The babysitting boom is here

Babysitting rates outpaced inflation in 2021.

Selina Lee

It’s a helluva good time to be a babysitter. Between 2020 and 2021, the average US babysitting rate jumped 11% to $20.57 an hour.

That means babysitting left the yearly increases in both national average wage (4.7%) and inflation (7%) in the dust.

It’s a major shift from the prior year’s 3.9% jump, and the result of a combo-punch of labor shortages and new, better-credentialed entrants like teachers and nurses.

(TIL: Supposedly “babysitting” has different meanings around the world.)

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