Have you thought about what you’d be paid for a stay-at-home mom salary?
If you’re a stay-at-home mom, then you know how much work it is to take care of the kids and run the house. Even though you aren’t working a “traditional career,” your work has a dollar value that can’t be ignored!
We’ll show you what economists estimate what compensation a stay-at-home mom could make if she were paid- and what Salary.com argues is the REAL annual salary of moms!
You might be surprised by the difference in data results!
The Jobs Of A Stay-At-Home Mom
There are a lot of different jobs that a stay-at-home mom performs on an average day- I have no doubts you wear many hats! And unlike traditional workers, stay-at-home moms never punch out on their time cards!
So for all that work, what’s the price you’d be paid by someone else for the same exact responsibilities?
Here are related job titles that reflect some of your essential duties as a mom and the general market value of your compensation according to Salary.com.
House Cleaner
Moms constantly clean the house, vacuum the floors, and tidy up. If mothers were paid as housekeepers, they would earn a median annual wage of $27,000, which is around $13 hourly.
Laundry Service
Stay-at-home moms also often handle the clothes washing for the entire family. That means she’s constantly washing and folding clothes. Laundry workers earn a median annual salary of $24,000, or $11.50 per hour.
Chef
Stay-at-home moms spend time in the kitchen every day, ensuring their family eats well as a professional cook right at home. The average chef’s salary is around $50,000 per year, meaning you would earn about $24 per hour as a chef in the industry!
Childcare
Being a mother means watching the kids and attending to their needs. People pay others to nanny their children while they work. If mothers were paid, they’d make $35,000 per year, so if you’re in the market for a job, your pay would be $16.80 an hour for childcare!
Teacher
Mothers do the priceless job of teaching their children and helping them with homework. If mothers were paid what teachers are worth, their pay would be $29.30 an hour, a median salary of about $61,000 per year.
Chauffer
Moms spend considerable time driving kids around to doctor’s appointments, after-school activities, weekend sports, and playdates. It can be time-consuming running the kids around, so moms definitely can add chauffer to their resume! The median annual salary for a chauffeur is $36,000, or $17.30 an hour.
Economic Value: Stay-At-Home Mom Salary
As a stay-at-home worker, you could make anywhere from $11.50 and $29.30 per hour on average for your work, and that’s only with the 6 basic jobs we’ve outlined!
As a work-at-home mother myself, I know you do way more than that! This doesn’t include the hours spent each week on many other time-consuming tasks, like running errands, lawn care, creating the budgets, handling the finances, and more.
To figure out the compensation equivalent of a mother’s work in the home, we checked out data from the American Time Use (ATU) Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Mothers in the survey reported their average time on motherly duties per week in 2019, and here are the totals from that data:
- House Cleaning: 3 hours
- Washing Clothes: 1.8 hours
- Cooking: 5.5 hours
- Childcare: 11.7 hours
- Teaching: 1.5 hours
- Chauffering: 2.5 hours (survey from HopSkipDrive)
- Total = 26 hours per week
Hmmm, 26 hours a week, they say? As a stay-at-home mom, what do you think about that?
So here’s the compensation, according to an economist, in a year if you got a wage for all your responsibilities:
- House Cleaning: 3 X 13 = $39
- Washing Clothes: 1.8 X 11.50 = $21
- Cooking: 5.5 X 24 = $132
- Childcare: 11.7 X 16.80 = $197
- Teaching: 1.5 X 29.30 = $44
- Chauffering: 2.5 X 17.30 = $43
- Weekly Total = $476
- Yearly Total = $24,752
BUT WAIT… Are Economists Too Low?
So economists find out the general market value you would make based on reported data from the government- but is there more to it than that?
Salary.com is a reliable market website for data on jobs- and they’ve taken all this a step further, collecting more data pre and post-pandemic to determine what compensation stay-at-home moms would receive.
It’s a whopping $184,820!! Including business roles and motherly duties, moms hold much more worth and value for all the tasks they perform for their families.
So, where’s the significant discrepancy come from?
Well, the main thing that stood out to us was how much work per week moms reported- according to Salary.com, it’s 15 hours a day! That’s 105 hours of work a week, not just 26 hours from the ATU survey.
In addition, Salary.com puts moms in more roles, including being a bookkeeper and chief financial officer, which pay higher than regular positions like chef and teacher.
So data from Salary.com may better reflect the hours spent working on a daily basis, plus all the different roles you really take on when you run the house full-time!
Want To Make Easy Money As A Stay-At-Home Mom?
If you’re one of the many stay-at-home moms looking for ways to make some more money, there are plenty of jobs that will allow you to work from home while still watching your children.
With a side hustle, you can set your schedule and work when the kids are at school or napping. Another great thing is that these jobs usually require very little money to start.
Proofreader
If stay-at-home moms want extra income, being a proofreader may be the perfect business for you. A professional proofreader makes money from reading and pointing out mistakes- sound easy enough?
Learn how to become a proofreader with this FREE 76-Minute Proofreading Workshop.
Freelance Writer or Ghostwriter
Becoming a freelance writer or ghostwriter is an accessible business to start. This is a great way to use your writing skills, and you can do this job from home.
You can even use tools like Jasper and SurferSEO to quickly write and optimize your content. Find out how to increase your income as a writer with our Freelance Write From Home E-book.
Blogger
It’s simple to become a blogger and share your knowledge online with others. You can start your website with BlueHost for just $2.95 per month (and get a free domain name!).
It’s also helpful to market your blog on various social media websites. If you get good enough at it, you could become a professional blogger who makes a full-time income!
Bookkeeper
An organized mom who records everything in a planner or computer could quickly become a bookkeeper. All you have to do is update numbers and input data into financial spreadsheets.
Check out this FREE bookkeeper workshop to learn how to start a profitable online bookkeeping business.
Final Thoughts
While many moms would say that their hardest day at home is better than the most strenuous day at the office, a mother’s work still has much financial value, just like a traditional career!
So what’s your worth as a mom taking care of the kids every day? You can go with economic basics, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of nearly how much you do!
Salary data as suggested for years that your compensation at market value is well over $100,000 a year- Salary.com has estimated $162,581 (2018), $178,201 (2019), and now we’re at $184,820 for a mother’s salary!
A mom’s work is never done, and your pay will always be on the rise!
