When you can’t be home to care for your children, you want someone
there who you can trust. A loving, nurturing nanny can give your children the
personalized care and attention that they deserve. Once you’ve decided that
hiring a nanny is the right childcare choice for your family, you’ll need to
determine if hiring a nanny is in your childcare budget.
You might be surprised to find out that, with a little planning,
hiring a nanny can be an affordable childcare option. For families with two or
more children that need childcare, for example, this is especially true. With
a nanny, you are not paying for slots in daycare, but instead are paying one
price for one person to provide continuous care to all of the children in your
family.
If you are in need of flexible childcare, care during the evening
hours or more than 8 hours of childcare per day, a nanny may also be less
expensive than other childcare options.
When considering your childcare budget, it’s important to know
what factors can influence a nanny’s salary. These factors include:
- Geographical location
- Experience
- Education
- Hours
- Duties
- Responsibilities
- Live-in or live-out status
- Benefits and other components of a salary package.
To find out the going rate for nannies in your area, you can view
the International Nanny Association’s Salary and Benefits Survey. You can also
call local placement agencies and ask what the average nanny rate is in your
area. When discussing nanny salaries, be sure to clarify if you are speaking in
net (after taxes) or gross (before taxes) terms. It’s important to remember
that live-out nannies and some live-in nannies, depending on where you live,
are entitled to overtime.
On top of your nanny’s salary, there are other financial factors
you’ll need to consider. Nanny employer taxes add on about 10% of the nanny’s
gross salary to an employer’s out of pocket expense. Fortunately, there are tax
breaks that employers can take advantage of to virtually negate the added
expense.
If you are offering your nanny nontaxable benefits, like health
insurance, it may also reduce your out of pocket expenses.
If you are requiring your nanny to use her own vehicle to
transport your children, you will need to reimburse the nanny for mileage based
on the current Internal Revenue Service mileage reimbursement rate.
Average Nanny Salaries
- On average,
full-time nannies earn $700 gross per week.
- On average, part-time
nannies earn minimum wage to $16 an hour or more.
- Live-in nannies
earn slightly less than live-out nannies.
Remember that nannies are not just for parents working outside the
home forty-plus hours a week. Even if you are a stay-at-home or work from home
parent, you may find that the services a nanny can provide are priceless when
you compare your nanny's pay to the added quality of care, peace-of-mind, relaxation,
and renewed patience that even a few hours' break from your childcare duties
can create.