What is considered a reasonable going per hour rate for a babysitter these days? Either for an adult or older teenager to watch a child (5 year old)for a few hours during a weekend evening or an overnighter on a weekend? If an overnight, it would only be a few hours until bedtime to watch em. After that, the person would just be there so he was not alone and so someone would be there of course. 

When I did licensed daycare in Manhattan about a year ago I charged an hourly rate of $7 per hour. If it went over 4 hours I set a rate of $25 a day. For overnights I charged the $25 a day rate plus a $5 overnight fee. Keep in mind that I was licensed and had been state inspected so I figured that into my prices. An adult or teenager who isn't licensed or has A LOT of experience shouldn't charge that much. I paid our high school sitter from post $20 for an evening out (7-11:30). Hope this helps. 

I got paid anywhere from $8-$12/hr at our last duty station. I did not do overnights, but I would have probably come up with a flat fee for that, maybe $50 or something like that. I personally would not do it for $7/hr or $25/day, and I'm not even a licensed daycare provider, just an adult who has been babysitting since I was a teenager.

I think high schoolers could probably be paid a little less, but remember that minimum wage is over $7 now, so teens are probably going to think they're getting screwed if they don't get paid at least minimum wage. 

Oh my, I use to babysit in Germany and charged $2 an hour or $75 a week. The going rate is crazy these days, how can people who only make minimum wage afford to work when all they are doing is working to pay for day care? 

Daycares don't always charge minimum wage for childcare, but it's because they are watching several kids and can split the cost. When you babysit for someone in their home, it takes away your ability to make money from anyone else. No one would work at a gas station or fast food restaurant for less than minimum wage, and it would in fact be illegal. So why should babysitters be expected to work for less than that? It probably takes more brains and more work to watch a child than it does to run a cash register.

You might be surprised how picky some parents are about who watches their children. When I was on sittercity, there were tons of people who wanted babysitters with college degrees, CPR and First Aid certification, etc. You can't pay someone like that $5/hour.

My son went to a daycare though that only charged $3/hour, and it was cheaper for older kids. So I would say if you are only working at a minimum wage job, you probably cannot afford the luxury of someone watching your child in your own home.

And the original poster was posting about weekend/overnight babysitters, not workday babysitting. I would charge more for weekend/overnight than I would for daytime weekdays. 

When my sister and I used to do babysitting together we had some overnight shifts. We usually charged a bit less, unless the child is a small baby that doesn't sleep through the night but that is a different age than what the op stated. So if a 5 year old needs care overnight, we would charge like $20-$25 never more than that considering the child would be asleep. 

When I ran my daycare it was $100 per week all food includes just bring diapers & formula & $150 for 2 kids a week. I didn't charge days they were sick or gone...I'd say a fair price is like $5/hour