Babysitter rates in Switzerland: usually CHF 20 to 25 an hour

What families pay per hour

The figures come from Clino's babysitter rate map: 11'620 ads on babysitting24.ch from 23 cantons, collected in July 2026. Half of the ads are at CHF 22 or less, a quarter at CHF 20 or less, a quarter at CHF 25 or more.

The language border shows clearly: in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino the median is CHF 20, in German-speaking Switzerland CHF 25. Geneva, at CHF 22, sits at the Swiss level, together with Zurich and Basel-Stadt. For the three eastern cantons without a figure, the calculator uses the Swiss median.

What moves the rate up or down

The ads give neither age nor experience, so the rate map cannot put a number on these differences. Take your canton's band as the frame and decide within it:

Holiday pay belongs on every evening

Anyone paid by the hour gets their holidays as a supplement on every wage: 8.33 % for 4 weeks of holiday, 10.64 % for 5 weeks up to the end of the year she turns 20. The supplement must appear as a separate amount in the contract and on every payslip. An "including holidays" without a figure is not enough.

If you pay cash, write it down exactly like this: date, hours, rate, supplement, total. The details are in the post on holiday pay for hourly wages.

AHV and accident insurance: what you have to do

Whoever pays a babysitter is her employer. In a private household, AHV applies from the first franc; the CHF 2'500 threshold for small side earnings does not apply here. What applies depends on her age:

What counts each time is the age she reaches in the current year.

Against work accidents she is insured from the first hour, and you pay the premium. If she works 8 hours a week or more for you, she is also covered in her free time (NBU); that premium is hers.

The simplest route is the simplified settlement procedure, up to CHF 22'680 in wages a year per person: you register her with the compensation office and pay the contributions once a year. From the wage you deduct 5 % withholding tax, for every employee. In this procedure you do not need a salary certificate.

Does a minimum wage apply to babysitting?

The standard employment contract for domestic work (NAV), with CHF 20.35 an hour, only applies from an average of 5 hours a week with the same family, and not in Geneva. According to SECO it also does not apply to people who mainly look after children, so not to babysitters either.

Some cantons have their own minimum wage: Geneva CHF 24.59, Basel-Stadt CHF 22.20, Jura CHF 21.40, Neuchâtel CHF 21.35, Ticino CHF 20.00. Whether it applies to babysitting depends on the exceptions each canton sets itself, Neuchâtel for instance for holiday jobs. If you employ an adult babysitter there regularly, the cantonal rate keeps you on the safe side.

Teenage babysitters: what applies?

The Labour Act and its youth protection rules do not apply in private households (Art. 2 ArG). So there is no legal time until which a 15-year-old may babysit. Agree times and the way home with her parents.

She pays AHV contributions from 1 January after her 17th birthday; she is insured against accidents from the first booking. She can take the Red Cross babysitting course from age 13: 10 hours, CHF 100 to 250, not compulsory, but a good sign.

Deducting babysitting from your taxes

Childcare costs for children under 14 are deductible from direct federal tax up to CHF 25'800 per child, if the care is needed because of your work, training or incapacity to work. The evening at the cinema does not count; the evening you work does. The cantons have their own caps.

For the deduction you need proof. With a registered babysitter you have it: payslips and the compensation office's statement. What childcare costs overall is shown in the comparison of childcare options.

Frequently asked questions about babysitter pay