What's the going rate for babysitters?

[AustinTink]

Three kids, youngest is 8, for 4 hours. What would you pay?

 

[Mickey Fliers]

What are the ages of the other kids? Are the kids awake or asleep?

Generally, I pay $10/hr. However, my oldest is now old enough to babysit.

 

[waterford]

It depends are you getting a 16/17 year old to babysit at night while you go out or an adult to have the 3 of them during the day.

 

[mjkacmom]

$10 an hour.

 

[AustinTink]

They ages are 11, 10 and 8. It will be a late night. Babysitter is 15.

 

[Mickey Fliers]

They ages are 11, 10 and 8. It will be a late night. Babysitter is 15.

Okay. I will stick with $10/hr. Have a good time out!

 

[DVCLiz]

My daughters would charge you $10 per hour.

 

[golfgal]

It depends more on where you live then the ages of the kids/sitter. Around here $5/hour is pretty top pay.

 

[RadioNate]

At least $50. $10 a hour + a bonus for 3 kids and it being late.

But I tend to overpay sitters, I want them to want to sit for me!

I've never paid less than $10 an hour for 2 kids. There is no one here that I could get for less than that. I might be able to get a young teen in the afternoon for around $8 but I don't trust a 12/13 year old with my 3yo.

 

[Hyonlyf]

While in high school my oldest charged $7 per hour for 2 children and an additional dollar an hour for additional children. She drove herself to and from the homes.

For your scenario, I'd charge $35

 

[3smithboys]

I have 3 boys... 12, 7, and 7. My 12 y.o. can stay by himself but I do not let him sit yet nor do I let him stay with his brothers... so when I get a sitter I pay $10/hr. That seems to be the going rate around here too...

 

[momof1princess]

yep, $10 per hour. i babysat for a friend for a week this past summer when she was in a bind-a 3 year old and a newborn. boy, did i earn that money! lol.

 

[klacey1]

I'd say $10 is good. I'd expect to pay more if it was three kids and they were younger, but yours will be more self-sufficient and provide their own entertainment, I'm assuming. If there were three kids under 8-- going rate is $12-$15 around here.

 

[disfan07]

I am 21 and I would charge $15/hr. I charge $12 for 1 or2 kids, $15 for 3 and $18 for 4 kids regardless of age

 

[PatsGirl]

$10/hour is the most I'd pay for kids that age and a 15 year old babysitter who cannot have a real job yet and cannot drive herself to and from. Nice gig for $40. BTW, DD gets $5/hour for a 6 year old during the day/evening. I told her she could start asking for $6 from other people for the same scenario. For this she plays outside for an hour, helps with letters, numbers, etc. for school, micros dinner, cleans those dishes and gets the girl ready for bed. I think $5-6 is very fair.

Everytime I read how much people pay for sitters I want to start doing it part-time nights. Do you think families prefer teenagers over middle-age women babysitters? I certainly think kids do

 

[PatsGirl]

I am 21 and I would charge $15/hr. I charge $12 for 1 or2 kids, $15 for 3 and $18 for 4 kids regardless of age

That's alot of $$ for kids that age. You do realize that alot of us in real jobs are lucky to take that home every hour? I'm not saying you don't deserve it, just saying that where I live few people can afford to pay that for a night out. Now, if there were three toddlers/preschool age, I think you'd earn every penny and more

 

[tink20]

I used to pay $7 an hour for just DS. (DD would be at her dad's or a friend's house) Now DD is old enough, so I'll pay her, or she will just do it as a favor.

I think $10 per hour would be good.

I used to watch my niece (a baby) for $80 a week (M-F 7a- 4p)
and my friend's baby, 3 days a week, $25 a day. Of course it was more of a favor to them, but it wasn't easy. I had an infant (my niece), a one year old (my friend's daughter) and my DS who was 2 at the time.

 

[ilovejack02]

That's alot of $$ for kids that age. You do realize that alot of us in real jobs are lucky to take that home every hour? I'm not saying you don't deserve it, just saying that where I live few people can afford to pay that for a night out. Now, if there were three toddlers/preschool age, I think you'd earn every penny and more

I pay 12 an hour for my sitter who is over 21 and she also charges extra for more kids. 3 kids I would expect to pay her 14 -15 an hour. She is ALWAYS booked up . Well worth her money, and this is someone I would trust over night.

Now my younger sitters , I only pay 7 an hour for 1 child.

 

[LilyWDW]

Back in the day...

With one family I got about $15 an hour for 3 kids. However, there were several factors involved in why I got that amount. One, I took a baby sitting class offered by our local fire department. Two, I was lifeguard certified. Three, I was CPR certified. And four, the oldest daughter had Downs so there were special needs that had to be taken into account.

One time they handed me $100 for 3 hours of work because it had been a last minute emergency situation. I tried to give it back (I loved those kids and didn't mind at all), but they insisted.

With another family I got $12 an hour for 3 kids. Since they didn't have the same situations as the other family, I thought the difference was okay. However, I quickly ended up dropping them as clients because they would say they would be back at 11pm and show up about 1am. Needless to say, my parents were not too happy about that either.

So, for a 15 year old, assuming she doesn't have special training and there are no special circumstances involved, I would say $10-$12 an hour for 3 kids.

 

[disfan07]

That's alot of $$ for kids that age. You do realize that alot of us in real jobs are lucky to take that home every hour? I'm not saying you don't deserve it, just saying that where I live few people can afford to pay that for a night out. Now, if there were three toddlers/preschool age, I think you'd earn every penny and more

Where I live, my going rate is considered cheap. I live in a LA suburb. Its a high COL area. I've been charging the same thing for 4 years. In Virginia I lived in a high COL area as well and I sat for 3 regular families (families who I sat for at least once a month) plus some other occasional fmailies. From 17-19 I was babysitting almost every weekend plus some weekdays until I moved away.
The three families were
3 kids (4,7,9)- $15/hour
3 kids (1,4,8)- $15/hour
4 kids (infant, 4, 6, 9)- $20/hour (they paid me more than I charged and they paid me $20/hour whether I had 2 or 4 of the kids to watch)

Now, I am away at school but everytime I go back home I babysit for one of three families
The families have
1 Kid (9)- $12/hour
2 kids (4,13)- $12/hour
4 kids( 5, 5, 7, 10)- $18/hour

I always leave one babysitting job with another job set up with that same family. Some people think its a high rate but in our area it's on the lower end. Poeple keep telling me with my experience and qualifications I should be making more than I do but at 21, I have 9 years of babysitting experience, 7 years of preschool camp expereince, 2 yeras of preschool/daycare experience plus CPR/first aid certification.