Babysitting is a great way to make some extra money when you’re a teenager, but if you remember getting $5 an hour when you used to do it, you’ll be shocked by how much they’re making today. According to new research from UrbanSitter, the national average for babysitting is now $26.24 an hour. And that’s just for one child.
UrbanSitter has been tracking child care cost trends and analyzing babysitting rates for the last 15 years and they’ve just come out with their latest research in their 2026 survey.
- It finds that babysitters across the country earn an hourly rate of anywhere from $19 to $29.
- All kinds of factors go into the sitter’s hourly wage, including age, experience, location, responsibilities and the number of kids.
- The national average for two kids is now $29.87 an hour and it’s up to $32.33 for three kids.
- Rates vary a lot from city to city, but they’re highest in San Francisco, where it’s $29.63 an hour.
- Seattle is second with a rate of $27.70 per hour, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii, with $27.22 an hour.
- The most affordable city nationwide for babysitting is San Antonio, where the rate is $18.21 an hour. Dallas/Fort Worth is second at $19.25 an hour, followed by Columbus, Ohio, where it’s $19.98.
- Think even the cheapest city sounds like a lot of money? It is, and rates are going up fast. Average babysitting rates jumped by 4.9% in the last year, outpacing the inflation rate of 3%.
- UrbanSitter also tracks the pay rates for other at-home care providers and finds that the average hourly rate for non-medical senior care (for companionship, errands and such) is $24.26 an hour.
- Pet care, like dog walking and dog and cat sitting, has an average rate of $24.91 an hour.
Source: Today