Nanny Cost Calculator

National benchmarks cluster in a tight band: Sittercity's May 2026 data puts the average at $25/hour, the Care.com 2026 Cost of Care Report shows parents posting $870/week (about $21.75/hour), and UrbanSitter's 2026 pricing data reports $26.24/hour. Your city, the nanny's experience, and how many children she watches move you within or beyond that range. The calculator defaults to $25/hour so you can see the full employer cost from a realistic starting point, then enter your own rate.

Gross wages alone: thepricer.org (October 2026) reports about $3,770 to $4,550/month for a 40-hour week -- equivalent to roughly $21.75 to $26.25 per hour. The real household budget is higher. At the $25/hour benchmark, 40 hours a week costs $1,000.00 in wages, plus $6,360.00 a year in employer payroll taxes (FICA $3,978.00, FUTA $42.00, SUTA $1,560.00, workers' comp $780.00) -- an all-in $4,863.33/month, or $58,360.00/year. Add overtime, mileage, paid time off, or an agency fee and the number climbs further.

If your nanny is live-out (does not live in your home), federal law requires overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Live-in domestic workers employed directly by a household are exempt from federal overtime under FLSA section 13(b)(21) -- but several states (including California, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey) impose their own overtime rules, and the minimum wage applies to everyone. This calculator charges overtime past 40 hours by default for live-out arrangements and straight time for live-in, with both settings adjustable.

If you pay a household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026 ($2,800 in 2025), you are a household employer under IRS rules. The employer share is 7.65% of wages for Social Security and Medicare (FICA), plus federal unemployment tax (FUTA) of 0.6% on the first $7,000 of wages, plus state unemployment (SUTA) and workers' compensation at state-set rates. The calculator's defaults add roughly 10-12% on top of wages; the exact figure depends on your state.

$3,000 in cash wages to any one household employee during the calendar year, per IRS Publication 15-A (2026). Cross it and you owe the employer share of Social Security and Medicare on the full amount -- not just the part above $3,000. Separately, paying $1,000 or more in total household wages in any calendar quarter triggers federal unemployment tax. This calculator applies both thresholds automatically and shows the effect of falling below them in the breakdown.

The industry norm is that each family pays about two-thirds of the nanny's single-family rate -- so at a $25/hour benchmark each family pays about $16.67/hour while the nanny earns $33.33/hour total. On 40 hours a week that is $666.67 a week for your family instead of $1,000.00, an all-in saving of about $19,439.33 a year versus hiring privately. Note that a nanny share is joint employment: both families are individually responsible for complying with wage and tax laws.

The hourly rate is often similar -- one large dataset shows live-in and live-out rates within a few percent of each other -- but the total package differs. Live-in nannies are exempt from federal overtime, so long weeks cost you straight time instead of 1.5x. On the other hand, you provide private living space and often food, which has real value even though it is not a cash wage. Use the live-in toggle to compare both arrangements at your hours.

Placement (finder) fees typically run $5,000 to $15,000, with many agencies charging 12-20% of the nanny's first-year salary (for example, 18% of annual compensation at one established agency). The calculator's agency-fee amortizer spreads whatever fee you enter over your expected tenure: a $10,000 fee kept for 24 months adds $416.67/month, bringing the benchmark case to $5,280.00/month all-in.

The professional standard is two weeks of paid vacation per year plus 3-5 paid sick days, and most families add 6-8 paid holidays. Because nannies are typically paid on guaranteed hours, PTO does not lower your annual wages -- at the $25/hour benchmark, the default 2 weeks of vacation, 3 sick days, and 7 holidays are $4,000.00 of paid time already inside your yearly total. Toggle PTO to unpaid to see the lower bound if you do not offer it.

Our childcare cost lab compares five types of care -- center, home daycare, nanny, au pair, and family care -- to help you choose which type fits your family. This calculator goes deep on one of them: the true employer cost of a nanny, including overtime at 1.5x, the 2026 nanny-tax thresholds, workers' comp, paid time off, mileage, agency fees, live-in versus live-out rules, and nanny-share math. Use the lab to pick a type, this tool to price the nanny option precisely.

If your nanny drives for work -- school pickup, activities, errands -- the standard is the IRS business mileage rate: 72.5 cents per mile for January through June 2026, rising to 76 cents per mile for July through December 2026 (70 cents in 2025). At 100 miles a week, 2026 mileage adds $3,770.00 a year. Enter your weekly miles and the calculator prices it at the rate for your tax year.

Most states require it once you have household employees, though thresholds and rates differ by state. It is separate from unemployment insurance and from the FICA/FUTA taxes in the breakdown. The calculator applies an adjustable workers' comp percentage (default 1.5% of wages) -- check your state's labor department for your actual rate, and remember this tool gives educational estimates, not legal advice.