.jpg "When you find a good one, make sure to pay appropriately.")
When you find a good one, make sure to pay appropriately.
Determining the Pay Rate for your Sitter
It's one of the greatest mysteries of childcare: What should you pay your babysitter? Sometimes, you'll get lucky and hire a sitter who already has a set rate. Other times, you'll get a sitter who tosses it back to you with a nonchalant, "Oh, just pay whatever you think is reasonable." So what is reasonable?
As the founder and CEO of Sittercity.com and author of Love at First Sit, I've been sharing my childcare knowledge with parents across the country. Let's settle this mystery once and for all.
RATE AVERAGES
Before we examine the factors that can affect a babysitter's rate, we'll need a base to start from. Here are the national averages:
- College sitters: $12/hour
- High school sitters: $10/hour
- Elementary school sitters: $8/hour
FACTORS AFFECTING RATE
- Location. The closer you are to a metro area, the more you'll have to stick to the $10-15 national average. (Parents in the 'burbs may be able to get away with $1-2/hour less than those in the city.)
- Sitter's age/experience. The more experience a sitter has, the more valuable she is to your family. Even more so if she has knows CPR or first aid.
- Number of children and ages. Three or more children close in age can translate into a challenge for any sitter, so entice her with a slightly higher rate.
- Job responsibilities. When I was a sitter, a family advanced me a higher rate because they had installed a trampoline in the backyard. I thought I made out big but four hours of vaulting kids, broken pots and an unusual incident with a bird feeder was enough to make me feel like I earned every single penny afterwards. Lesson learned: Job responsibilities play a big part in determining rates.
- Transportation extras. Sitters don't mind a long commute if the job is long enough to offset the cost of gas. If it's not, consider factoring in half the price of gas when you've found the perfect sitter who just happens to live a little farther away.
CONFIRM YOUR RATES
- Talk to your friends. Ask your friends and neighbors what they are paying for their babysitter to help frame your own offer.
- Ask the sitter herself. Many sitters are able to state a $5 range, but you can't always expect one to give a firm quote. That's why you'll want to do the research so you're never caught off guard.
- Look online. Sittercity.com has a Rate Calculator, where you enter a few quick factors about your family and sitter, and it pulls from a database of jobs to give you an average rate in your local area.
With this information, you can reassess whether you may be underpaying (or overpaying) your sitter.
Genevieve Thiers,
Genevieve Thiers is the founder and CEO of Sittercity.com, America's largest and most trusted online source for caregivers. Thiers has shared childcare tips with audiences across the country, including those of the Today Show, The Wall Street Journal, The View, Parenting, Martha Stewart Living Radio and many more. She has also been featured on The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch and CNN Live's Young People Who Rock, won a spot on Crain's coveted 40 Under 40 List, been recognized by President Bush as the SBA's Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2006, and was the international UPS "Out of the Box" first place winner for her idea for Sittercity.com. Her first book, Love at First Sit, was published in spring of 2008. To learn more about Genevieve and her expert appearances nationwide, visit http://www.sittercity.com/press.
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