Nanny or daycare? Run the real numbers.
Enter your children, local daycare rates, and nanny pay — get a side-by-side annual cost and the number of kids where a nanny starts winning.
One price per kid, one price for the household.
Daycare charges per child. A nanny costs the same whether you have one kid or three — enter your numbers and see where the math flips.
CHEAPER OPTION
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Cost by number of children
Daycare scales with every kid. A nanny mostly doesn’t.
Daycare $0Nanny $0
Annual cost at each family size
Plan details
- Children
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- Daycare / child / month
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- Nanny pay rate
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- Employer taxes
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The nanny tax
Don’t skip the nanny tax
If you pay a household employee $2,800 or more in a year (2026 threshold), you owe the employer share of Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%) plus federal and state unemployment insurance. That is roughly 10% on top of wages. Paying cash “off the books” is illegal and can cost you back taxes and penalties if caught. The tax cost above is already included in the nanny total.