This post was sponsored by UrbanSitter.
The answer to how much you pay a sitter varies greatly depending on a lot of factors. One of the biggest is geography! Sometimes — when the rate feels too low or high — I need to whisper it rather than speak the number out loud. But let’s get real here. You’re wondering how much I pay and I’m wondering how much you pay. Living in the Bay Area, I pay near the top end of the range. Gulp. I’ve gone from paying $20 an hour for one baby to $5 an hour for two toddlers (once on vacation!) and back again to $12 an hour for all three children (but I found myself whispering that number, so I gave her a raise).
UrbanSitter did a nationwide study of how much folks pay their sitters and nannies and here’s the scoop:
Click to see the gigantic infographic in all its glory
At this point, a regular night out is $15/hour but when I go to a backup sitter, they often want more than $20. Gulp again. I don’t blame them, you couldn’t pay me enough to babysit for 3 kids. [Related: Put your babysitter on a retainer to take the emotional sting out of the financial pinch].
Because I still have a wild one-year old in the house, I feel more comfortable with a 20-, 30-, or 40-something with lots of experience, but I dream of the imaginary high school student who’s also our next door neighbor and totally reliable for less than $10 an hour.
So, spill it. How much do you pay for babysitting? Ooh, and I’m also wondering, do you ever tip a babysitter or nanny?
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This post was sponsored by the fabulous folks at UrbanSitter.com, who make it so easy for you to find sitters that your friends and contacts already like. All experiences with sitters described above really happened to me.
