Roughly, in DC, you can expect to pay:

$15-17/hr for one child.
$16-19/hr for two.
$19-22/hr for three.

Obviously, it depends on the job and required responsibilities, as well as if you are looking for a nanny with a rare, specialized skill.


This is on the low side for my neighborhood (Capitol Hill) unless you're offering significant overtime. The share rate is more like $18-24 now.

Sorry I wasn't clear. You are correct. Share rates are higher, and should be, as they require a lot more coordination than multiple children in the same family (which is the situation I was considering when sharing market rates.)

Anonymous wrote:How is her English? I can see how a nanny who won't be otherwise employable by a family that doesn't speak her native tongue would agree to a lower rate. Also, what visa is she on? Is it diplomat dependent visa? Then she is not obligated to pay payroll taxes, and depending on a country a treaty might apply so she won't pay income taxes, so basically all the money is take home pay. If you are able to afford to pay more, you should offer that, but I can see how she might have lower expectations.

OP here. Thanks for bringing that up. She cannot speak English other than a very little bit of conversational English, "How are you?", etc. Her native tongue (as well as mine), is an unusual one and not widely spoken in America. All her money will be take home pay.

Anonymous wrote:Roughly, in DC, you can expect to pay:

$15-17/hr for one child.
$16-19/hr for two.
$19-22/hr for three.

Obviously, it depends on the job and required responsibilities, as well as if you are looking for a nanny with a rare, specialized skill.

This is on the low side for my neighborhood (Capitol Hill) unless you're offering significant overtime. The share rate is more like $18-24 now.

Can you calculate her salary with the flights included? I know flights to Indonesia can be over $2500 but flights to Mexico are not nearly that high. Whether she gets $5000 in travel expenses vs $500 is a big difference.

How is her English? I can see how a nanny who won't be otherwise employable by a family that doesn't speak her native tongue would agree to a lower rate. Also, what visa is she on? Is it diplomat dependent visa? Then she is not obligated to pay payroll taxes, and depending on a country a treaty might apply so she won't pay income taxes, so basically all the money is take home pay. If you are able to afford to pay more, you should offer that, but I can see how she might have lower expectations.

Anonymous wrote:I have a woman we have had for 3 years, we currently pay her $11 an hour. But we are great employers, give raises every year, let her take time off when she requests, etc. If you don't want to provide any of those benefits we do then maybe you could start her at $12 an hour.

She started at $8/hr three years ago? JFC. I get annual raises and bonuses and time off for appts. and all of that and I still don't start below $20...

I have a woman we have had for 3 years, we currently pay her $11 an hour. But we are great employers, give raises every year, let her take time off when she requests, etc. If you don't want to provide any of those benefits we do then maybe you could start her at $12 an hour.

60 hours a week for $600 is way too low.

Frankly, $10/hour plus applicable OT would still be low (40 x $10 + 20 x $15 = $700), especially with 3 weeks of unpaid vacation.

PP, what is your childcare budget? Can you afford more than $600/week?

first of all are you factoring in OT? $600/wk over 40 hours = 15/hr. If it's actually 60 hours, then the base rate is actually $8.50! This seems WAY to be good to be true. Have you checked references and done a background check??? And google references... I had several nannies give me fake references.

also, what will be the price of the flights? Technically, that is a wage and needs to be included in her w-2. Way too complicated IMO.

I'm bumping this. We're hiring a woman who is legal - has a visa - but is not a citizen. She has sat for / nannied 2 children in DC before, both families loved her, but their children eventually outgrew her. She speaks another language (my family's native tongue) and enjoys cooking and says she doesn't mind cooking the lunch or dinner for us (DC (who were expecting in October), me, and DH). She has two grown adult children who live in DC and more or less just wants a day job while they're at work. (The adult children do not have children of their own). She will be working with us M-F 7a - 7p. She will not be living with us. We live in downtown DC. We asked her how much she expects to be paid. She said $600 / wk. With her work schedule that is only $10/hr. I'm thinking that's too low, but I'm not sure. We're paying for her flights to and from her home country every 6 months and giving her 3 weeks vacation (unpaid) per year. We also will be paying her transportation costs (metro). We haven't ironed out cleaning / cooking, but our expectation is that she feeds and cleans up after the baby but nothing else - we don't want her to cook for us (me and DH) or we'll feel like that's too much. I plan on breast feeding the baby so she won't have to cook for some time for the baby.

Does $10/hr seem like it's enough? Should we consider health insurance as well? I believe she has it through her husband who has a great pension from his government job in their home country but not sure how, if at all, that translates to any coverage here.

$12 is perfect for one child

Too many people ask this question without giving specifics about the job and what kind of nanny you want. College graduates, preschool teaching experience, other nanny experience, legal or under-the-table, second language, baby sign language, etc.

We pay $20 an hour for one child with all of the above qualifications and legal but limited benefits (no paid vacation in the first year, no federal holidays off).

Roughly, in DC, you can expect to pay:

$15-17/hr for one child.
$16-19/hr for two.
$19-22/hr for three.

Obviously, it depends on the job and required responsibilities, as well as if you are looking for a nanny with a rare, specialized skill.

Please search the forum.

$15-$25/hr is a healthy range depending on what you want in a nanny and what your job looks like. Beyond that you'll need to do some digging.

What is the nanny rates in DC?