What should you charge for dog sitting?
Charge at least what your time is worth where you work: local wages for the care, plus travel, driving and the costs an employer would cover. A night in the client's home near Ashburn, VA, counted as 90 minutes of evening and morning care, comes to $55 before anything for the night itself. Enter your ZIP code to see yours.
Example: Ashburn, VA · a night at the client's home
Don't charge less than $55
$51–$64 across local wages
- Your areaWashington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
- $55
- VirginiaStatewide wages
- $51
- United StatesNationwide wages
- $52
A night in the client's home counts 90 minutes of evening and morning care and one trip there. The night itself isn't counted, so charge more than this for a night. That's $33 for each hour of care and travel.
Change the assumptions
No government data measures these, so they are our assumptions. Some of a sitter's working time goes on messages, invoices and gaps between visits, so we count about three in four working hours as paid. Driving is at the IRS rate of 76 cents a mile.
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Get the free starter kitHow is this price worked out?
We start from what employers near you pay animal caretakers an hour (BLS, May 2025): the 25th percentile, the median and the 75th percentile. We multiply by 1.30 for the payroll taxes, paid leave and insurance an employer pays on top of wages (BLS, June 2026), and add driving at the IRS rate of 76 cents a mile. Three figures are our assumptions, which you can change under Change the assumptions: 10 minutes of travel and 3 miles of driving a visit, and about three in four working hours paid. A night adds a fourth: a night in the client's home counts as 90 minutes of evening and morning care and one trip, and we leave the night itself out, so a night's figure is the least for the care alone. We have no survey of what sitters charge.
Sources: BLS wages, May 2025 · BLS employer costs, June 2026 · Census ZIP code areas · IRS mileage rate
Photo: Roberto Nickson on Unsplash
Will $55 a night pay you? Check your week
Your overnight stay starts at your area's floor, $55. Change it to what you charge, then put in the income you want, your hours and your other services.
What do you charge for a night and for each visit?
Clients compare dog sitters by the night for a stay and by the visit for a drop-in, so a price far above what sitters near you ask is hard to sell. Put in what you charge for an overnight stay, drop-ins and an extra dog, and how many of each you can book in a week.
That's 8 services, the most the calculator takes.
The night or drop-in from your ZIP lookup starts at your area's floor; the other prices are examples. Change any of them to what you charge. An overnight stay is priced per night, at most 7 a week. Its minutes are the evening and morning care you count as work, 90 as on the card; the night itself isn't counted against your hours. An extra dog is an add-on, done at a stay or visit you already make, so it adds no travel or miles. A daycare day is priced per dog. Its $30 is only an example, so put in your own price and the days you book. Its minutes are the day's hours of care, counted once however many dogs come, and it adds no travel or miles because clients drop their dogs off.
Between visits I travel minutes and drive miles, at $ a mile. Insurance costs me $ a year, and supplies and the rest $ a month. On a daycare day I watch dogs at once.
Your week earns $43,890 a year before income tax, in 27 of your 35 hours a week.
How do you close the gap to the income you need?
One price set far above what sitters near you charge is hard to hold, so close the gap by selling more of your week: another night, longer drop-ins, a set fee for each extra dog, a modest raise, a tighter route, or a helper. Below, each change is sized to your numbers.
Plan with , paid $ a visit, taking more visits a week from new clients.
The helper's pay starts as an example: set what you'd pay. Whether a helper is an employee or a contractor depends on how much you direct and control the work. Read the IRS guidance on contractors and employees and your state's rules before you hire.
You're $6,110 a year short. Each of these closes or narrows it, sized to your numbers:
- 30-minute drop-in: 6 more a weekAdds $6,543 a year.
- Extra dog: 13 more a week at $10Adds $6,240 a year.
- 30-minute drop-in to 60-minute drop-in: switch 10 a weekAdds $6,240 a year.
- 30-minute drop-in: raise from $25 to $28Adds $2,880 a year, if $28 is still within what sitters near you charge.
- Travel between visits: cut from 10 to 5 minutesBooking clients close together frees 2.4 hours a week. Filled with 30-minute drop-in, 4 more a week, that adds $4,362 a year.
Why is my area's price different from the US?
Because wages are. In May 2025 the median animal caretaker earned $17 an hour across the US, from $12.97 in Mississippi to $21.25 in DC. The floor follows the wage, so the least to charge for a night in the client's home, counted as 90 minutes of care and the trip, runs from $40 in Mississippi to $64 in DC.
The least to charge in each state and DC
| State | Median wage an hour | A night |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $13.62 | $42 |
| Alaska | $17.61 | $54 |
| Arizona | $18.35 | $56 |
| Arkansas | $14.54 | $45 |
| California | $18.60 | $56 |
| Colorado | $18 | $55 |
| Connecticut | $17.94 | $55 |
| Delaware | $16.30 | $50 |
| District of Columbia | $21.25 | $64 |
| Florida | $16.42 | $50 |
| Georgia | $14.36 | $44 |
| Hawaii | $19.29 | $58 |
| Idaho | $15.47 | $47 |
| Illinois | $17.10 | $52 |
| Indiana | $14.42 | $44 |
| Iowa | $14.46 | $45 |
| Kansas | $14.34 | $44 |
| Kentucky | $14.77 | $45 |
| Louisiana | $13.42 | $42 |
| Maine | $17.90 | $54 |
| Maryland | $17.68 | $54 |
| Massachusetts | $19.06 | $58 |
| Michigan | $14.58 | $45 |
| Minnesota | $17.51 | $53 |
| Mississippi | $12.97 | $40 |
| Missouri | $15.02 | $46 |
| Montana | $16.45 | $50 |
| Nebraska | $15.23 | $47 |
| Nevada | $14.58 | $45 |
| New Hampshire | $16.73 | $51 |
| New Jersey | $17.24 | $53 |
| New Mexico | $16.14 | $49 |
| New York | $18.19 | $55 |
| North Carolina | $14.84 | $46 |
| North Dakota | $16.37 | $50 |
| Ohio | $14.57 | $45 |
| Oklahoma | $13.92 | $43 |
| Oregon | $17.59 | $54 |
| Pennsylvania | $15.08 | $46 |
| Rhode Island | $17.85 | $54 |
| South Carolina | $15.04 | $46 |
| South Dakota | $14.61 | $45 |
| Tennessee | $14.69 | $45 |
| Texas | $15.74 | $48 |
| Utah | $16.71 | $51 |
| Vermont | $17.35 | $53 |
| Virginia | $16.53 | $51 |
| Washington | $19.51 | $59 |
| West Virginia | $13.73 | $42 |
| Wisconsin | $14.50 | $45 |
| Wyoming | $13.98 | $43 |
How do sitters set dog sitting rates?
Start from the floor: what your time is worth where you work, plus travel, driving and the costs an employer would cover. Price an overnight stay by the night, above the floor for its care, because the night ties you to one home. What sitters near you charge shows how far above the floor you can go.
- Overnight stays by the night, saying which daytime visits or walks are included
- Drop-ins by length: a 30-minute and a 60-minute visit are separate prices
- A set extra amount for each extra dog from the same home
- A set extra amount for holidays and short-notice bookings
- Daycare by the day, per dog
Is this what dog sitters near me charge?
No. The figures come from what employers near you pay animal caretakers, plus your travel, your driving and the costs an employer pays on top of wages. They show the least a night or a visit should cost. Sitters near you may charge more, so look at a few local listings before you set your price above the floor.
How is the price for a night worked out?
With the same formula as a visit, for a night in the client's home: 90 minutes of evening and morning care and one trip there. The 90 minutes are our assumption, and the night itself isn't counted, so the figure is the least for the care alone. If your care takes longer than 90 minutes, charge more.
Why is there no minimum for daycare?
We don't give one, because a floor built from local wages comes out far above what clients pay for daycare. Daycare prices assume the sitter is home anyway with several dogs at once, and a full day of wages split across a few dogs can't match that. Put your own daycare price and days in the planner to see whether your week works. Rules on how many dogs you can keep at home vary, so check your city and state rules.
What about boarding at my home?
The card's night is for staying in the client's home. Boarding, where the dog stays with you, is priced differently, often with several dogs at once, so we don't give a minimum for it. Add it to the planner as its own service, at your own price, to see what your week earns.
Should an overnight stay include daytime visits?
Decide once and say so on your price sheet: a midday visit can be part of the night's price or a drop-in charged on top. If you include it, add its minutes to the overnight's minutes in the calculator, so your hours stay true.
How much should I charge for a second dog?
Set one amount for each extra dog from the same home, per night or per visit, and put it on your price sheet. Check what sitters near you add for a second dog. In the calculator, add it as an add-on: it counts toward your week without adding a trip.
Should I charge more for dog sitting on holidays?
You can, as a set extra amount a night or a visit for the days you'd otherwise take off. Name the dates and the amount on your price sheet before clients book them, so the invoice matches what they agreed to.
Where to go from here
Sit for cats too? The cat sitting rate calculator prices cat visits, extra cats and medication.
Book drop-ins, cat visits and overnights in one week? The pet sitting rate calculator plans the whole mix.
Walk dogs too? The dog walking rate calculator plans a week of walks the same way.
Charging more on holidays? The holiday fee calculator works out a holiday rate from your own price.
Going out on your own? The guide to starting your own business covers registering, taxes, insurance and finding clients.
When clients start booking, Reeve keeps the schedule, invoices and texts in one place.
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Checked on
- BLS: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Animal Caretakers (39-2021), released May 15, 2026
- BLS: Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2025 (news release and technical note)
- BLS: OEWS area definitions, May 2025 (county to wage area)
- BLS: Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026, Table 4 (service occupations), released September 9, 2026
- Census: 2020 ZIP code tabulation area to county relationship file
- Census: 2022 Connecticut county subdivision to ZIP code tabulation area file
- IRS: Standard mileage rates
- IRS: Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 (Announcement 2026-11, rates from July 1, 2026)
- IRS: Self-employed individuals tax center
- IRS: Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee?