Summary: A full-time nanny averages about $870 a week nationally, roughly two and a half times the $332 a week a daycare center charges for one infant. But the sticker comparison misses payroll taxes, backup care, and the sibling math that can flip the answer. This guide lays out the true all-in cost of each option, the scenarios where a nanny wins, and how nanny shares split the difference.
The nanny-versus-daycare question is really two questions: which is cheaper, and which fits your life. On pure price for one child, daycare wins almost everywhere. The average posted nanny rate in Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Survey is $21.75 an hour, or $870 a week for a 40-hour week. The average posted center rate for one infant is $332 a week. That gap looks decisive until you add children, add payroll taxes, and subtract the cost of backup care when your child is sick.
This guide keeps the two questions separate. First the money, line by line. Then the non-money factors that move families one way or the other even when the math favors the other side.
Per Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Survey, national posted averages for one child are: nanny $870 a week, child care center $332 a week, family child care home $301 a week. Annualized over 52 weeks, that is about $45,200 for a nanny versus $17,300 for a center. The ratio, about 2.6 to 1, is consistent across most metro areas even though the absolute numbers move.
These are posted asking rates, which skew a bit high versus what families actually pay, but the ratio between options is the useful part. In high-cost metros the nanny premium can be even larger: San Francisco averages nearly $29 an hour for a nanny, while centers there are expensive too but not proportionally so.
Centers quote tuition, and tuition is most of the story, but not all of it. Registration fees run $100 to $500 a year, supply and activity fees can add several hundred more, and late pickup fees are famously steep. The bigger hidden cost is backup care: centers send sick children home, and the average child under 5 has 6 to 8 colds a year in group care. If you and your partner cannot cover those days, backup sitters or lost wages fill the gap.
On the other side, centers include things a nanny does not: socialization, structured curriculum, and automatic backup staffing when a teacher is out. When you price a center, price the whole package against a nanny plus the extras below.
A nanny's wage is not the whole cost of a nanny. As a household employer you owe the employer share of Social Security and Medicare (7.65 percent), federal and state unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation in most states. On an $870-a-week wage that is roughly $3,500 to $4,500 a year in employer taxes before any benefits you offer like paid time off or a health stipend.
Then there is the management overhead: payroll (a service like a nanny tax provider runs $500 to $1,000 a year if you outsource it), backup care when your nanny is sick or on vacation, and the reality that you are the HR department. None of this shows up in the hourly rate, and all of it is real money.
Add a second child and the comparison changes shape. Two infants in a center at $332 a week each is $664 a week, minus a typical 10 percent sibling discount, or about $598. A nanny caring for two children commands a premium over the one-child rate, usually $2 to $5 more per hour, so $23.75 an hour is $950 a week plus employer taxes of roughly $80 a week, or about $1,030 all-in. The center still wins, but the gap has narrowed from 2.6x to about 1.7x.
With three children the lines can cross, especially with a nanny share. Two families splitting one nanny at $950 a week pay $475 each, which undercuts a center for one infant in most metros. Nanny shares are the great equalizer in this comparison, and they are worth pricing before you decide.
Money is not the whole decision. A nanny wins on logistics: no drop-off and pickup windows, no packing lunches to spec, care during your exact work hours including early or late coverage. For parents with unpredictable schedules, shift work, or long commutes, the flexibility can be worth more than the price gap.
Health is the other factor. Children in group care get sick more often in the first year, which means more missed work. Families with medically fragile children, or with jobs where absence is costly, sometimes find the nanny premium pays for itself in reliability. Run your own absence math before dismissing the expensive option.
Write down four numbers for each option: the quoted weekly rate, the annual extras (fees, taxes, backup care), the schedule value (what is it worth to skip drop-off), and the risk cost (expected sick days times your daily cost of absence). Most families find the decision becomes obvious once all four are on paper.
Revisit the math every year. The nanny premium shrinks as children age into cheaper center brackets, and a nanny share that made sense for two infants may not make sense when both children are in preschool. This is a decision to remake annually, not once.
The national posted average is $21.75 an hour per Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Survey, or $870 a week full-time. Metro rates range from under $20 an hour in lower-cost cities to nearly $29 an hour in San Francisco.
Usually yes. Two families splitting a nanny at roughly $950 a week pay about $475 each, which beats the $332-a-week center average for one infant in most markets once you account for the nanny's extra-child premium and employer taxes.
Yes, in almost all cases. A household employer owes the 7.65 percent employer share of Social Security and Medicare plus unemployment insurance, and must issue a W-2. Paying cash under the table is tax evasion and forfeits the dependent care tax benefits.
Family child care homes average $301 a week nationally, the lowest of the paid options. Family help is cheapest of all when it is available and sustainable, followed by nanny shares and then centers.
Figures: 2026. Nanny, center, and family-home rates from the Care.com 2026 Cost of Care Survey (posted rates). Tax figures per IRS household employer rules. Verify local rates with providers. This guide is for planning only.