Money And Time: What’s A Nanny Cost?

How much should you pay for a nanny? How much will it cost you to hire a nanny? Can you afford to have a nanny care for your children?

One of the largest considerations any family needs to make when it comes to hiring a nanny is if they can afford it and how much it will cost in general.

The fact is that nothing should come in the way of your child receiving the care and understanding that they need. As discussed, a nanny’s responsibility is that of providing the child with education, social skills, and emotional well being. There can’t be a price tag on those features. Nevertheless, most people do have to maintain a budget for their family’s needs.

What Makes a Difference

One thing to realize is that the location you are in and the type of service that you are requiring will determine the actual cost of a nanny. There isn’t a by hour rate that works for everyone of every skill and need.

Geography is the first thing that will determine the cost of a nanny. The more influential the location or the more costly the living expenses, the more costly it will be in those areas to hire a nanny for your child. Places like New York and California, are examples. But, too, in certain areas of any state you will find this playing a role.

The education and experience of the nanny is the next deciding factor. Obviously, you get what you pay for in these features. If you are looking for someone that is well experienced and has a great resume, you can count on paying more for their services. On the other hand, someone new out of school would cost you less. Someone with no training too will cost less.

Pay: Crunch the Numbers

The pay and benefits of a nanny vary, but we have some guidelines for you to consider.

Beginning nannies that live in your home will range from $250 to $400 per week. These are inexperienced individuals that tend to be new to being a nanny.

Those that are trained and do have experience are likely to require a salary that ranges from $350 to well over $1000 per week.

For a nanny that doesn’t live with you, or one that works part time, you can expect rates to be dependant on hours and needs. Part time workers can earn $7 per hour to $20 per hour or more, depending on their qualifications.

Benefits Are Required To:

Most nannies will require a benefits package as well. Remember, they are an employee of yours and those employment benefits should come with working for you.

For live in nannies, it will be necessary to provide them with a private room to live in. In most cases, their own private bath is another quality to consider providing. Free room and board is a condition of virtually all live in nanny arrangements.

For time off, the nanny should receive at least two weeks per year of vacation time. In addition, major holidays are usually provided without work. Many families will provide health care insurance to their nannies as well.

Sometimes, if the nanny is required to drive the child from place to place, the nanny will also need the use of a car while working.

These benefits are provided to both live in nannies as well as live out nannies. All of these qualifications must be provided for before you hire the nanny. You’ll see later the requirements of a contract and why this is so important.

The Work Schedule

Another consideration of the nanny and the work that he or she does for you is the work schedule. If you have a live in nanny, you may think that the nanny would be working any time that the child is around. The fact is that a nanny is like any other employee, requiring a schedule that is fair and appropriate.

In most cases, a nanny will work from 40 to 60 hours. If the nanny is required to work over these hours, the family should provide extra pay, such as overtime or should provide some additional time off later in the week.

Hourly employees will face the same restrictions on hours as the live in or full time nannies. The difference here is that the nanny will likely earn an hourly rate, which most states require a maximum number of hours per week worked before overtime rates will kick in. You’ll need to check with your state’s Department of Labor website to find this information out.

Again, all of these things need to be taken into consideration during the hiring phase.

Don’t Forget the Taxes

Taxes are yet another consideration of the hiring of a nanny. Because you are employing them, you will be required to pay taxes for them. This includes Social Security taxes, Federal Income Taxes and any state or local earnings that are required to be paid in your state.

This means for you that you will need to pay the employer’s portion of the Social Security tax on the nanny’s salary. In addition, some states require that the employer pay the state unemployment taxes of that employee too.

The fact is that you’ll need to gather this information from your local governmental offices to find out how to register for tax payments and what you will need to actually pay, how much and how often.

The good news is that there are many accounting software products that have built in features that can help you to manage your staff including your nanny services. This can help to simplify the process considerably.

Remember that your nanny is your employee.