How Much Should I Ask for Babysitting for Family
Deciding how much to accuse for your babysitting services can be a stressful decision. If y'all charge too much, parents might refuse to hire yous. If you charge besides little, you may be missing out on a lot of extra money.
Allow's start by looking at the average babysitting rates in cities effectually the world, and then we'll cover the diverse factors that can influence your pay per hr. Past the finish of this article, you should have a good idea of how much you lot should charge for your babysitting services.
US Babysitting Rates
US Babysitting rates varies significantly per city. The average hourly pay ranges from $10.95 in Las Vegas to $19.74 in San Francisco for a single child, and from $fourteen.63 to $22.44 for two children. The country averages are $17.73 for i child, $20.xxx for ii children, and $21.49 for iii children.
| The states City | i Kid | ii Kids |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $nineteen.74 | $22.44 |
| Boston | $xviii.94 | $xix.65 |
| Seattle | $eighteen.28 | $nineteen.34 |
| New York City | $xviii.01 | $20.26 |
| Los Angeles | $17.41 | $nineteen.77 |
| Washington DC | $sixteen.43 | $18.56 |
| Chicago | $16.32 | $16.97 |
| Nashville | $15.72 | $16.15 |
| Austin | $15.54 | $18.45 |
| Philadelphia | $fifteen.22 | $16.84 |
| San Diego | $xiv.96 | $17.21 |
| Portland | $14.95 | $19.26 |
| Denver | $14.77 | $17.09 |
| Atlanta | $xiv.72 | $xvi.23 |
| Table salt Lake City | $14.62 | $17.22 |
| Miami | $14.60 | $18.00 |
| Sacramento | $fourteen.11 | $16.17 |
| Minneapolis | $13.94 | $fourteen.68 |
| Dallas | $13.75 | $xiii.78 |
| Houston | $13.40 | $sixteen.18 |
| Phoenix | $12.41 | $14.42 |
| New Orleans | $12.30 | $fifteen.96 |
| San Antonio | $11.97 | $13.22 |
| Raleigh | $11.eighty | $14.77 |
| Las Vegas | $10.95 | $fourteen.63 |
(Source: UrbanSitter)
Babysitting Rates in Canada
Babysitting rates in Canada vary moderately per land and tend to be higher in bigger cities. Hourly pay tin range from a depression of CA$9.75 in Burlington, Ontario to a high of CA$xv.49 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The boilerplate charge per unit across Canada is CA$11.59 per hour.
| Canadian City | Average Charge per unit |
|---|---|
| Vancouver, British Columbia | $14.00 |
| Hamilton, Ontario | $14.00 |
| Toronto, Ontario | $12.77 |
| Victoria, British Columbia | $12.00 |
| Ottawa, Ontario | $11.82 |
| Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | $11.79 |
| Edmonton, Ontario | $11.75 |
| Calgary, Alberta | $11.59 |
| Winnipeg, Manitoba | $11.24 |
| Halifax, Nova Scotia | $11.xix |
| Kitchener, Ontario | $ten.85 |
| Montréal, Québec | $10.52 |
| Moncton, New Brunswick | $10.48 |
| London, Ontario | $10.25 |
| Burlington, Ontario | $10.24 |
(Source: PayScale)
United kingdom Babysitting Rates
Babysitting rates in the United kingdom vary significantly from a depression of £half-dozen.65 per hr to a high of £22.85 per hour. The average charge per unit for babysitters beyond England is £11.59 per hour. Locations in the inner-city where at that place is a high cost of living tend to have higher babysitting rates.
| UK City | Average Rate |
|---|---|
| Brighton | £12.91 |
| Wokingham | £12.25 |
| Southampton | £xi.87 |
| Cambridge | £11.79 |
| Oxford | £eleven.77 |
| London | £11.72 |
| Esher | £eleven.57 |
| Bristol | £xi.22 |
| Bath | £10.93 |
| Manchester | £x.79 |
| Birmingham | £10.35 |
| Sheffield | £ten.35 |
| Newcastle | £10.17 |
| Leeds | £9.99 |
| Leicester | £9.59 |
| Nottingham | £879 |
(Source: Indeed)
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My book, Babysitting Business Secrets, is out at present equally an inexpensive ebook or full-color paperback. If you lot're serious nigh condign the all-time babysitter you lot can exist, or if you lot want to make as much coin as possible, then this book is perfect for you lot. I reveal all my tricks and tips for first-time babysitters or experienced sitters who just want to upwards their game. Get your copy today! Or, learn more about the book here.
What is the minimum babysitting rate in the U.k.?
For babysitters less than 17 years old, the minimum wage is £four.55 per hour, for ages 18 to twenty the minimum is £vi.45, for ages 21 to 24 the minimum is £8.20, and for 25 years and over the minimum wage is £viii.72 per hour. You must be at to the lowest degree school leaving historic period to get the National Minimum Wage. (source)
Babysitting Rates in Australia
Babysitting rates in Australia are very consistent across all cities. The average hourly pay ranges from a low of $fourteen.87 to a loftier of $25.17 simply near jobs are much closer to the land average for a babysitter of $19.72 per hour.
| City | Boilerplate Rate |
|---|---|
| Newcastle | $20.17 |
| Adelaide | $twenty.00 |
| Sydney | $19.93 |
| Melbourne | $nineteen.89 |
| Perth | $19.78 |
| Brisbane | $19.69 |
| Toowoomba | $17.70 |
| Aureate Declension | $17.00 |
(Source: PayScale)
Now permit's figure out how much y'all're actually worth as a babysitter.
How to Set a Off-white Babysitting Rate
Unfortunately, I tin't just suggest ane number that yous should use as your babysitting charge per unit. There are too many babysitting variables to accept into business relationship.
I would say that $ten per hour (or your regional equivalent) is a good minimum number to ready as your baseline. In well-nigh any city in the The states, Canada, or the Great britain yous would be competitive at those prices. In Australia, a skillful base rate would be closer to $15 per hour.
I'd avoid going below $ten per hour unless you're a brand new babysitter without much experience. Otherwise, yous're probable selling yourself a bit brusque.
That's just the minimum though. In some cities, an average experienced babysitter tin make closer to $25 per 60 minutes! Then y'all'll actually demand to consider all of the factors below and encounter how they might affect what you're able to charge.
If you're worried about speaking to parents about pay, read my article: How To Negotiate A Babysitting Charge per unit.
Start By Request Around
If y'all're a babysitter or are just looking to showtime babysitting, and so you probably have other friends in the same position equally y'all.
Ask your babysitting friends what they're getting paid. There's no damage in request, and if they're willing to share information technology will requite you a actually good insight into what yous might want to charge yourself.
Your friends are likely around the aforementioned historic period, experience level, and in the aforementioned metropolis every bit you. And so it will be a really authentic way to tell how much your own rate should be as a babysitter.
Ask family members and other people you lot know with children how much they pay for their own babysitters.
Asking parents serves two purposes. It will give yous a good idea of what parents are willing to pay their babysitters and gives you a different perspective. Plus it shows parents that you're interested in babysitting, and they may even offer you a task!
Consider These 12 Babysitting Factors That May Influence Your Pay
Like I mentioned earlier, in that location are a bunch of different factors that will determine how much you're able to charge every bit a babysitter.
Hither I'll discuss most of the big ones.
1. How Quondam Are You?
For many parents, age is synonymous with experience and maturity.
Outset impressions are really of import when y'all're interviewing for a babysitting job, and how sometime you lot appear is a large part of that.
Information technology's not actually off-white, but I feel like near parents probably assume y'all should pay a 17-twelvemonth-old babysitter more than a 14 yr one-time ane. Simply in many cases, the older babysitter might just have one year of babysitting experience while the younger one has three years of feel!
I bring this up so that you can be aware of information technology. As a younger babysitter, you're probably going to have to negotiate more and actually evidence that you're a mature and experienced babysitter.
If you're a smaller person you might run into similar problems since parents will perceive you as beingness younger.
I'll talk about some of the tools you can use to overcome whatever potential biases of beingness a immature babysitter in the next few sections.
Just how young can yous start babysitting? Check out our guide to babysitting historic period for the answer.
2. What's Your Feel Similar?
How many years have you been a bodyguard or take had experience working with children?
In my opinion, your feel is a much more than important factor that parents should exist considering when hiring a bodyguard instead of age.
Who would you rather rent? Someone who simply finished their babysitting course and has never actually watched children before, or someone with five years of experience?
With experience comes a lot of perks. A more than experienced babysitter has probably seen and dealt with every tough situation that children have to offer. They know how to put a kid to bed without causing a tantrum. They've got an overall meliorate judgment and will take a ameliorate handle on any difficult situations that might arise.
They too probable agree more than specialized skills that not every babysitter has, like how to change diapers or warm up a bottle and feed a baby (Run across more than baby care tips hither).
So if yous're an experienced babysitter, look to charge a bit more. All of that knowledge and previous experience is definitely worth something! Parents with infants volition especially pay a premium for the peace of heed and expertise that a more seasoned babysitter can offering.
If you lot're non an experienced babysitter, don't worry! Not every parent is looking for the world's near qualified sitter. Parents with older children who are well-behaved might just exist in the market for a cheaper babysitter and don't need someone so experienced.
Encounter our accented beginners guide: How to start babysitting with no experience.
If y'all've ever worked at a daycare or schoolhouse, be certain to list childcare feel on your babysitting resume! Even if it was volunteer work, it's nevertheless valuable experience that you've gained while working with children. You lot tin can also include looking later younger siblings as well!
3. Are You A Highly Qualified Bodyguard?
Every slice of grooming that y'all've gone through to improve your babysitting skills should be taken into account when you lot're working out your rate.
Yous paid money and spent the time to attend a class and you've come out of it with specialized skills that add to your value as a babysitter.
Encounter my recommended babysitting courses.
CPR and First Help Certification are the first types of qualifications that you should await to go as a babysitter. It volition railroad train you in how to bargain with most urgent medical situations that could ascend while you're babysitting. Not every bodyguard has CPR or Offset Help Grooming, and those who practice can really offer some extra peace of heed to parents that their children are in good hands.
Parents will also be impressed if they know you bring a first aid kit on your babysitting jobs (hither'due south a great 1 that we recommend).
If yous've finished an Early Childhood Educational activity Program, or even if you're even so in schoolhouse, that'southward another valuable qualification that should continue your babysitting resume.
Similarly, if y'all're in school to be a social worker or whatsoever program that helps you to deal with children who have a disability or special needs, that'south a huge asset as well.
Even seemingly unrelated fields like psychology can relate to babysitting and used as a reason why you deserve to be paid more than a babysitter without your qualifications! You can mention how you understand the cognitive evolution phases of children and whatsoever other relevant details.
If you've had a Working With Children Cheque (WWCC) or any other type of background cheque that shows you tin can safely piece of work with children, that'south another certification to share with parents besides.
For a total list of qualifications that expect great when applying for babysitting jobs, cheque out my article on Babysitting Qualifications.
four. Where Do You lot Alive?
Your geographic location is probably the biggest determining factor when it comes to how much you'll get paid as a bodyguard, at least if you live in America.
In the United states of america, the amount that babysitters get paid varies wildly from one city to the next. Fifty-fifty if they're inside a short altitude of each other, in that location can withal be huge disparities.
For case, in Detroit, a babysitter earns an average of $12.l. But in Boston, that same babysitter would get paid $eighteen.94! (source, source)
Generally larger cities with a high cost of living are where babysitters are able to charge the most. Cities in the "flyover states" in the middle of the country tend to have lower babysitting rates.
In Canada, babysitting rates are more consistent across the board. In the vast majority of cities, the average bodyguard gets paid betwixt $10 and $14, with only a few big cities like Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton sometimes reaching above that. The average rate is nowhere near the babysitting prices charged by their neighbors to the South.
In the UK, babysitting rates are comparable to Canada's. Outside of London where prices are higher, babysitters make between effectually £viii and £12 per hour.
In Australia, babysitting rates are highest and boilerplate between $xix and $xx per hour. Like Canada and the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland, babysitting rates in Australia are quite consistent between cities.
The higher rate for babysitters in Australia is likely because they have a higher minimum wage. $19.49 per hour equally of June 10, 2020 (source). Workers in Australia generally earn a college wage than those doing the aforementioned task in America.
v. How Many Children Are Yous Babysitting?
Watching more than children is overall more than piece of work. There are more than messes to make clean upwardly, more atmosphere tantrums, and generally more duties to exist performed
Just dealing with ii children isn't twice as much work equally dealing with one. You do become a bit of efficiency from dealing with multiple kids at one time.
As a full general rule, you can accuse an actress $ane or $two per hour to your charge per unit for each extra child y'all're watching. So if you ordinarily charge $11 per hour to watch 1 kid, yous can charge $12 or $13 per hour to picket two children.
half dozen. Will You Be Watching Pets As Well?
Pet sitting is oft considered an entirely separate job all on its own.
If the family you're babysitting for, has pets, you'll probably need to watch them and make sure they don't go into trouble besides.
Cats and smaller pets like hamsters and birds don't need much input from a bodyguard. But dogs are more high maintenance and may demand to be let outside every few hours to go to the bath, or fed their dinner.
When factoring pets into the babysitting charge per unit I'd await at each pet individually to decide. Some dogs are super low maintenance and will just lay on the couch all nighttime without whatever extra piece of work on your role.
Other dogs will want lots of attention and to play games with you. Some dogs may besides have behavioral issues like going to the bath in the house or ripping furniture that you need to either foreclose or bargain with at the time.
For lazy dogs that don't need much attention, I wouldn't charge any extra. If you're basically going to be babysitting a very active dog the entire time, I would care for them like another child and add an extra $1 or $2 to my rate.
Of class, if you lot have allergies or you're not an fauna person, you might but want to reject opportunities to babysit for families with pets entirely!
vii. When Volition You lot Be Babysitting?
Services similar Lyft and Uber conform their pricing depending on demand (source). Getting a ride on New Year'south Eve will cost y'all a lot more than getting a ride on a random Wednesday afternoon.
That's merely supply and demand. You might want to consider taking a similar approach to your babysitting.
The well-nigh popular times of the week for parents to use babysitters are Fri and Saturday nights.
At those times, most babysitters are booked so at that place are less to go around.
They are also the times when you might want to go to a party or hang out with your friends yourself! So past babysitting, y'all're as well giving upwardly the opportunity to go practice something more than fun instead.
For both of those reasons, I'd consider charging actress during these peak babysitting times.
You might also desire to accuse a bit extra during inconvenient times. Like if a family wants you to be at their house to get-go babysitting at seven am on the weekend, or if they need you to babysit on a holiday. Valentine's Twenty-four hours and New year's day'due south Eve are the two busiest holidays when it comes to babysitting, and families oftentimes demand to book their sitter well in advance.
See our consummate guide to babysitting on New Yr's Eve and learn but how much extra you can earn on these special occasions.
I also accept a guide to babysitting on Valentine'southward Day for lots of tips for this special day.
Babysitting at night is a scrap more than tricky. It can be abrasive to babysit until midnight or one am when you just want to go home and sleep. However, babysitting in one case the kids have gone to bed is too a lot easier. You lot can relax a lot more and only demand to check in on them occasionally. The positive and negative aspect of babysitting tardily sort of even out, so I wouldn't charge any extra in that instance.
See our guides for more info:
- How to babysit at dark
- Overnight Babysitting guide
eight. How Involved Volition You Be As A Sitter?
Babysitters come up in all types. Some are super engaged and ever show up with crafts and activities for children to practise, even spending their own money on supplies. Others are fine to let the children sit and sentinel boob tube for the unabridged evening or play on a tablet.
See our over 200 babysitting games and activities for inspiration when planning a sitting job.
If you're the more active type of babysitter, you should actually use that as a selling point to parents to explain why yous might accuse a higher rate than other babysitters.
For many parents, it'southward worth the extra $1 or $2 per hour to pay for a really engaging babysitter. Especially if you lot're doing a physically demanding action with the children that will go them nice and tired out and then they'll be ready for bed when the parents get home!
Take your skills to the next level, read our guide: How babysitters can nurture children and bring out their all-time.
nine. What Type of Children Will You lot Exist Watching?
1 babysitting chore can be totally different than the next depending on the type of child or children that you're going to be in accuse of.
Infants and toddlers tend to require a lot more constant attending and intendance. Specially for newborn babies that may need to exist inverse and fed every hour or two!
Babysitting older kids tends to be easier since yous can have a less easily-on arroyo. They're old enough to do their ain thing and you're just there to make sure they don't get into trouble. You can give them crafts or other activities to keep them busy for a few hours at a time.
Watching children with disabilities or special needs adds an extra layer of complexity. Particularly if you don't have much experience babysitting them previously. They might not be able to do sure tasks, and may not fifty-fifty exist able to communicate effectively with you at all.
Run into our tips for babysitting children with autism.
You might desire to look at each family and adjust your rates on a case by case ground. One family might have an piece of cake-going child that is ever happy and does everything you lot ask. Another family's kid might exist a nightmare and you're kept on your toes every infinitesimal.
ten. Are Yous Providing Any Extra Services?
You've got your base of operations-rate that you charge just for babysitting. Simply and then yous might increase your rate a bit more depending on any extra services that the family asks you to exercise.
Some things that might become above and beyond your basic babysitting duties include picking children up from schoolhouse, cooking dinner for them, tutoring and helping with homework, and doing household cleaning later everyone has gone to bed (Learn about cleaning expectations here).
Going higher up and across is an splendid way to get rave reviews from parents and become recommended to other families to babysit for. If you feel like yous're doing more than what should be expected for you though, it might exist time to renegotiate how much you're getting paid.
11. How Far Practice You Have To Travel?
If the family you're babysitting for lives in a more rural area or on the edge of boondocks, it could hands take 20 or xxx minutes to get from your business firm to theirs, fifty-fifty if y'all drive.
Between the trip at that place and the trip back abode, that's an extra 40 minutes to an 60 minutes of your time! If you could find a family that lives within a couple of blocks of your home to babysit for instead, yous could probably save a full actress hour of your time.
If a babysitting job is far out of the mode or will have a long time to get to, I recollect it's fair to accuse a flake college of a rate to cover transportation costs.
When pricing out babysitting jobs, call back of all of the time involved. That includes fourth dimension getting gear up, traveling there and back, on top of the bodily hours that you'll be spending babysitting.
Curious if babysitters tin can merits mileage as an expense on your tax return? Check out my article: Can Y'all Write Off Babysitting Expenses?
12. Are Yous Getting Any Extra Babysitter Perks?
Yous could be doing some extra tasks while y'all're babysitting, only it could also be going the other mode also.
Does the family unit y'all're babysitting for provide you lot with other benefits too getting paid at the end of the night?
Possibly 1 of the parents drives you dwelling when you're done babysitting. In that case, y'all need to consider the time they're taking to drive you home earlier bed, equally well as the cost of gas and other machine expenses.
Do the parents provide food for yous? If you're going to exist watching the children during dinner time, normally families will provide you with food to eat too. It might simply be splitting the meal that you're already cooking for the kids or reheating some leftovers for yourself.
If yous're really lucky, the parents might club you lot a pizza or allow you use their credit menu to lodge takeout for yourself. If that'south the case, and then you should think about how much free food you're getting each fourth dimension you babysit as well. You might exist getting food worth an amount that would take you several hours of babysitting to earn!
It's good to call up of the whole picture too. Maybe you babysit for one of the first families you ever worked for at a lower rate than what y'all charge new customers. But they might besides be providing y'all with lots of referrals to other families who need babysitters, which tin result in lots more babysitting jobs in the time to come.
What About Overtime Pay?
If a family unit calls to say they'll exist a couple of hours late, practise you charge actress for that additional fourth dimension?
In almost cases, I would say to just ask for your normal rate for any actress hours, instead of having a separate overtime charge per unit.
Babysitting is usually a function-fourth dimension chore anyway, so y'all aren't really entitled to extra pay when you work more than what you initially expected.
The exception would be if you're a full-fourth dimension bodyguard. In that case, in some places, y'all might be entitled to overtime pay (usually one.5x your normal charge per unit.) Peculiarly if the family regards you lot as a household employee and withholds taxes from your pay.
A lot of parents will pay you a chip extra as a tip for staying late. Simply I don't retrieve it's worth straining the human relationship you have with the family for a few extra dollars.
Should I Adjust My Prices For Family Members or Friends?
Family members or close friends of your family unit will normally expect to pay a scrap less when you babysit for them instead of a stranger.
To me, this seems a scrap backward. They hopefully know you really well and trust you lot with their kid. At least meliorate than a babysitter they've never met before! So why wouldn't they pay you at least the market rate to babysit for them?
If you want to charge less when babysitting for family members or friends, it's a personal pick. At that place are some proficient reasons to exercise it. Especially if the parents have helped you out in other areas of your life in the past, or some other reason why you need to repay a favor.
Y'all might even decide to babysit for free in some cases. For more data, check out my commodity on the topic: Should You lot Babysit For Gratuitous?
Conclusion
Your babysitting rate depends on a ton of dissimilar factors. Even the aforementioned babysitter might offer actually different rates to different families, depending on how many children they take, how they behave, and other factors.
In general, you tin can't get wrong starting with a base of operations rate of around what the minimum wage is where y'all live. Normally about $10 or $11. That's your base pay for an ideal scenario, similar a family that lives adjacent door with one well-behaved child.
Once you've got a base pay, yous can add on extras. For case, you might charge an extra $1 per hour for a family with a second child, an extra $1 per hr to make clean and tidy the house once the kids accept gone to bed, and another $ane or $2 per hour if information technology'due south a special occasion.
My advice would be to starting time off charging a rate similar to what other babysitters in your area are currently charging. Asking other friends who babysit can be a good place to get an initial cost. And then for future clients, you can outset offer higher rates based on your increasing feel and endeavor to see how much you lot can charge before people commencement proverb no.
Next:
Learn how to increase your babysitting pay
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Matthew Taylor
I'm a father of three beautiful kids from Sydney, Australia and I'grand the author of Babysitting Business Secrets, a book designed to aid anyone to create their ain successful and profitable babysitting service. I founded Kidsit in 2018 to bring together babysitters, parents, childcare workers, teachers, and medical professionals to help create the well-nigh trustworthy babysitting resource on the internet.
Renee Irving Lee, B.Ed.
Renee is a children'due south author and freelance writer from the Sunshine Coast, Commonwealth of australia. She has 20 years of combined experience working with children equally a babysitter, swim bus, special education instructor and an later-hours care supervisor.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Source: https://kidsit.com/babysitting-rate-guide
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