Au Pair Cost Calculator
Estimate the cost of hosting an au pair in Australia, including pocket money, board, agency fees and insurance.
Pocket money plus the household cost of board and food per week.
Agency fees in Australia are commonly $1,200 to $4,000 depending on screening depth, and reputable agencies verify identity, references, first aid certification and a working with children check for the relevant state or territory. Ask specifically what the fee covers if the placement breaks down early, because rematch policies vary enormously.
Au pair arrangements in Australia sit in a genuinely grey area. There is no au pair visa and no au pair award, and the Fair Work Ombudsman has pursued cases where a host family treated an au pair as cultural exchange while the reality was employment. Keep hours modest, keep duties child focused, keep written records, and get advice from Fair Work and the Department of Home Affairs rather than relying on what other families do.
Set the house rules in writing before arrival, covering hours and days off, curfew or none, guests, car use, food, internet, holidays and notice period on both sides. Almost every au pair placement that fails in Australia fails on unwritten expectations rather than childcare capability, and a two page agreement prevents most of it.
💰 Ways to save
- Find your au pair through a reputable matching platform rather than a full service agency if you are willing to do the screening yourself. Platform membership costs roughly $150 to $500 against $1,200 to $4,000 for an agency placement. The trade off is real though, because you take on reference checking, identity verification, visa checks and the rematch problem if it does not work, so this suits second time host families more than first timers.
- Host during the Australian summer when working holiday makers are already in the country and looking for a base. Au pairs arriving in November through February have far more choice and families competing for them, but au pairs already here and between placements will often accept a shorter commitment on standard pocket money. Recruiting locally within Australia also removes any expectation of a flight contribution, which some overseas placements involve.
- Keep the hours genuinely within the cultural exchange range of around twenty five to thirty a week including babysitting. Beyond that the arrangement starts to look like ordinary employment, which brings minimum wage, superannuation and workers compensation obligations that would cost several times the pocket money. Staying modest on hours is both the compliant approach and the cheaper one, and it produces far better placements.
- Provide a public transport card instead of a car if your suburb allows it. A car is easily the most expensive thing a host family provides once you count insurance loading for a young or overseas licensed driver, fuel, tolls and the risk of a $1,500 to $3,000 excess on a claim. An annual transport card at $1,000 to $1,500 is a fraction of that, and in most Australian capitals it is genuinely workable for school runs on foot plus public transport.
or from $60/week over 5 years , indicative finance
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## What hosting an au pair costs in Australia
Pricing reviewed: June 2026.
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Understanding au pair costs in Australia
What hosting an au pair costs in Australia
The headline cost of an au pair is weekly pocket money, which in Australia typically runs $250 to $350 for around twenty five to thirty hours a week, rising toward $400 for longer hours or an au pair with substantial childcare experience. On top of that a host family provides a private room, all meals and household utilities, which realistically costs $120 to $200 a week in additional food, power and water. Add an agency placement fee of $1,200 to $4,000, a contribution to health insurance, and often a phone plan or transport, and a six month placement lands around $12,000 to $18,000 all up. A full twelve months typically runs $22,000 to $32,000.
The visa reality in Australia
This is the most important thing to understand and it is where Australia differs from Europe and the United States. Australia has no dedicated au pair visa. Au pairs here are almost always working holiday makers on a subclass 417 Working Holiday visa or a subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa, which are travel visas that permit work incidentally. Those visas carry conditions, including limits on how long a holder can work for any single employer, with extensions available in specified circumstances. That means an au pair placement is constrained by visa conditions rather than by the placement itself, and a family planning a twelve month arrangement needs to confirm the visa actually permits it. Conditions change, so check the Department of Home Affairs directly rather than relying on an agency's summary. This is general information and not migration advice.
Employment status, and the grey area
Australia has no au pair award and no legal definition of an au pair, which leaves host families in genuinely ambiguous territory. The cultural exchange framing, in which an au pair is a temporary family member helping with children in exchange for board and pocket money, is the model agencies promote. The Fair Work Ombudsman has taken a different view in cases where the substance was employment: long hours, general housework, direction and control by the family, and pocket money well below minimum wage. If the arrangement looks like employment, then minimum wage, superannuation, workers compensation and record keeping obligations can apply, and the gap between pocket money and award wages is very large. The practical protection is to keep hours modest, keep duties genuinely child focused, keep the family relationship real, and take advice from the Fair Work Ombudsman rather than assuming the common practice is the lawful one.
Agency fees and what they buy
Australian au pair agencies charge $1,200 to $4,000 for a placement, and the range reflects how much work they actually do. A basic agency provides a matching service and some reference checking. A premium agency verifies identity and visa status, checks references properly, confirms first aid certification, arranges a working with children check for the relevant state or territory, provides an orientation for both sides, offers ongoing mediation support, and guarantees a rematch within a specified window if the placement fails. That rematch guarantee is the clause most worth reading, because placements do break down and finding a replacement mid year without support is difficult. Matching platforms are the cheaper alternative at $150 to $500, but the screening burden falls entirely on you.
Insurance, cars and the risks host families carry
Health cover matters because working holiday makers are generally not covered by Medicare unless they come from a country with a reciprocal health care agreement, and even then the cover is limited. Overseas visitor health cover costs roughly $60 to $120 a month, and while the au pair is usually responsible for it, many Australian families contribute as part of the package. The larger financial risk is a car. Check with your insurer whether a driver on an overseas licence is covered at all, whether an international driving permit or licence translation is required in your state, and what excess applies, because young or inexperienced driver excesses of $1,500 to $3,000 are common. Also confirm your home and contents policy and any public liability exposure with an additional adult living in the household.
Comparing an au pair with other childcare
An au pair is cost effective for families with two or more children needing flexible before and after school coverage, school holiday care and occasional evening babysitting. At roughly $250 to $350 a week in pocket money plus $120 to $200 in board, the effective hourly cost lands well below a nanny's $32 to $45. What you are trading is qualification, since au pairs are typically young travellers with informal childcare experience rather than early childhood trained professionals, and continuity, since placements are short and visa constrained. An au pair also cannot attract the Child Care Subsidy, which centre based care can. For a family with one preschool age child, subsidised long day care is usually both cheaper and better resourced. For a family with three school age children needing wraparound coverage, an au pair is often the most practical option available.
Making a placement work
The failures in Australian au pair placements are overwhelmingly about expectations rather than childcare. Write down the hours and days off, the duties in specific terms, whether light housework related to the children is included, curfew and guest rules, car use, food and shopping, holiday arrangements, and the notice period on both sides. Set a review point at four weeks where either party can raise problems. Give the au pair genuine independence, including a room with a door that closes and enough free time to have a life outside the house, because an au pair who is isolated will leave. Finally, keep records of hours and payments even in a cultural exchange framing, since if the arrangement is ever assessed by Fair Work, contemporaneous records are the only useful evidence of what actually happened.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an au pair cost in Australia?
Pocket money typically runs $250 to $350 a week for twenty five to thirty hours, plus $120 to $200 a week in board, food and utilities. Add an agency fee of $1,200 to $4,000 and any insurance or transport contribution, and a six month placement lands around $12,000 to $18,000 with a full year at $22,000 to $32,000.
Is there an au pair visa in Australia?
No. Australia has no dedicated au pair visa, so au pairs are almost always working holiday makers on a subclass 417 Working Holiday or subclass 462 Work and Holiday visa. Those visas limit how long a holder can work for a single employer, so confirm the conditions with the Department of Home Affairs before planning a long placement. This is general information, not migration advice.
Do I have to pay superannuation for an au pair?
It depends on whether the arrangement is genuinely cultural exchange or is in substance employment. Australia has no au pair award, and the Fair Work Ombudsman has treated arrangements with long hours, general housework and clear direction and control as employment, which brings minimum wage, superannuation and workers compensation into play. Keep hours modest and duties child focused, and seek advice from Fair Work rather than assuming.
What does an au pair agency fee cover?
Between $1,200 and $4,000 depending on the agency. A premium fee should cover identity and visa verification, proper reference checks, first aid certification, a working with children check for your state or territory, orientation for both parties, ongoing mediation and a rematch guarantee if the placement breaks down. The rematch clause is the one worth reading closely.
Should I let my au pair drive our car?
Only after checking your insurer. Many Australian policies apply a young or inexperienced driver excess of $1,500 to $3,000, some exclude overseas licence holders entirely, and your state may require an international driving permit or a certified licence translation. A public transport card at $1,000 to $1,500 a year is far cheaper and works well in most Australian capitals.
Is an au pair cheaper than a nanny?
Yes, substantially, on an hourly basis. An au pair effectively costs well below a nanny's $32 to $45 an hour once pocket money and board are combined. What you give up is qualification and continuity, since au pairs are usually young travellers on short visa constrained stays rather than early childhood trained professionals, and neither attracts the Child Care Subsidy.
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