Nanny pay often turns on weekly hours, overtime, and household payroll taxes. Everhour turns approved care hours into billing-ready records.
Find the right rate based on your annual expenses, desired profit margin, and available billable hours. Stop guessing.
Rent, software, gear, salary
Time lost to admin, marketing, etc.
The calculator gives you the number — Everhour takes it from there.
One click and you're timing. Start a timer, add an entry, edit the details. This is exactly how it feels in Everhour.
Set a budget, assign rates, and get alerted before you're over.
Measurement
Track your budget through time or costs
Every report you need — configured your way, always up to date.
Tracked hours flow straight into a polished invoice — no copy-paste, no manual math.
A nanny hourly-rate calculation answers two related questions: what the nanny earns per hour and what the family actually pays once weekly hours, overtime, and household payroll taxes enter the picture. In the U.S., most nannies working in a family's home are household employees when the family controls what work is done and how it is done.
Benchmarks give you a starting range, not a final rate. BLS reported a May 2024 median wage of $15.41 per hour for Childcare Workers under SOC 39-9011. Nanny-specific sources run higher: Care.com's 2026 posted average was $870 per week for one infant at 40 hours, or $21.75 per hour, and the International Nanny Association reported a $25 median hourly nanny rate in 2022.
Start with the agreed regular hourly rate, then separate regular hours from overtime hours. Under the federal baseline, covered nonexempt employees must receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate after 40 hours in a seven-day workweek. State law, a written work agreement, or a live-in arrangement can change the exact treatment, so identify the worker category before using the number.
For example, a live-out nanny earns $20 per hour and works 46 hours in one week. Regular pay is 40 hours times $20, or $800. Overtime pay is 6 hours times $30, or $180. Gross weekly wages are $980. If 2026 household employee cash wages reach $3,000 for the year, the employer's Social Security and Medicare share adds 7.65%, or $74.97 on this week. FUTA can add $58.80 at the gross 6.0% rate before any credit, or $5.88 after the standard state unemployment credit reduces the net rate to 0.6%.
A nanny rate is not the same calculation as a freelancer rate when the family controls the work. A U.S. sole proprietor usually prices from target income, overhead, self-funded benefits, and tax reserves, then reports profit on Schedule C and calculates self-employment tax on Schedule SE. That model fits independent businesses, not a household employee whose schedule, duties, and care methods are directed by the family.
Misclassification changes the math. A contractor-style rate may appear higher because it includes self-employment tax reserves and business overhead, but a household employee's pay belongs in payroll with employer tax obligations. For 2026, household employers owe Social Security and Medicare taxes once cash wages to a household employee reach $3,000 for the year. FUTA applies when total household cash wages reach $1,000 or more in any calendar quarter of 2025 or 2026.
A one-off calculator is enough when you are comparing a posted rate, estimating a trial week, or checking whether a proposed weekly schedule fits the family's budget. It is also enough for a nanny who wants to translate a weekly offer into an hourly figure before accepting.
A managed workflow becomes necessary when hours vary, overtime appears regularly, expenses need reimbursement, or records must support payroll and year-end household employment filings. Everhour Billing & Invoicing can convert tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, apply rates, exclude non-billable tasks, and export invoices to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks for the accounting handoff.
This content is for general information only, may not be fully up to date, and is provided without any warranty or liability.
High Performer
G2
Summer 2026
Best Ease Of Use
Capterra
Summer 2026
Rated in the top time trackers across G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius — with consistent praise for ease of use, integrations, and support.
Divide the weekly rate by the weekly hours only when all hours are paid at the same rate. Care.com's 2026 posted average of $870 per week is based on 40 hours, so the implied rate is $21.75 per hour. For more than 40 hours, calculate regular pay and overtime separately for covered nonexempt employees under the federal baseline.
Use the benchmark that matches the job. BLS Childcare Worker data gives a broad employee wage baseline across settings, including private households, daycare services, and self-employed workers. Nanny-specific posted-market and association data better reflects in-home nanny hiring. Care.com's 2026 average was $21.75 per hour for one infant at 40 hours, while INA reported a $25 median hourly nanny rate in 2022.
Covered nonexempt employees must receive at least 1.5 times their regular rate after 40 hours in a seven-day workweek under the federal baseline. Live-in domestic service workers employed only by an individual, family, or household are federally exempt from overtime pay, but they still must receive at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked. State rules can be stricter.
Payroll taxes are part of the family's total employment cost, not the nanny's stated hourly wage. If a household employer pays a household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages in 2026, Social Security and Medicare taxes apply at 15.3% total, split 7.65% employer and 7.65% employee. FUTA has a separate 2025 and 2026 quarterly wage trigger.
Those items should be handled explicitly in the work agreement. A higher hourly rate can cover routine duties, but mileage reimbursement, activity costs, and child-related purchases work better as separate reimbursable expenses because they vary by week. Keeping them separate also prevents confusion between taxable wages, reimbursed costs, and optional family policy choices.
Everhour Billing & Invoicing converts tracked billable time and expenses into invoices, calculates amounts from rates and time, and excludes non-billable tasks. Invoices can be exported to QuickBooks Online, Xero, or FreshBooks, with invoice status, number, issue date, and amount synced back to Everhour.
Everhour supports billable and non-billable time through project billing status and task-level non-billable controls. Admin reports can show billable time, non-billable time, billable amount, and cost, which helps separate paid childcare hours from unpaid admin notes or family-only tracking.
Track approved childcare hours, expenses, and billable status in Everhour, then generate invoices or export them to accounting tools for a cleaner household billing handoff.
14-day free trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
