How much can I make babysitting?

A 16- or 17-year-old at $14 an hour for eight hours a week earns $5,824 a year. At Payscale's teenage average of $11.79 an hour, eight hours a week earns $4,904.64 a year. An experienced adult sitter at $24.81 an hour for fifteen hours a week earns $19,351.80 a year.

How do I raise my babysitting rate?

Raise it by $1.00 an hour after a year of regular sitting, and by $2.00 for a CPR and First Aid certification, and state the new rate plainly, in advance. A $1.00 raise on eight hours a week is $416 more a year. Do not let the rate sit for two years, because the market moves every year.

Does minimum wage apply to babysitters?

Casual babysitters are exempt from the federal minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, so the $7.25 federal floor does not apply to the occasional evening sitter. Some states apply their own rules to household work, so check your state labor department. The market rate is far above the floor: the teen average of $11.79 is 63 percent above $7.25.

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The sitter’s ledger · Table No. 48

How Much Should I Charge for Babysitting?

A 16- or 17-year-old charges $12 to $16 an hour for one child, $13 to $18 for two, and $14 to $20 for three. This article sets the rate by age, experience, and city, and states how to raise it.

Filed November 5, 2026 · figures checked against 2026 sources

The short answer

Charge the rate for your age, your experience, and your city, and raise it as all three rise. A 16- or 17-year-old with some experience charges $12 to $16 an hour for one child in the daytime, $13 to $18 for two, and $14 to $20 for three. A 14- or 15-year-old charges $10 to $14 for one child, $11 to $16 for two, and $12 to $18 for three. A 12- or 13-year-old charges $9 to $12 for one child, $10 to $14 for two, and $11 to $16 for three. An adult with some experience charges $19.81 an hour at the national average, an experienced adult with CPR charges $24.81, and a professional with an early childhood education background charges $29.81. The table is the market, and the market is the answer, because the rate is not a guess, and the guess is how sitters undercharge, and the undercharging is the most common mistake in babysitting, because the sitter who charges $10 an hour when the market is $14 is giving away $4.00 an hour, which is $16.00 a four-hour night, which is $832 a year for one night a week, and which is the money she is leaving on the table.

The national averages behind the table are Payscale's teenage babysitter data, which averages $11.79 an hour and ranges from $7.96 to $19.77, on about 20 reported profiles last updated in February 2026, and the 2026 teen rate table, which sets the bands by age and headcount. The teen bands are the asking bands, and the adult bands are wider: entry-level sitters $12 to $16, sitters with some experience $16 to $21, experienced sitters $21 to $30, and professionals $30 to $45, and the calculator on this site prices the asking rate for the job, which is the city base plus $3.00 an hour for each child after the first, plus the experience adjustment, plus $2.00 an hour for evenings, times 1.15 for weekends and holidays, plus $3.00 an hour for extra duties. The sitter who uses the calculator knows her rate before she quotes it, and the sitter who knows her rate quotes it plainly, and the plain quote is the professional one, because the family that hears a plain number trusts it, and the family that hears a hesitation negotiates it down.

Sitter’s age	1 child	2 children	3 children
12 to 13	$9 to $12	$10 to $14	$11 to $16
14 to 15	$10 to $14	$11 to $16	$12 to $18
16 to 17	$12 to $16	$13 to $18	$14 to $20
All sitters, booked average	$26.24	$29.87	$32.33

The teen rows are daytime rates for a sitter with some experience, from the 2026 teen rate table. The last row is the 2026 national average from UrbanSitter's booking data, which is what families actually paid, not what sitters asked, and which is higher than the teen rows because it includes experienced adults and professionals, and because booked rates run about 32 percent above posted rates. The gap between the teen rows and the booked row is the career: the sitter who starts at $12 an hour at sixteen and gains experience, certification, and regular families reaches the $21 to $30 band by her early twenties, and the $30 to $45 band with an early childhood education background, and the rate doubles over the career, because the experience doubles, and the certification doubles, and the reliability doubles.

How to set your rate, step by step

Start with your age band, because the age band is the market for a teen sitter, and the market is the starting point. A sixteen-year-old with some experience starts at $12 to $16 an hour for one child, and the middle of the band, $14, is the fair starting rate, because the low end is the sitter with no experience and the high end is the sitter with certification, and the middle is the sitter with some experience, which is the sitter you are. Add $1 to $2 an hour for each extra child, because the work rises with the headcount, and the guides agree: Sittercity suggests $1 to $2 an hour more per child, Care.com's guide says many parents add $0.50 to $1, and UrbanSitter's booking data shows $3.63 for the second child, and the $1 to $2 is the teen figure, because the teen market is lower than the adult market, and the teen who charges the adult step is overcharging for her market. Add a dollar or two for evenings, and a little more for overnights or for jobs that include bath, bedtime, or homework help, because the evening is the hour everyone wants, and the bedtime is the work, and the homework is the work, and the work should be paid.

Then adjust for your city, because the city is the cost of living, and the cost of living is 40 percent of the rate: the posted base runs from $15.00 an hour in a rural town to $22.98 in Brooklyn, and the teen in Brooklyn charges more than the teen in a small town, not because she is better, but because Brooklyn is dearer, and the family in Brooklyn expects to pay more, and the family in the small town expects to pay less, and the rate should follow the city, because the city is the market. Then adjust for your experience, by $1.00 to $2.00 an hour per year of sitting, and by the certification, because CPR and First Aid move a sitter from the $16 to $21 band to the $21 to $30 band, and the certification costs a weekend and about $100, and it pays back in a month of sitting, and the families who ask for it pay for it.

The rate card, and how to raise your rate

Write your rate down, on a card, with your name on it, and hand it to the family when you quote the job, because the card is the professional move, and the professional move is the one that gets the regular families. The card lists the rate for one child, for two, and for three, the evening rate, the overnight rate, and the extra duties, and it states the rate plainly, so the family does not have to ask, and the sitter does not have to hesitate, and the hesitation is the negotiation, and the negotiation is the discount. The card also states the minimum: most sitters set a two- or three-hour minimum, because a one-hour job is not worth the travel, and the minimum should be stated on the card, because the family that knows the minimum books the minimum, and the family that does not know it books an hour and is surprised.

Raise your rate when you gain a year of experience, when you earn a certification, when you take on a second child regularly, and when the year turns, because the market moves every year and the rate should move with it. A dollar an hour is the right step after a year of regular sitting, and two dollars is the right step for CPR and First Aid, and the raise should be stated plainly, in advance, not after the sitting, because the family that learns the rate after the sitting feels ambushed, and the family that learns it before books it or does not, and the booking is the agreement. The sitter who raises her rate by $1.00 an hour and sits eight hours a week earns $416 more a year, and the sitter who sits eight hours a week at $14 an hour earns $5,824 a year, and at the Payscale average of $11.79 an hour she earns $4,904.64, and the $919.36 between them is the experience, the certification, and the asking, and the asking is the difference.

The new insight

The rate is a signal, and the signal should be accurate, because the family reads it. A sitter who charges $10 an hour when the market is $14 signals that she is inexperienced, or desperate, or both, and the family that hires her for $10 expects $10 of sitting, and the sitter who charges $14 signals that she is worth $14, and the family that hires her for $14 expects $14 of sitting, and both get what they pay for, because the rate sets the expectation, and the expectation sets the job. The sitter who undercharges does not get more work, she gets cheaper work, and the sitter who charges the going rate gets the regular families, because the regular families want the sitter who knows her worth, and the knowing is the reliability, and the reliability is the service. Charge the going rate, because the going rate is the signal, and the signal is the work.

Minimum wage, and what the law says

Casual babysitters are exempt from the federal minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means the $7.25 federal floor does not apply to the occasional evening sitter, and the rate is set by the market, not by the law. Some states apply their own rules to household work, and eighteen jurisdictions raise their minimum wages on January 1, 2027, and Florida's rises on September 30, 2026, so the sitter should check her state labor department, because the state rule can reach where the federal rule does not. The market rate is far above the legal floor in any case: the teen average of $11.79 an hour is 63 percent above the $7.25 federal minimum, and the national posted rate of $19.81 is 173 percent above it, and the floor is not the rate, and the rate is not the floor, and the sitter who charges the market rate is charging nearly three times the minimum, because the market values the work, and the law only sets the bottom.

Sources

Teen rate table by age and headcount, 2026, and Payscale teenage babysitter data: $11.79 average, $7.96 to $19.77 range, about 20 profiles, February 2026. UrbanSitter 2026 booking data, January 2026: booked $26.24 one child, $29.87 two, $32.33 three. Care.com posted starting rates: national $19.81 an hour, February 12, 2026; nine cities, February 4, 2026. Experience bands: entry $12 to $16, some experience $16 to $21, experienced $21 to $30, professional $30 to $45. Per-child guidance: Sittercity $1 to $2 an hour more per child; Care.com $0.50 to $1; UrbanSitter booked $3.63 for the second child. Minimum wage: Fair Labor Standards Act casual-babysitter exemption; federal minimum $7.25; eighteen jurisdictions raise minimums January 1, 2027. All calculator figures were computed by this site's calculator under the stated model.