Factors that Influence the Pay Rate of Nannies

Many factors have to be considered when setting a fair pay rate for your nanny.

Experience

The amount of experience your nanny has has a great influence on her pay scale. Nannies under the age of 20 with two or fewer years of child care experience would make about $25-$100 less for a 45-50 hour work week than a nanny over 20 with more experience.

Education

The amount of post secondary education a nanny has will increase her pay. Attaining university for a bachelor's degree, master's degree, a 2 year associate's degree in early childhood education or certification in first aid, for example, will definitely raise her pay.

There are courses offered in some states for a 10-16 week course for nannies and include an internship. A 4 year bachelor's degree is offered at some colleges that includes courses in child psychology, first aid, CPR, creative play and family dynamics.

Type of Employment

Nannies can be employed full-time or part-time They may also be hired on a live-in or live-out basis. On average, a nanny works a 50 hour week, although this is a negotiable number usually ranging between 40-60 hours.

Sometimes two families share a nanny providing one full time job.

If you are employing a nanny on a part time basis the salary is usually paid on an hourly basis and is higher that the hourly rate of a full-time nanny. For example, a full-time live-out nanny may be paid $8-$20 or more an hour whereas a part-time nanny may receive $12-$25 or more an hour.

A live-out nanny usually makes $100-$200 more a week than a live-in nanny to compensate for the living expenses they incur.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities that a nanny has agreed to can certainly affect their pay scale. Duties may vary from household to household, but nannies usually tend to the basic needs of the children they care for, including shopping, cooking, preparing bottles, changing diapers, supervising baths and educating and amusing the children by reading and taking them on outings.

When you add more duties, the nanny's pay should increase. These would include things such as cooking for the family, light housekeeping and helping with managerial tasks for the family.

Number of Children

A nanny's pay usually goes up with the number of children she is caring for. It is certainly true in the case of caring for twins.

Benefits

Any benefits provided for the nanny need to be taken into consideration when setting a salary. Benefits could include such things as health insurance, paid time off, swimming lessons or anything of that type, a gym membership, room and board and personal use of your family car.

Geography

Where you live also impacts the salary that you will pay your nanny. Urban locations usually pay more than rural ones, and large urban centers and wealthy areas pay the most. The reason for this is that is it more expensive for the nanny to live in these locals, so it is fair to pay a salary that approximates the cost of living.

Conclusion

Setting a fair yet affordable salary for your nanny takes careful consideration with the factors listed mentioned above as a guide. It is always suggested to work through the numbers and considerations carefully yourself and on paper before negotiating with your perspective employee. If you're looking to save some money on childcare, consider a nanny share.

Further help with this task has can be found on this website, Sitter.com, where you will find average nanny salaries listed for each state and for the 50 largest cities in the US.