Parents' Guide 16 Aug 2025

Babysitter Pay Rates (The Complete Guide for Parents)

Written by
Matthew James Taylor
Kidsit Founder, General Manager

Want to find a high-quality babysitter for your kids without breaking the bank? One part of that is learning how much to pay your sitter.

How much do babysitters expect to get paid? Babysitting pay varies depending on where you live, along with other factors like your babysitter's experience, qualifications, how many kids they're watching for you, and the difficulty of the job.

In this article, you'll learn how much babysitters get paid in various countries and cities, and how to price a babysitter for your specific situation.

Jump to section:

• Babysitting rates by country:
  • United States
  • Canadian
  • United Kingdom
  • Australian
  • New Zealand
• Factors that affect babysitter pay
• What payment methods do babysitters prefer?

United States Average Babysitting Rates Per Hour

(Calculated weekly from our live member data — Updated 16 Aug 2025)

Canadian Average Babysitting Rates Per Hour

(Calculated weekly from our live member data — Updated 16 Aug 2025)

United Kingdom Average Babysitting Rates Per Hour

(Calculated weekly from our live member data — Updated 16 Aug 2025)

Australian Average Babysitting Rates Per Hour

(Calculated weekly from our live member data — Updated 16 Aug 2025)

New Zealand Average Babysitting Rates Per Hour

(Calculated weekly from our live member data — Updated 16 Aug 2025)

Factors That Affect Babysitter Pay

Many factors will impact what a babysitter will charge or is willing to accept as payment. Here are some big ones to keep in mind.

Where you live

The biggest factor that will impact how much your babysitter expects is your location.

Even from one city to another inside the same country or state, babysitter prices can vary more wildly than you'd probably ever expect.

Babysitters in the city are in high demand and they often charge more for their services.

Are the kids awake or asleep?

Looking after kids who are awake and bouncing off the walls is very different than periodically checking on them or tidying up the house a bit while they're asleep. Taking care of kids is much harder when they're awake for parents, and it's no different for babysitters either.

Your babysitter might be willing to accept a lower rate if your kids will be asleep for most of their shift, compared to a day job where the kids will be awake the entire time except for a nap (if they're lucky.)

Time of day

There are more babysitters available in the evening after 6 pm and on the weekends. That's because a lot of babysitters are students who only babysit part-time when they're not at school or university, and are limited on what time they can work.

Many parents opt for daycare or full-time nanny during the day, so a daytime babysitting job is pretty rare. But there are also less babysitters available to work during these times. Most daytime sitters are professional, full-time babysitters with more experience and who will likely charge a higher rate than your friend's daughter who is still in high school.

Like any business, babysitting is about supply and demand. Your city might have more or less babysitters who are willing to work during certain times, or on certain days.

Number of kids

Your babysitter will expect to be paid more to watch more than one kid. That seems fair since more kids, usually means more work, more messes, and more temper tantrums. It's more a factor for daytime babysitters though. During a nighttime babysitting shift, three sleeping kids aren't really much more work than one sleeping kid.

Day of the week

Friday and Saturday nights are when babysitters tend to charge the most. Lots of other parents are going out on dates on these nights so there's more demand for babysitters. Plus babysitters are likely giving up their own plans and potential parties to stay at your house and babysit, so it's a bit fair to charge a premium.

Experience

How much experience your babysitter has working with kids will also factor into how much they charge. There's a big difference between a brand new 12-year-old babysitter when compared to a 25-year-old babysitter who has been watching kids for over a decade. That impacts almost every part of their job, including their judgment and ability to handle difficult situations.

A younger sitter who expects less might be fine for a toddler who sleeps right through the night. But you'll want to pay more to get someone with more experience if you've got a newborn who can't sleep very well.

Holidays

At most other jobs, you'd earn time and a half for working on a holiday. A babysitter might feel the same and want extra pay to watch your kids on a holiday. After all, they could be at home spending time with their own family instead.

Babysitters are in high demand on special occasions. Especially Valentine's Day or New Years Eve. So expect to pay more than your usual rate during these high demand times.

Read my guides on how to hire a babysitter for New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day

Overtime pay

Similar to holidays, most full-time employees would expect to be paid overtime if they worked over their regular 40 hours per week. It's a bit tricky with sitters though since often they're only working part-time. If you're late getting home one night, should you increase their hourly rate for those extra hours, or just pay them their standard hourly rate? That's more of a personal choice.

Helping with homework

If your babysitter is acting as a tutor and helping your child with homework and exam preparation as well, you should likely be compensating them. Helping a kid struggle through their math homework takes a lot more patience and mental energy than just watching them play with Lego.

Babysitter's total level of involvement

One sitter might be happy to sit and watch your TV or play on their phone for minimum wage while your kids are asleep. But a babysitter who does arts and crafts with your kids, or needs to be constantly feeding and changing your infant deserves more than that.

When will you be home?

How late your night goes might impact how much your babysitter expects to be paid. It's common to pay a babysitter a bit extra per hour once their time goes past midnight. They'll probably have to sleep in and lose some time the next day to compensate or deal with being extra groggy from staying up late.

Are you providing food for them?

Will you leave leftovers for your babysitter to eat? Are you going to pick up McDonald's for them and drop it off? Will you leave them money to order a pizza? Or are they on their own when it comes to food?

Read about dinner expectations for babysitters so you know where you stand.

What's the transportation situation like?

Is your babysitter's parent dropping them off and picking them up?

Will you need to pick them up and drive them home yourself? In which case I'd be fine paying a bit less since you're probably going an extra 30 minutes out of your way to bring them to your home and back.

If they have their own car, it's more convenient for you but they might expect a bit more to cover the cost of gas, especially if it's a far drive to get to your house.

Cities like San Francisco and Manhattan are easy for a babysitter to get around using public transportation. But if you live in a smaller or more rural city, it can easily take your babysitter 30 minutes or more each way to get to your home. In the latter case, you really need to pay more to make it worth their while, especially if the babysitting job is short like only a couple of hours.

The age of your kids

Taking care of an 8-year-old is much less work than a newborn baby. Expect to pay your babysitter extra depending on how much work you expect it will be to watch your kid. Take a low-maintenance 8 – 10-year-old as the baseline and adjust accordingly.

Someone watching a newborn baby constantly and needing to change and feed them every hour or two probably deserves double that, to be honest.

What certifications does the babysitter have?

In addition to years of experience in childcare and life in general, take your babysitter's certifications into account as well.

CPR and first aid certification will prove priceless in the case of an emergency. Having a well-trained babysitter might literally be the difference between life and death in some extreme cases. Things like choking, heavy bleeding, or burns aren't all that uncommon with kids, even if you're supervising them properly.

If your child has a disability or special needs, you'll likely also want a babysitter with special skills when it comes to dealing with a child with autism, ADHD, etc.

Have you got any pets that will need special care?

Is your babysitter just watching your kids, or will they need to keep an eye on your pets as well? Feeding or picking up after your pets are just one more thing a babysitter might have to do.

Some dogs are especially high maintenance and might need just as much attention as kids to make sure they aren't getting into something they shouldn't be or going to the bathroom in the house.

In this case, your babysitter is really doubling as a pet sitter, and you should compensate them accordingly. Much like if they were watching multiple kids.

Additional responsibilities

Will your babysitter be expected to pick your kids up from school or take them to karate lessons? What about doing household cleaning, cooking dinner for your kids, or other tasks? You should expect to pay extra for any additional services besides just watching your kids.

If Your Babysitter Is Staying Overnight

If your babysitter is going to be staying overnight and sleeping at your house, their rate might need to be adjusted. Normally it's considered okay to pay your babysitter a lower rate for the hours they'll be sleeping than when they're awake. They still need to be there in case your kids wake up in the night or need something, but generally, their workload will be dramatically less or zero during those hours.

Some people also pay overnight babysitters a flat rate for all the hours between 11 pm and 9 am.

Do you need a babysitter for the entire weekend? See our guide to paying a babysitter for a weekend to see the different methods of calculating their rate.

Not having the right change

If you don't have the right change when you get home and it's time to pay your babysitter, you might end up paying more than you would've liked.

Say you owe your babysitter $48 for the night but all you've got in your wallet is $20 bills. Out of necessity, you might have to give them $60 just because you have no other option, giving them a nice $12 tip in the process!

Should you tip your babysitter? Learn what's right for your situation by reading our guide to babysitter tipping.

Nowadays this is less of an issue because there are other ways to pay your babysitter besides using cash. Most banks offer a way to transfer money electronically, often without any fees. There are also babysitting apps you can use to pay your babysitter exactly what you owe, although these services will often take a cut.

What Payment Method Do Babysitters Prefer?

We polled our babysitters to find out, and cash is by far the most popular:

Conclusion

Babysitting rates can vary a lot depending on where you live, a babysitter's level of experience, your children's age, and the difficulty of the job.

For that reason, it can be hard to set an exact price on how much you should pay for a babysitter. Everyone's situation will be so different that it's hard to give a specific figure.

Whatever rate you decide on, make sure to discuss it with your babysitter and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Finding a great babysitter that you trust and your kids love can be tough. For that reason, it's usually not best to just go with the cheapest option when it comes to who's watching your kids.

Being able to go out in the evening without a babysitter is one of the big money-saving milestones of parenting. But until that time, having a qualified babysitter to make sure your kids are safe and happy is worth every penny!