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Babysitting Rates Chart 2026

Every babysitting rate on one page: by age and experience, by number of kids, by hours booked and for the extras. Free to print or save.

Well Paid Babysitter · updated September 2026 · national figures, US dollars

These charts use the 2026 national babysitting rate of $22 an hour for one child, which is the median rate paid on completed bookings across 30 US metro areas once cost of living is taken out. Your own local rate will be a bit higher or lower. The babysitting rates by state table has the figure for where you live, and the percentages below work the same way on any base.

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Babysitting pay chart by age and experience

The old advice is to charge your age. It is roughly right at fourteen and wrong after that, because it tells a seventeen year old with three years of experience to charge $17. This chart uses a share of the local adult rate instead, so it moves with where you live.

Hourly rates on the 2026 national base of $22. Teen rates are what teenage sitters are typically paid, not a ceiling. More on that in babysitting jobs for 14, 15 and 16 year olds.

A CPR and first aid certificate adds about 5 percent and early childhood coursework about 8 percent. Whether the card pays for itself is covered in is babysitting certification worth it.

Babysitting rates per hour by number of kids

A second child adds about 11 percent, not the flat dollar most advice suggests. Each child after that adds a bit less, because children keep each other busy.

An infant under one adds about $1.50 an hour on top of any row.

Babysitting cost by hours booked

What the total comes to for the most common booking lengths, before any extras. Use it to check a quote, or to answer a family who asks for "a price for the night".

Past about twelve hours, price it as an overnight instead. See overnight babysitting rates for the awake and sleeping hour split.

Extra fees chart

These are the fees almost nobody charges. Together they are usually worth more than a raise.

The late night premium applies to the whole booking, not just the hours after ten.

Overnight and 24 hour chart

Awake hours at the full rate, sleeping hours at half. That makes an overnight about ten times the hourly rate and a full day about twenty times.

How to use the chart

1. Find your base. Start from your state or city rate, not the national one. It is in the state table, or the rate calculator will give it to you exactly.
2. Adjust for you. Multiply by your row in the age and experience chart. A 16 year old in a $24 area is at about $20.40.
3. Adjust for the children. Add about 11 percent for a second child and 8 percent for a third.
4. Add the extras that apply. Late nights, holidays and short notice are percentages on the whole booking. Driving, housework and pets are a flat amount per hour.

If that is more arithmetic than you want to do on your phone, the calculator does all four steps and gives you a printable rate card with your own name on it.

Where the numbers come from

The base rate comes from UrbanSitter's 2026 rates for 30 US cities, with each city divided by its regional price parity to take out cost of living. The median of those adjusted figures is $21.99, rounded to $22. The per child percentages and city rates are measured. Several of the extras, including the certification, holiday and short notice premiums, are reasoned estimates, and our disclaimers list which ones.

For the full explanation, including state rates and what changes a number, go back to how much should I charge for babysitting. For what a full time role pays, see nanny salary.