page said:
March 16, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
I think that for a 13-14 year old they should get paid $2 per child per hour.
7. Jasmine said:
March 18, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
i am about to start baby sitting an eight month old girl and im not sure how much to chrage the mother. I don’t want to over charge but i also do not want to uncharge. Help Me Out!!!
8. Carla Gavril said:
April 23, 2008 @ 10:54 am
I would ask for at least $10 an hour. How many days/week and for how long at a time will you be watching her? Also, how much experience do you have with children?
9. smj3a said:
April 23, 2008 @ 2:27 pm
I would pay under 18 $1.50 per child/ per hour.
10. Allison G said:
April 23, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
I give my 15 year old babysitter about $30 per job (4-5 hrs), $40 if my 3 kids were assholes to her. I pay her when I drive her home, so by then I know what kind of a night she’s had (but she doesn’t know why she’s getting the extra $10, sshhh)
11. Jessica said:
April 23, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
OMG. That quote must go down in Imperfect Parent infamy!
That is hilarious!!!
I was laughing at work, I had to show my collegues what you wrote. Total, real life LOL.
12. prescott said:
April 23, 2008 @ 5:30 pm
[quote comment="157651"]I would pay under 18 $1.50 per child/ per hour.[/quote]
I’m pretty cheap, but I’m sorry — unless you live in Appalachia nobody (even a 14 year old) is going to babysit for $1.50 an hour for one kid. You’re going to go out for five hours and then hand them $7.50? And if you do find someone
stupid enoughwilling to do so, you better watch out that you don’t get reported for indentured servitude. At least give them enough to buy a new CD for cryin’ out loud.(At the risk of sounding old, do kids even buy CDs anymore? Or is it all iTunes/downloads now?)
13. smj3a said:
April 23, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
I have four…So, that’s what I go by…$6.00 an hour…But then again, it is usually my younger sister…She owes me!
If I had one, I would pay more..BUT I would never pay more than $8.00.
14. Leeann said:
October 6, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
I would pay $2 an hour per kid or for 2 kids $20.00 for(4-5) hours!And Dont under or over charge!