How Much to Pay a Nanny
- See also: BPN's Nanny Survey: Pay & Benefits ... More Advice about How Much to Pay (share, twins, etc.)
Parent Q&A
So we pay 20/hr(45hrs a week) as part of the nanny share and I'd expect that if she was taking care of our daughter and our son it would be $40/hr. For your family I'd probably say between 40-50/hr for two kids based on what you're currently paying her for one kid. Keep in mind that newborns need a lot of time/attention so might be cheaper to see if the preschool has some kind of aftercare component. It would likely be cheaper then what it would cost on an hourly basis to have your nanny watch both kids.
We paid our nanny $28/hour when she was just with one kid and $34 when she was with both. When we sent our kids to preschool she found another family and she's getting $36/hour. I think the going rate is $35-40/hour for two kids in the bay area right now.
for one child, $28 and up. For two, $36 and up. The rates have been climbing alongside cost of living. The best way to do this economically is to share with another family, so that each of you pay 18-20 per child.
Archived Q&A and Reviews
| Questions |
I realize now that I'm paying too much
Sept 2009
We recently started having one of my friends Mothers watch our 8 month old son for 4-6 hours a week. She is amazing in every way but I feel we might be paying her too much, $15.00 an hour. I checked around before we told her a price and thought that was pretty standard but now I am running into people who tell me we are crazy. Not only that but she doesnt like to walk so when she is with our son she can't take him out in the stroller. She is overweight and I feel badly asking her to take him to my work which is two blocks away from my house, Yikes. Does anyone have some advice on how I can hanndle these two situations: one lowering the rate and two the walks? Thanks
$15 an hour seems standard for a high quality, experienced child care provider. Not sure that is what you have though, so maybe too much for what you are receiving? Tough to drop her wage ex- post. Perhaps you could say that you had an opportunity to hire someone else who is willing to work for less, so she has an option to either keep the job at a lower wage, or choose not? Shouldn't pay for more than what you are actually receiving
You have two separate problems and the solutions are simple, if not easy. Your first problem is that you hired someone to watch your child who cannot or does not wish to give you and your son the services you want, i.e., walking. The second problem is that you hired someone who charges more than you want to pay. The solution is not to decide whether the caretaker is wrong or unreasonable to resist walking or to charge $15. The solution is to get clear about what your requirements are and what you are willing/able to pay, then find that person. I won't pay $15/hour for babysitting, but many sitters/nannies charge that amount and get paid that amount. I pay $10/hour, but it isn't easy to find good child care for that amount. I have to look far and wide and be really up front about my requirements. I have two fabulous sitters but it wasn't easy to find them. It's even harder with an infant, who requires more care. I suggest you reevaluate your requirements and then decide if you need to find a new sitter. Anon
As someone who used to do child care - please do not underpay child care workers. Are you telling me that taking care of your 8 month old son is worth less than $15/hour? Really? In my opinion, it is a huge problem that child care workers are not paid enough - and we start devaluing our children.
The walks are another thing - if you are employing her, you can state what you want her to do. If she won't, find someone else. But please don't underpay them. been there.
$15.00 per hour for part time care is fair. Assuming that this is a person with some childcare experience. I run a home based daycare and started out pay my employee the same amount. I also charge $15.00 when I do babysitting on the weekends. As far as the going for walk, I would not be so concerned now as your baby is still an infant. I would be concerned about her ability to look after your baby as she becomes more mobile. Will she be able to chase after your baby as he begins exploring with crawling, walking etc? $15.00 is fair
Increasing Nanny's Pay after second child is born
Jan 2006
We hired a nanny to care for our first daughter, born in Feb. 2003. She has taken care of her since May 2003. We now have a second child and I will be going back to work in Jan. My question, how much more, if any, should the nanny be paid for caring for the 2nd child? It's somewhat different than a share since it's the same family. Also, the older child will be going to part-time (8 a.m. - 12 noon) daycare in March and full- time in September. I did review the nanny survey from 2003 (can we get a new survey to get more up to date info?) but didn't see this particular issue addressed. Thanks. new mom of two
In my case, my nanny cares for one of my children for $12/hour, and when she has both of my children I pay $15. Have you talked to your nanny about this? It's an issue that should be negotiated with her. have 2 kids and a nanny
You can negotiate with your nanny whatever works for you and her, obviously, but I think whether a nanny is watching two children from different families, or two children from the same family, that a ''two-child/share'' rate applies. So in my opinion the survey from 2003 that describes share pay should be a good guide for what the two-child rate was at that time. We currently pay our nanny $18 an hour for two kids (and she makes $14 an hour for one).
With your son being in pre-school for part of the time, I would simply pay her the single child rate while he is in school, and the two-child rate when she is watching them both. That said, I know a couple who paid their nanny $15 an hour all day, for the same situation you are in (one child in kindergarten for part of every day). They figured $15 was high for the time the nanny was with only one child, and low for the time she was with both children, so it averaged out. I also know it took the nanny (experienced in the Bay Area) a bit of time to get comfortable with that arrangement. Good luck!
when we had our second child, we simply asked our nanny how much the new rate would be. it went from $9 per hour for our son in a share to $18 per hour just the two of them. I thought at the time maybe I should compare rates but when all is said and done, I trust her. If I didn't I couldn't leave my kids with her.
Since then I've found that she's near, but not over, the top of most rates for nanny. and considering her experience and all that she does for them - transportation, teaching them spanish, etc. I think she's worth stretching our finances for. first time employer
Sept 2005
Now that we have a second child (3 months), how much should we pay our nanny for caring for our two children? My older son is 3 years old and we have had our nanny since he was 4 months old. We have had nanny shares in the past where we pay $9 for each child but this is from separate families. Can anyone recommend an appropriate rate? Thanks Stephanie
To my knowledge, the going rate for two children is $18/hour. I don't know why this would be different if the two children are from the same family, as opposed to two different families. It's still the same work for the nanny. amg
In the last issue someone said it's the same work for a nanny whether she works with children from the same family or more than one. This is very untrue, folks. In addition to making 4 parents instead of 2 happy, she needs to deal with 2 families' sometimes conflicting desires and rules. A style or behavior that is common or allowed in one family may be completely unappreciated with another. This takes some good juggling. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't see so many cases of parents asking about parenting others' children on playdates, or nannyshares talking about one family wanting to give the nanny autonomy and another wanting a tight hold on the reins. Nanny shares certainly deserve to be paid more. ~Nanny who works for one family at a time.
Sept 2005
We are in a Nanny share with one other family, currently our Nanny takes care of two almost-two year olds (ours and the other family's). We are expecting a baby in a couple of months and our Nanny feels she can watch all three children and the other family is amenable to that. Currently each family pays $9/hour and the care takes place equally in each home. My questions are: 1. how much to raise the Nanny's total salary, and 2. what should be the breakdown for each family (i.e. do we just pay the extra or do we pay two thirds of the total?). I looked on the 2003 Nanny survey but didn't find much guidance there. What have other people done? Shannon
I'd raise her pay from $18 for two to $21 for 3. And yes, you pay pro rata - $7 per child - so your family is paying $14 per hour and the other family $7 per hour. So this does mean the other family is paying less than they were before you had the baby, but their child will also be getting less attention, so it's fair. My Two Cents
Nanny pay with one child in preschool
Sept 2005
I am looking to hire a full-time nanny for my 2 yr old and 3 month old children. My 2 yr old will be in 2 full days a week of preschool. What are most people's experiences in this situation - should I be paying the two-child rate on those days my one child is away (planning on paying $16/hr) or is it reasonable to pay a one- child rate ($13-14/hr) on those days?
Your pay seems very decent, better than many offers, so I think you may safely pay for one child for the hours when there's just one. Best of luck - Kat, happy Nanny :)
Industry standard: you pay the full rate to reserve her for the older child just in case. So many things happen in a year's time. Sick days, holidays, occasional weird schedules, doctor/dentist appointments, etc. anon
We are in the same situation, and for the hours my preschooler is in preschool, I pay the 1-child rate. On hours that the nanny is watching both kids, she gets the 2-child rate. THere are also times that I have the nanny watch the baby while I take my preschooler to have some one-on-one time with mom, and then I also pay the 1-child rate. It seems fair. Good luck, -Kim Kim
Pay rate for stay-at-home-mom working as nanny
Aug 2001
I am a stay at home mom of a 6 month old. I have experience with children as a teacher. I wonder what people are paying for quality childcare. I was asking between $11-12 an hour and no one has bitten. I wanted to know what people were willing to pay for high quality childcare that involved one other baby at the stay at home mom's house. I just need to supplement my husband's income to afford healthcare and dental. I was a school teacher who makes less than it would have been to have someone watch my baby so I decided to watch him myself. So, my question...how much are people paying for high-quality childcare or daycare.
I think that your rate is fair (and maybe even low given your experience) if you're just taking care of someone else's child- however, you're really talking about more of a share situation since you'll also have your child to care for. I don't think that I'd want to pay much more than $7-8 for a share arrangement. Lisa
You sound very well qualified to charge $11-12 per hour. I pay my nanny $13 per hour for one child, $15 for two, so I think your rate is good. Things I'm thinking of: People may be viewing it similar to a share situation if you are also watching another baby in your home (your own) and shares seem to run about $8 or $9 per hour. Perhaps they also worry that you will give your child more attention than you would give theirs? I also think you can command a higher rate if you are willing to be more like a nanny (i.e. go to someone else's house with your child -- I let my nanny bring her kids with her, for example --).
I've heard of paying $10-$12 in a one provider, one child situation. (Or even $14 an hour one on one but that is in Santa Clara.) When my child's shared a sitter with with 1 other child we've paid between $6.50-$7.75 an hour. I think the more kids there are the less it should cost for each child. Personally, I think $10-$11 is a bit high for this area when the provider is taking care of more than one kid.
I think you are asking for too much money. Someone who comes to my house and cares for just my one child will cost me $8-12/hour depending on experience, demand, and the going rate in the neighborhood. If the nanny is caring for 2 children, I would expect to pay $6-10/hour for my part. Since you are caring for two children I don't think you can expect to get more than $10/hr, if that much. However, the fact that you want to do it in your own home may be the bigger sticking point. The great convenience of expensive childcare (and $10/hr and up is expensive) is that I don't have to get my child dressed, packed up, and in the car in the morning - the nanny comes to my house. I think that taking my child to someone else's house is more the situation of a family day care. This is less convenient and there are other children than mine, so I would expect to pay less than the minimum nanny rate of $8/hour. You should consider other alternatives such as bringing your child to the other mom's house, or come down a few dollars on your rate, or take two other children instead of just one - perhaps siblings where one of the children is older.
I don't think that $11-12/hr is an unreasonable rate to ask. However, considering the financial situation of many working parents needing childcare, it is unrealistic for many of us to be able to afford that rate. I found a very warm and reliable caregiver for my baby and pay her $7 per hour for her to care for my child in my apartment. It's a service everyone needs, and it's very expensive. People want high-quality childcare, but it's also important to make sure one can afford to pay the caregiver. I think a lot of caregivers are supporting themselves by caring for more than one child at once. If you watch two children and charge $8/hr for each child, that's $16/hour, which really isn't too bad.
We are currently looking for childcare for our 14-month-old, and most nanny-share situations seem to be $7.00/hour. Our current nanny is on the low end at $6.00, but I think she plans to increase to $7.00 after we move on. The rates we've seen for private nannies seem to be in the $12/hour range. Hope this helps! tracy
For your rate $12 per hour, for a ten hour day, 20 days a month, you are charging $2400 a month. For families with more than one kid, how many working moms can afford high rate good care? Most people I know are paying $750 to $1000 a month for full time care at different settings. Some moms do not want to sent their babies to a caregiver who is also tending her own baby, especially at caregiver's home.
In my recent experience, the going rate for childcare for one child seems to be about $9 - $10/hour. If it's shared care with one other child, each family pays about $6 - $7/ hour on average, although I did see one person charging $8/hour per child, but they had exceptional credentials.
$11-$12 seems high for what is essentially a share situation. I have used a number of different child-care situations and now use a combination. When I shared with another family (one child each family, an infant and a toddler) we paid $7 per hour per family. The nanny alternated houses and had her own car, CDL and spoke english. I have also had my own nanny who watched my son only in our house. Initially she didn't drive and her English was not very good, though we could communicate. I paid $8 per hour. She now has her own car, CDL and her English has improved dramatically. She still only watches my son (now 2 1/2) and I pay her $10 per hour. I also take my son to a wonderful family day care one day a week with a fabulous woman in her Piedmont home. She has approx 5 children ages 18 months to 4 years and charges $5 per hour, she provides two snacks and I provide lunch. They go on outings to the park and or the Rose Garden every day. Hope this helps. I guess what I'm saying is that for $11-$12 per hour one can find their own nanny that will come to their house and be one-on-one with their child.
Nanny rates 2000 and earlier
Dec 2000
I am looking for nannies and I am baffled at the range of the rates that are charged by individuals nannies. I would like to find out what people think is the best way to negotiate a rate, especially with people that prefer to be paid cash (to avoid taxes).
Nov 2000
Regarding going rates for nannies. When we were in the share situation it was $14 per hour ($7 per child) The nanny drove and had her own car, her english was o.k. - not great. The nanny we have now was $8 for our one child, we now pay her $8.50. She does not drive and has limited english, though there is no problem communicating. I have promised her another raise as soon as she passes her driving test.
We pay our nannies $10-12/hour, with overtime, two weeks vacation, sick time and retention bonuses. We've offered to pay health insurance but, to date, they've already had it through spouses.
Oct 2000
To the parent wondering about current Nanny rates, we pay $12 per hour for our two kids, ages 5 and 2.5. Our nanny drives and speaks fluent english. She is also very well educated and really engages my kids.
We have a wonderful full-time nanny that we pay $10 for taking care of our infant and $12 when taking care of our 2 children. We pay vacation and sick days with a guaranteed weekly salary. She has been working for us for only 3 months. We interviewed many potential nannies and several were asking for $16.50/hr plus benefits. One was asking for $8 for one and $12 for two. We found that costs vary tremendously.
We pay our nanny $9.00/hour for 50 guaranteed hours of work per week, caring for one child. We occasionally share her with another family, and we still pay $9/hour and the other family pays $10/hour. If we use her for additional babysitting time, we pay her $10/hour.
I have another pay question -- about a live-in nanny. We found a great person whom we'd like to pay at the rate of $10 an hour for our one child, for about 20 hours of work per week. How much of that can count as an exchange for the room (separate entrance with bathroom but no kitchen, however we're willing to put in a kitchenette). Food is not included because the nanny chooses to eat out. This person is from outside the country, has no idea what to expect, and is uncomfortable talking about money. We have no experience, so we want to make sure we are being fair to all of us. Thanks for any input.
In response to the question about childcare rates, I've been using various part-time nannies for over 3 years now, and we used to pay $7 - 8 per hour ($4 - 6 per hour for teenagers sitting in the evenings); we now pay closer to $10 per hour for 1 kid, and $14 per hour for 2. I think it's possible to pay less (also easy to pay more: I have to work to find people at these rates), but after meeting so many potential babysitters and having working relationships with half a dozen over these 3 years, I've come to the conclusion that it's not worth it to worry about a dollar or two more or less an hour -- just as with most other things, the people who are really committed, responsible, dependable realize their worth and tend to charge more.... Good luck!
Rate depends on the number of hours you would use the sitter for. If you are using them on a part time basis and you want them to have a car then $10/hour is typical. However, for full time situations (at least 40 hours per week) the rate can be $8/hour for a very good nanny.
March 2000
I looked at the website - the responses are from Jan 99. They seem to range from a low of $6 (for shares) to a high of $11 (for one child). My nanny -- who is great -- wants $13 per hour for one child, $15 per hour for a share of two. She insists this is well within the range of reason. I really want to keep her and don't want to insult her, but her $13/hour rate for one child seems high to me. I feel she should be on the high end of whatever is being paid, because she's really terrific, but I don't want to pay more than that. (In addition to the hourly rate, I will pay SS and taxes, and give her paid sick leave and vacation). Have nanny salaries gone up since January 99? Any advice?
Nanny salaries have gone up substantially since January 99, and the market is very tight. $15.00 an hour for one child was average for the very qualified candidates we interviewed.
I don't have any advice, but I can share my experience. We have a very good, experienced, full-time nanny who spends 50 hours a week with our infant daughter. She does not drive and does not have a social security number. We started her last fall at $9/hour, with sick time and vacations as needed. She has been asking for a raise. We will probably give her $10/hour since we think she is very good, but also because we are very dependent upon her and afraid of losing her. She recently considered a share situation with a neighbor. The neighbor's child would come to our house 4-6 hours twice a week. I had always heard that in a share situation, both families pay less; these days approximately $7/hour each family. However, our nanny is insisting that the new child pay $10/hour, and we continue to pay our standard rate, which means she would earn close to $20/hour for two infants! She claims she would charge less if it were a full time share, but that part-time rates are always higher than full time. I'm assuming the neighbor will have an easy time finding a less costly alternative, but then again, perhaps demand for quality childcare has really increased without a concomitant increase in supply.
Prices have been going up as the market is tight. We just increased our Nanny's salary in January to $12 for 2 children and $9 for one. We pay vacation, holidays, sick time and she get's our vacation days off too. Our nanny is absolutely wonderful and I'm sure she could get more money if she wanted, but we are not in a position to be able to pay more. When hiring her about 1 year ago, we struggled with the issue of taxes and found that many of the nannies we interviewed only wanted the job if we paid cash. I decided to give in on that issue and hire the best nanny we could find and afford. Previously, we did pay the taxes on our first Nanny's salary. The problem I see for you is that if she isn't getting paid what she wants, she will be unhappy and perhaps start looking for another job.
I've been paying $9/hr for one nanny and $10/hr for another. When I've had a share it's usually been $6/hr. per child (so when there were three kids, the nanny received $18/hr.) In my experience, younger people tend to charge more and what your caretaker is asking for definitely seems past the high end. You might want to look around, especially at nannies who are not native English speakers.
Regarding what to pay a nanny. Of course there is a wide range, with many variables. If you want a nanny who is educated, has CPR, first-aid, Trustline, excellent references, and at least ten years of experience, expect to pay $13 for one child, and $15 for two. Also, nannies should be paid a weekly salary, week in, week out. Meaning, if you go on vacation, you should still pay her. I work as a nanny and my family pays me $300 per week ($15/hour, twenty hours/week) regardless of holidays, vacations, illness in their family or in mine. If they didn't, as a single mother with no other source of income, I'd really be up a creek. As a result of their excellent treatment of me and their respect for me as the person who cares for their children, and as the head of my own household, I am extremely loyal to them, and often go out of my way to help them out.
We pay our nanny $14 an hour and think she deserves that much. She works 25 hours a week caring for our two school aged sons. She picks them up from school, takes them where they need to go, cares for them when they are at home and does light housekeeping (mostly laundry) and some errands. We split the social security taxes and pay her when we are on vacation (at least two weeks a year - usually more) and when she is sick. A great nanny is hard to find and if you think she deserves to be on the high end of whatever is being paid, $13/hour doesn't seem high to me. I don't think there's anything more worth spending money on than quality care for your children so if you can afford it, I'd pay her that much to keep her.
We have had our childcare provider for 4 1/2 years. In addition to her 14 dollar/hr salary (for two children) we provide health insurance and money for car mileage - both of these are ways that her monthly take home is increased but neither of us pays taxes on this money. The health insurance effectively adds a dollar a hour to her salary, tax free.
I was a little surprised by what seemed to be somewhat high rates quoted for nanny salaries. Obviously it depends on amount of experience, level of responsibility (picking up, driving kids to different places, etc.). We are now paying $6/hr/child for a share with two children which we think is a competitive rate (based on our search last Nov./Dec. and on talking to friends with nannies). We also pay holidays and two weeks vacation. When we were looking we found the range was from $5/hr/child - $7/hr/child for shares with two children. Rates for taking care of one child ranged from $8/hr - $10/hr, but the child care providers charging $10/hr had many years of experience (10+). Anyway, that's just our experience, but we didn't go through a nanny agency. Just looked through BANANAS and this list.
When I looked recently, the rates for one child ran mostly from $8/hr to $10/hr. People with more experience, fluent English, and a car were on the higher end. For two children, there was more variability. I saw rates from $8 to $15 for two, with most around $10/hr. Shares tended to be about $6 or $7/hr each.
I do know a few relatively well-to-do families who have very experienced nannies with fluent English and a car, who pay more. My guess is that parents who can afford it are paying above the market to retain someone they really like (probably most of us with average incomes wish we could pay our nannies more!).
Jan 1999
We pay $8/hr for one child, and guarantee a minimum monthly payment of $1300 (even if hours worked that month fall under the minimum). Some light housekeeping if there's time.
I have a nanny share and she charges us $6.00/hour between 8am and 6pm and any hours before or after she charges $6.50. This cost is per child and there are two children. We do not ask her to do any household chores. For one child she charges $8.00/hour. She does use her own car and we plan to begin paying her for gas... We pay her share of FICA, etc, but not her portion of the income tax. I'll be curious to see how her wages compare. She is due a raise soon and she gives me the impression other nannies make $7/hr but we're not ready for that. The comparisons may help me also. p.s. I do think experience is a consideration and our nanny has about 14 years experience.
We pay $6/hour for a share (the other family pays her $6 also. She cares for both infants at the same time. When she is caring for just my child, I pay her $9/hour, which I consider high, but I also occasionally have her watch my older child too during that time and don't pay more for that. We expect her to wash up some dishes and fold laundry in addition to her childcare duties, but only when the babies are sleeping. In reality, she doesn't do much of that.
We have had multiple nannies (for one child, live out) and paid between $11/hr and $12/hr depending on experience.
We pay $10/hr (!) for our nanny. She does a bit of cleaning: I've come home to a sparkling, shiny, kitchen floor, our rumply bed made-up, baby laundry done, and the house generally tidied up. However, some days she's not able to do so because of my child's mood. She comes to our house and looks after our son two days a week.
1. 10.00/hr
2. one child
3. not a share; just our family
4. additional duties: nothing regular, but ocassionally, sweeping, dusting,dishes
We pay our nanny $7/hr to take care of our 1 year old full-time. We also pay her taxes. If she takes care of 2 babies, then she earns $11/hr. We live in Oakland. She doesn't do any cleaning. A friend of mine who has a nanny part-time for 12 hrs/week pay $8/hr to care for a 1 year old. She also lives in Oakland. Another friend of mine lives in Livermore and pays $8/hr part-time for 2 kids, 3 and 5 1/2. rates do vary.
We have a fabulous nanny that works 40 hrs/week (four 10-hour days), caring for two kids ages 4 and 2; she drives my 4-year-old to preschool (3 days a week) and does all the laundry for the family (YAHOO!) She also does other light housekeeping and errands. We pay her $10/hr plus medical insurance and we pay all the nanny taxes.
9.50/hr + all taxes + $15/week gas/food allowance takes care of one child 50 hours/week, does all housework, laundry and grocery shopping. We've also given her various personal loans over the past three years. Insurance Alert: I just read in Kiplinger's Magazine that the nanny has to have special insurance coverage if she/he drives your child around. They consider it commercial use of the vehicle and will not cover claims under astandard auto policy. We will pay the additiional premium for our nanny.
$25-35 for private nanny, higher end of that if very experienced, using own car and/or expected to do light housekeeping.
$20 per family is standard for nanny share
We've paid $30-35 for a single child and $40 total for a share ($20 each).
I just hired a nanny for my 3 month old and her rate is $25/hr. I work from home and still breastfeed my baby during my breaks and lunches, so the nanny helps mainly with keeping the baby on her sleep and eating routine. No housework or anything else is part of her services. Good luck!
We are in a share and each family pays 17.50/hr, so a total of 35/hr since the babies were 4 months old. She cleans the kids stuff that they use and does light meal prep for the babies lunch and snacks, like cutting fruit etc