Nanny Salaries and Benefits Top of Page

Nanny salaries vary depending on experience, education, hours on the job, duties, number of children, etc.

Live-out nannies usually earn $14 - $18 per hour depending on their qualifications, the number of children in the family and the duties of the job. At 45 hours per week, the weekly salary range would be about $630 to $810 per week.

Live-in nannies usually work full time (40-50 hrs) and earn $500 to $650 per week plus room and board.

Paid holidays and vacation are standard benefits for both types of nannies.

A contribution to single health insurance is a common benefit. We can refer you to an insurance company that specializes in policies for nannies.

If a nanny is required to use her car to transport the children or run errands for the family, she should be reimbursed accordingly. The usual approach is to use the IRS mileage rate which is 55.5 cents per mile (as of January 1, 2012). This is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

Other possible benefits may include:

• allowance for cell phone expenses

• contribution to health club membership

• tuition reimbursement for continuing education classes

• personal use of a family car

• cash bonus at the completion of a year on the job

Note to live-out nannies: when comparing the salaries to other types of jobs, remember that your meal times are paid as time worked, unlike other jobs. Also, your family provides your meals while you are on duty, and these are not counted as part of your taxable income. These can add up to be significant advantages compared to other jobs.

Typical Hours and Duties For Nannies Top of Page

A nanny is a professional caregiver who works in a family's home caring for their children on a full-time or part-time basis. Depending on the position, a nanny may or may not live with the family.

Responsibilities of a nanny normally include caring for a child's physical needs, organizing play activities, meal planning and preparation, behavior management, and assistance in learning new skills. Any housekeeping responsibilities are primarily child-related. Nannies can also help transport children to classes, preschool, routine medical appointments, haircuts, etc.

Full time positions range from 40 - 50 hours per week, Monday through Friday. Part time jobs are more variable depending on the family's needs.

Jobs that require work days longer than about 10 hours, or numerous evening or weekend hours, or significant on-call availability, are usually difficult to fill, especially for live-out situations. Higher salaries are required in such cases and extra care must be taken to insure the nanny doesn't burn out. In addition, any hours worked in addition to the regular schedule may require overtime pay.

Tax Information Top of Page

Families who employ a nanny to work in their home have certain obligations for state and federal employment taxes. These obligations apply to all full time and part time nannies paid over $1,800 in a year (2012). Treating a nanny as an independent contractor is clearly not allowed by the tax code. Household employers are entitled to tax breaks when they pay their nanny legally. For families, there are tax breaks that offset most, if not all, of the employer tax costs. In some cases, families even come out ahead by paying legally!

Briefly, the family must withhold 5.65% (2012) of the nanny's pay for Social Security and Medicare tax. The family is also obligated to pay 7.65% and send both portions to the IRS. The family is also required to purchase Worker's Compensation Insurance and pay into Unemployment Insurance. In total these add up to about 15% of the nanny's gross salary. Withholding income tax for the nanny is optional. However, if it is not withheld, the nanny must make quarterly payments on her own.

We provide to our client families a brief summary of the steps to get set up as a domestic employer, including websites,  forms #'s and telephone #'s. It includes information specific to the State of Minnesota. For more extensive information, visit some of the sites listed in our "Hot Links" page.

We can also help nannies and families estimate the take home pay after various taxes are withheld.

Summer Placements Top of Page

We do not do placements for just a summer. There are so many college students and new high school graduates available that families have little difficulty finding one on their own. Our extensive in depth screening process is the same for all placements. The fee we would need to charge a family for these services is often too high for such a short placement.

Short Term / Temporary Placements Top of Page

Nannies from the Heartland also provides temporary nanny placement service for evenings, overnights, weekdays, weekends, etc. Please see our Temporary Placements page or contact us for additional information.

Comments On How We Approach The Search Process Top of Page

We put more care and attention into each placement than any other agency in Minnesota. While some agencies may match us on the amount of time and effort they spend on some of the steps listed below, none match us on all of them:

• personally interviewing most families in their home; if a family chooses not to have an in-home consultation, we do an extensive telephone consultation

• personally interviewing each potentially qualified candidate

• telephoning references (much better than sending questionnaires)

• preparing a detailed 20-25 page file of information on each candidate

• discussing jobs with candidates before sending out their file

• discussing candidates with families

• following up with both the candidate and family after interviews

• following up with the families and nannies after the placement is made

We spend more money on recruitment advertising  for nannies than any other local agency. Referrals are extremely valuable and we have a huge referral base developed over 21 years in business. We don't have a "pool" of candidates. Rather, we have a "flow" of candidates that changes weekly. We can predict fairly well which jobs should fill quickly and which ones may take longer.

Families often want to interview more than one nanny candidate. Likewise, nanny candidates often want to interview with more than one family. Thus, we send each family as many qualified candidates as we have available that we think would be a good match (and where the candidate has expressed interest in the family). We send each qualified candidate to client families she'd like to interview with if we feel she meets their requirements.

We treat all job openings equally. Our major goal is to place every qualified candidate with client families as quickly as possible. However, we don't want the families or nannies wasting their time when they are not potentially well matched. We don't refer candidates who are only marginally qualified and we only work with families that we feel would be good employers. We make referrals when we are confident that the placement would last at least a year.