Neither Mr. Ice Cream nor I live near our parents, which means we don’t have access to regular babysitters. However, we are lucky enough that our parents visit regularly and always encourage us to have date nights when they are here. So the need for a babysitter didn’t come up until Max was around a year old. At that point we finally introduced ourselves to our neighbors and found out they had a daughter who was a senior in high school and loved babysitting. I’ll call her D. The first time we met D we could tell she was a responsible kid. She was mature, polite and well spoken. We were a little hesitant that she was only 18, but we took comfort in that her parents lived across the street in case any emergencies came up. We had no idea how much to pay her but after asking around we decided on $12/hr. When we asked D if that was okay, her eyes seemed to light up like that was more than she was expecting.
We eased D into her babysitting duties, starting off with short 1-2 hour time slots with no diaper changes or snacks needed. Eventually she was giving Max dinner, changing diapers, and putting him to sleep. D eventually left for college and we were back to square one in our babysitter search.
This time we were a little more proactive about our search. We asked friends, neighbors and checked out care.com. While perusing care.com we came across one of Max’s daycare teachers. We liked the idea of someone he would be immediately familiar with and immediately reached out to her. I’ll call her R. She has considerable more experience than D, but we ended up offering her the same $12 rate. At this point Max was over 2 and much easier than when he was an infant. The first time we had R babysit Max we ended up paying her closer to $14/hr, mainly because she was so much more experienced than D, a high schooler, and we felt guilty for offering the same rate. Plus Max had a great time with her and even asked the next day if she was coming over to play.
I know babysitting rates differ depending on where you live, but I would love to know how much you pay your babysitters and what your expectations are.
guest
I live right outside NYC- there’s a high school group of babysitters in my town and they charge $12/hour, I pay au pairs or college age sitters $15/hour and Nannies who babysit usually ask for $18-$20/hour.
nectarine / 2047 posts
I live in Chicago and pay $10/hr for a college aged babysitter. That’s what she asked for. We usually give her a pretty large tip though bc she’s so amazing. It usually equals out to about $12/hr
pomegranate / 3272 posts
When I lived in Chicago, we would pay $12/hr for one of DS1’s daycare teachers to babysit. He was a baby and was asleep the whole time but still. I know my friend in the city pays almost $20/hr for her 2 kids.
I am lucky to have my parents close by now that we’re in the suburbs so we haven’t had the need for babysitters. However, we just used a sophomore in HS recently and she charged $10/hr for my 2 boys.
guest
I live in Virginia and I am lucky that my mom or mother-in-law has been our go-to babysitter, although we rarely ever go out, and if we do its after the kids are in bed. I have only hired a babysitter one time in the last almost 5 years (my oldest will be 5 in July). I paid her $15/hr. That was technically for 2 kids (oldest was at MIL’s), but I was there to help with the baby. I only left her in charge for brief periods while I got dressed to go out. I left the house after the baby was down. I didn’t feel confident that my 76 year old MIL could handle all three kids 4 and under.
grapefruit / 4321 posts
I live in metro area in TN and we paid $10/hr for one kid and now $15/hr for two.
blogger / apricot / 250 posts
Thanks for all the comments, it’s so interesting to hear how much everyone pays for their babysitters.
coffee bean / 33 posts
its neat to see that even all over we pay around the same! We live in Nashville and pay our highschool sitter $10 an hour for our 2 girls and we pay our older sitter (she does driving, feeding and putting to bed) $12. we moved from downtown Atlanta and paid a tad much more. $12 for a highschooler and $15 for our regular older sitter.
guest
We live in a Midwest college-town and pay $12/hour for one kid and $15/hr for 2 kids. I remember growing up and making $5/hour and feeling like I was RICH! Our babysitters are doing much better now even factoring in inflation
pomelo / 5524 posts
We’re north of Philadelphia, and we pay $12/hour to someone who used to be a day care teacher. She now substitutes at an elementary school in our district, but is unmarried and still lives at home…in her early 20s. She’s fantastic with both boys and will feed them, bathe them and put them down for us.
pomelo / 5084 posts
$15/hour (St. Louis). But we have only ever had a teacher from his school so it’s not a college kid or anything.
cherry / 187 posts
$15-$20 per hour for a daycare teacher for our 2 girls in the DC area.
wonderful cherry / 21504 posts
We pay our high school age sitter about $15 an hour for our two kids, whether they are awake or asleep. I asked her what her rate was and that’s what she said and it seems fair to me. We are in the suburbs of Boston.
In the city we had a 20 something, in between jobs pediatric nurse who charged 15 an hour for one kid and 20 for two.
clementine / 920 posts
It is helpful to see what others are paying and interesting that rates are all so similar. We are in the suburbs of Atlanta and had our first paid babysitter (usually it is my in-laws) over the weekend. It was a nurse that had cared for our son and we paid $15/hour. For someone less experienced I would expect closer to $12/hour.
apricot / 424 posts
Live in southern NH and pay $15-$20 for one of the girls from daycare for 2 kids. Sometimes it is typical to lower the rate a bit once the kids go to bed, but I don’t do that.
blogger / pomelo / 5361 posts
We live in Texas in a smaller city. We pay $10/hr for one kid and add $2/hr for each child there after. So, if it’s for all three, we pay $14/hr. That’s for high school/college age babysitters.
guest
We live in Silicon Valley where everything is expensive. My current sitter, a high school senior, only charges $13/hr to watch my two kids (ages 1.75 and 4) and I feel like she’s a bargain. My last sitter was a college student and charged $17/hr. I’ve seen rates on care.com listed as anywhere between $10 and $40 per hour, depending on the caregiver.