You Won't Believe How Much the Average U.S. Parent Is Paying for a Babysitter
UrbanSitter's 2020 National Childcare Rate Survey is out, and it’s filled with some pretty interesting facts about babysitting in the U.S. The site looked at more than 25,000 families to determine the average cost of childcare across the country. They found an average hourly rate of $17.73 for one child, $20.30 for two children, and $21.49 for three children. That's a 5% increase from 2019. Wow!
Not surprisingly, super-expensive San Francisco is the city where you'll pay a babysitter the highest hourly rate, at $19.74 for one child. That means to go out for four hours, a San Fran parent would have to pay out $79 – and that doesn't count the cost of dinner and a movie.
Meanwhile, parents in Las Vegas pay the least-expensive hourly rate at a comparatively reasonable $10.95 for one child.
"We've found that as the cost of living in major cities rises, so do the average hourly babysitter rates," Lynn Perkins, CEO and co-founder of Urban Sitter, told Parents.com after 2017 results were released. "The silver lining is that this higher cost of living has inspired more young professionals to start babysitting on the side to earn supplemental income. These young adults—who offer specialized skills and college degrees—are able to command higher rates. So while the average babysitter rates may be at a high, so is the quality of babysitters. Parents can hire the likes of nurses, teachers, and psychologists or even actresses, musicians, and opera singers to watch their children."
Other interesting findings from the survey include:
79% of parents said childcare is "one of their family’s biggest expenses"
28% of parents will dish out anywhere from $30k and $75k on childcare this year
Based on current rates, babysitters can make 200% higher than federal minimum wage hourly
