<p>My daughter asked me to check on the going rate for babysitting. At 25, she is about to do it for the first time on a day off from grad school. We are not in the most expensive place in the world and this is for a friend (but he wants to pay) and it’s a very young infant.<br>
Appreciate any help.</p>
<p>Is she driving herself there?</p>
<p>I’d say for an infant (which will probably sleep most of the time), around $7/hour in your area.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m sure she’ll drive herself. She has no maternal instincts (neither did I). Should be interesting.</p>
<p>My D gets around $10 per hour in our area (SoCal). If there are more than 2 kids I think she charges $12 per hour.</p>
<p>I have two friends whose D’s watch young infants. One in Seattle does it 40 hours a week and makes $18. I don’t know if they take taxes out and if she declares the income. She is 23. The other is 19 and watches a young infant two days a week and I think her Mom said she is getting $15 which my friend felt was over payment. My 15 yr old babysat 2 kids with one still being in diapers. They paid her $7 and she felt it definitely wasn’t worth it. She recently had a Mom ask her if she babysat. The woman has 3 kids range 4-9. My D said she learned her lesson last time and is going to tell the woman she wants $12-15 an hour. My D is not maternal and hates babysitting.</p>
<p>It’s a local thing. Around here babysitters get a lot. Where I used to live, they don’t. She needs to find out what the going rates are there, and adjust from there according to what she feels is right.</p>
<p>You mentioned that this is for a friend. Which is why I suggested $7/hour. And it’s one baby. I would probably add the driving time to the charge, or hope that they’d round up very generously.</p>
<p>If my daughter were going to babysit one very young baby in our area and it wasn’t for a friend, she’d probably get $10/hour.</p>
<p>my 19 yr old d gets $10 an hour watching a 5 month old…she feels really lucky to be paid well for doing something that is her word, “heartwarming”.</p>
<p>It is much harder to take care of an infant. If we all remember, not many of us could even take a shower when our kids were first born. I would charge more for an infant. I think 10-15 range.</p>
<p>One of my neighbors emailed me back and said the rate around here is at least $12. That sort of surprised me, but in the 4 years I’ve lived here I have noticed that random things are higher/more expensive than I would have expected.</p>
<p>$10 in my neck of the woods these days. I recently asked being a decade past babysitting I was curious as I had paid $5 an hour a decade ago. Kids like sitting jobs because it pays better than minimum wage jobs and is more flexible so the competition is fierce.</p>
<p>Curious what the going rate is at fast food places for those of you who were citing about ten bucks and above. My D gets minimum, and I always thought baby sitters got less, albeit, off the books.</p>
<p>My 19 yr. old neice is babysitting an 11 yr. old boy five days a week this summer.
She is making $10/hr.</p>
<p>My 18 year old S is babysitting for a 6 year old this summer $12/hour, if the boy has friends over the other moms pay him also. Crazy! He is guaranteed 30 hours a week plus exspenses.</p>
<p>In my area, a good babysitter who speaks English gets twice what a fast food worker gets, and off the books. $15 minimum for a quality sitter.</p>
<p>12-15 around here…upper range for an infant.</p>
<p>I paid $9 an hour for babysitting back when my soon to be 18 yo still needed a babysitter. $7 isn’t even minimum wage!</p>
<p>Gee, I remember babysitting as a teen for 50cents/hour… but given that it’s a friend, unless the friend is loaded, remember that moving into the “parent” demographic is expensive, I would advise her to do it for $10/hour or less the first time. See how much work the baby is and how much it helps “build it forward” in their friendship and if she wants to do it again. If not, her rate can go way up. If the couple is fun and the baby is easy, the rate can go way down. (Just in case there’s a baby of their own in the next 3 or 4 years to trade sitting chores with …?)
Add on money for tiny babies…</p>
<p>
Infants are easy toddlers on the other hand, can be a nightmare. :D</p>
<p>MOWC, in my area (college town, middle of nowhere) there are an abundance of available sitters during the evenings and weekends, during the school year, and the pay is $8-10/hour. When student sitters are not available the pay is more around $15/hour.</p>
<p>TutuTaxi - have to agree… infants are much easier than older babies/toddlers, which is why I suggested a lower amount… and again, this is a friend. It sounds like MOWC’s daughter wants to give them a break on the price.</p>