How much to charge for home daycare
In-home childcare is priced per child per week, and your income is capped by a state-mandated ratio — which makes your rate, not your hours, the only lever you have.
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wages for home daycare providers in the national average:
Covers costs and tax with zero profit. Below this you are paying to work.
Pays you properly, covers overhead and self-employment tax, and leaves a 15% margin.
Specialised, in-demand, or booked out. Achievable once you are turning work away.
- Effective hourly rate
- $46.87/hr
- Billable hours per year
- 2,160
- Revenue at this rate
- $57,322
- Employee equivalentBLS wage for this work in your state
- $15.25/hr
How home daycare providers actually price their work
There is no single right structure — but there is usually a right one for each kind of job.
Weekly rate per child
The standard. Charged whether or not the child attends every day, which is what makes income predictable.
Daily rate
Part-time or drop-in children. Priced higher per day than the weekly equivalent to offset the lost stability.
Age-banded pricing
Infants require a tighter staff ratio than preschoolers and are almost always priced $25–$75/week above older children.
The mistake that costs home daycare providers the most
Not charging when a child is absent. Your costs and your legally capped capacity do not change when one family goes on holiday — a held spot is a sold spot. Bill the week, state it in the contract, and include a set number of paid vacation days.
What home daycare overhead actually looks like
These are the defaults behind the calculator. Yours will differ — change the overhead figure above to match.
| Cost | Typical / year |
|---|---|
| Food and formula | $3,600 |
| Supplies, toys, curriculum | $1,200 |
| Licensing, inspections, CPR/first aid | $500 |
| Liability insurance | $900 |
| Total | $6,200 |
Where home daycare providers earn the most
Median hourly wage by state, from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
| State | Median |
|---|---|
| District of Columbia | $21.83 |
| Massachusetts | $18.89 |
| Colorado | $18.47 |
| California | $18.38 |
| Vermont | $18.19 |
| Washington | $18.18 |
| New York | $17.61 |
| Hawaii | $17.52 |
| Oregon | $17.43 |
| Connecticut | $16.97 |
Common questions about home daycare pricing
How much should I charge for in-home daycare per week?
Weekly rates commonly run $150–$300 per child, driven mostly by local market and age band. The state figure above is the better starting point, since childcare rates track local wages closely.
How many children can I care for in a home daycare?
Your state sets the ratio and it is a legal limit, not a guideline — typically 6–12 children with tighter limits on infants. Check your state licensing page, because exceeding it can end your registration.
Should I charge more for infants?
Yes. Infants consume a larger share of your licensed capacity because of the ratio rules, so an infant occupies more of your earning capacity than a four-year-old. Pricing them the same means subsidising infant care with preschool fees.
How this calculator works
The starting point is the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2024), which reports what home daycare providers earn as employees in each state.
An employee wage is not a business rate, and treating it as one is the most common reason home-based operators price below cost. An employer covers half your payroll tax, your benefits, your paid leave, and every non-billable hour of your day. Self-employed, all four come out of the same rate.
So the calculator grosses the wage up for self-employment tax (15.3% on 92.35% of net earnings), adds roughly 28% for benefits you now self-fund, adds your overhead, applies a 15% margin, and then divides by billable hours only — not hours worked.
These are estimates. Your market, specialisation and reputation move the number, and every assumption above is adjustable so you can disagree with ours.
Other pricing calculators
Wage data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2024 (released 2026). This tool provides estimates only and is not financial advice.