PP here. I'd say in this day and age the minimum rate should be $10/hr and increase with nature of the job, and the person behind the job (college student, babysitter, professional nanny, whatever). I don't know anyone who would accept less.

I live in the Florida, but have lived in Boston, NYC, and Illinois. I've been a nanny for 13 years.

I, myself, have made anywhere from $9/hr-$18/hr - until my current position which pays $25/hr. I've met nannies who made anywhere from $8/hr-$30/hr.

It all varies by location, live-in or live-out, ages of the charges, responsibilities, etc.

Anonymous wrote:Part of the problem is the lack of a clear definition in American culture, of what is a nanny. The Brits understand the correct traditional definition. Girls who you hire to do anything you need, are not actual nannies. Nannies have professional standards and healthy boundaries. They do not aspire to become a substitute mother, by doing whatever the mom might do. Most American so-called "nannies" who do whatever needs doing, are household managers, rather than child specialists.

A household manager sounds like a much better deal to me.

If all you want to do is hire a sitter, you simply ask her what her hourly rates are. If she doesn't know, move on.

OP, what is it that you are looking to do? Hire someone? To do what exactly?

OP here. 14:39 -- no, I don't work for Care. If there are any other sources of information on nanny salaries, I'd love to hear about them.

14:19 -- fair point. In our case a babysitter is good enough, but I can see that especially for older kids that might not be enough.

Op is a care employee; easy to see.

Notice the care.com calculator is called the babysitting rates calculator. A babysitter is someone who comes to your house in the evening who provides supervision and goes through the bedtime routine as you have explicitly laid out for them. If this is the standard of care you would like for your child all day every day, then please feel free to go by their calculations. However if you want to hire a nanny, consider upping the ante a bit.

Part of the problem is the lack of a clear definition in American culture, of what is a nanny. The Brits understand the correct traditional definition. Girls who you hire to do anything you need, are not actual nannies. Nannies have professional standards and healthy boundaries. They do not aspire to become a substitute mother, by doing whatever the mom might do. Most American so-called "nannies" who do whatever needs doing, are household managers, rather than child specialists.

Thank you 10:53, that is very helpful.

We are considering to (legally) hire the mother of someone we know -- she hasn't worked professionally as a nanny before so we have little data to start from.

If that doesn't work out, we'll expand our search and your advice is greatly appreciated.

OP to answer your question, no. You should absolutely not believe what you read on this board or info from nanny sites.

What worked for us was coming up with a job description, think through what type of skills were important to us for that description, having a list of deal breakers (must be legal etc) and then casting a wide net and doing a lot of phone screening. In the process go phone screening, I would ask candidates what their desired range was and what they had been previously making including the general compensation package. I would them confirm with them whether we were in the same ballpark.

This gave me an idea of what candidates were seeking for my area and job while still understanding that what someone asks for is higher than what the actual market is or what they will accept and by happy with in the end. I was very surprised that all of the candidates that I politely declined because their desired range was too big a gap from our budget quickly came back offering to still consider the job.

*Nannies report average not base rate. If someone says $15 an hour, its $15 an hour average not $15 base and $22 for over 40. Its best to negotiate in terms of weekly gross/guaranteed hours and then document the actual base and OT into the contract.
*The nannies asking for the highest salaries oddly turned out to be the worst in the interviews, had less longevity in jobs, questionable references, or other issues. Do not go into this thinking that the more you pay the better nanny you get or you'll end getting a mediocre nanny for a lot of money.
*Factor an additional 10 into your budget for employer taxes, workers comp, temp care during your nanny's vacation week choice if you need it etc.
*Be vigilant about references and watch out for fake references.

OP here. Thank you, 10:25 and 10:29.

I found the calculator: http://www.care.com/babysitting-rates

Care.com is not an objective source. Nannies do not pay for the service, parents do. I'll give you one guess who's interests they serve, and who it is they will tell what they to hear in order to ensure continued business. You're not going to find objectivity on this unfortunately.

Care.com has a pay calculator under their tips and tools section. Put in your zip code, number of children, and years of experience and it will give you a suggested rate. I personally feel like this calculator is intended for the most basic of sitting jobs, and feel it's a bit low because of that. However, I don't think it's a criminally low rate, and it would give you a good idea of the general ball park you're looking at.

I've read several of the other threads on nanny salaries and they mostly end up in "I make $30 and deserve it" vs "everybody works for $7.50 here" discussions.

Are there any objective sources for nanny salaries? (In the DC area).

For example, someone mentioned a "care.com average salary of $12.50". I couldn't find that on Care.com, but sources like that would be great.