How much do stay at home moms get paid
Stay-at-home mums (moms in the US) are not paid a wage for the work they do at home, in Australia and the US. The figure you see quoted is a replacement value: Insure.com’s 2025 Mother’s Day Index puts that unpaid work at US$145,235 a year. The money a stay-at-home parent actually receives comes from means-tested government payments, tax credits, or income she earns herself.
How much do stay at home moms get paid?
The honest answer is nothing, at least not as pay. No employer or government pays a parent a salary for cooking, cleaning, school runs and night feeds. The work is real and enormous, but it is unpaid, so it does not show up on a payslip or in your retirement savings.
What exists instead are three separate things that often get blurred together in headlines:
- Replacement value: what it would cost to pay other people to do the work. This is an estimate, not income.
- Government support: means-tested payments in Australia and tax credits in the US. These depend on family income and circumstances, and many families get little or none.
- Your own income: money you earn from paid work, often part-time or from home.
| What people mean by “paid” | Is it money you receive? | Australia | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| Replacement value of the work | No, it is an estimate | No official “mum salary”; you can value it with Australian childcare wages (see the ledger below) | Insure.com’s 2025 index: US$145,235 a year, based on BLS wages for 19 household jobs |
| Government payment to the parent at home | Sometimes, if eligible | Parenting Payment and Family Tax Benefit, both income tested | No federal stay-at-home parent payment; state programs vary |
| Tax relief for families | Sometimes, at tax time | No direct equivalent; Family Tax Benefit (above) is the main family payment | Child Tax Credit, up to US$2,200 per qualifying child for 2025 |
| Income you earn yourself | Yes | Varies widely by role and hours | Varies widely by role and hours |
What would a stay-at-home mum’s work cost to replace?
The best-known US estimate is Insure.com’s Mother’s Day Index. Its 2025 edition values a mother’s unpaid household work at US$145,235 a year, up 4% on 2024. The editors assign a Bureau of Labor Statistics hourly wage to jobs a primary caregiver does, such as cooking, laundry, homework help and emotional support, then estimate the hours each one takes.
Before you quote it: it is a replacement value, not what anyone pays you. And the index adds up 183 hours a week across its 19 job categories, which is more than the 168 hours in a week. Mums do several jobs at once, so the overlap is real, but it puts the headline figure at the high end of how you could value the work.
The quotable version: a stay-at-home mum’s work has a replacement value in the six figures by one US estimate, but her pay for it is zero.
The Home Hours Ledger: value your own hours in four steps
The Home Hours Ledger gives you a figure for your own household. It values only the childcare part of your day, at the median wage of paid childcare workers, so it is conservative and defensible.
- Count your hands-on childcare hours in a normal week. Count active care only, not time the kids are at school or asleep.
- Pick a published hourly wage. In the US, the BLS reports a median hourly wage of $16.82 for childcare workers (May 2025). In Australia, Jobs and Skills Australia lists median hourly earnings of $35 for child carers, from the ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025.
- Multiply hours by the wage to get a weekly replacement value.
- Multiply by 52 for a yearly figure. Add other jobs only if you would genuinely pay someone to do them.
Here is the ledger worked end to end with an illustrative 30 hands-on childcare hours a week. The 30 hours is an example input, not an average; swap in your own tally.
| Step | US (USD) | Australia (AUD) |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-on childcare hours per week (illustrative) | 30 | 30 |
| Median hourly wage for paid childcare workers | $16.82 (BLS, May 2025) | $35 (JSA / ABS, May 2025) |
| Weekly replacement value (hours x median wage) | $504.60 | $1,050 |
| Yearly replacement value (weekly x 52) | $26,239.20 | $54,600 |
Recheck the maths with your own numbers: 30 x 16.82 = 504.60, and 504.60 x 52 = 26,239.20. In Australia, 30 x 35 = 1,050, and 1,050 x 52 = 54,600. The ledger lands far below six figures because it counts one job, at a median rate, for the hours you actually logged. That makes it a number you can stand behind.
Want to see if remote sales could work for you? Book a free call with the She Sells team.
What money can a stay-at-home parent actually receive?
In Australia
Australia has two main payments a parent at home may be able to get, and both are means tested. Check the current rules and rates on Services Australia before you plan around either one.
- Parenting Payment is for a principal carer of a young child. Services Australia says you must be under the income and asset test limits and be the principal carer of a child under 14 if you are single, or under 6 if you have a partner. Single parents whose youngest child is 6 or over have mutual obligation requirements unless exempt.
- Family Tax Benefit Part B may be paid to a single parent, a grandparent carer, or a member of a couple with one main income, according to Services Australia’s eligibility page. It is income tested, so it is designed for exactly the “one parent at home” situation, but the amount depends on your family’s income.
Neither is a wage. They are support payments, and a family with a well-paid main earner may receive little or nothing.
In the US
There is no federal payment for being a stay-at-home parent. The main federal help is the Child Tax Credit: the IRS says it is worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child under 17 for 2025, with a refundable portion of up to $1,700. To get that refundable part, the IRS says you must have earned income of at least $2,500, which matters if your household has only one small income. State programs and credits vary, so check your state’s revenue or human services department.
The costs people forget when one parent stays home
A sum that only looks at today’s budget misses the costs that arrive later. These move the real number most:
- Retirement savings. In Australia, employers must pay super on top of wages; the ATO lists the compulsory employer super rate at 12% from 1 July 2025. On an illustrative $60,000 salary, that is $7,200 a year of super that does not go in while you are at home, before any investment growth. In the US, there is no employer 401(k) match without a job.
- Skills and earning power. The longer the gap, the more work it can take to get back to your old pay. Our guide to going back to work after being a stay-at-home mum covers how to close that gap.
- Childcare if you return. Going back to work often means paying for care, which can swallow much of a part-time wage. This is why the hours you work matter as much as the rate.
When does earning your own income beat staying home?
The real question is often “would working leave us better off?” Use this threshold table. Your “keep” figure is what is left of your pay after tax, childcare (after any subsidy or credit you qualify for), and work costs such as travel.
| Your weekly “keep” figure | What it usually means | What to check next |
|---|---|---|
| Below zero | Working costs more than it pays right now | Different hours (evenings, school hours) that need no paid care |
| Zero to small | Roughly break-even today | Super, retirement and skills you would keep building, which this figure ignores |
| Clearly positive | Working adds to the household | Whether the role fits your family’s routine long term |
| Positive with no childcare cost | The strongest case, because nothing is eaten by care | Work you can do from home around school or bedtime |
The last row is why so many mums look at work-from-home roles. If the work happens while the kids are at school or asleep, the childcare line can be zero, and every dollar earned counts. Our page on how much a stay-at-home mum can earn from home breaks down options by hours, and evening work-from-home jobs lists roles that fit after bedtime.
How stay-at-home mums get paid from home
If you want money that is genuinely yours, you have to earn it. Remote sales is one option: appointment setters book calls with interested buyers, and closers run those calls and help buyers decide. Some roles are part-time or flexible.
Be clear-eyed about how it pays. Many remote sales roles are commission-heavy or commission-only, which means your income depends on results and can be uneven while you learn. Read our breakdown of commission-only sales jobs, pros and cons before you take one. Walk away from anything that asks you to pay to join or earn by recruiting others.
Brooke Triplett started as a primary school teacher in a small town and moved into remote sales in 2020, making $440 in her first month. That is one person’s result, not typical, and it shows that the start is usually small.
She Sells trains women for these roles in two ways. She Launches is the foundation program, with live coaching, role play and frameworks. She Soars is the career program through the She Sells Cert III in Remote Sales certificate: once you’re certified, our recruitment team works with you to land a role within 90 days, or your money back. You can compare both on our programs page.
Want your own income from home? Book a free call with the She Sells team.
Frequently asked questions
Do stay-at-home moms get paid by the government?
Not as a wage. In Australia, a parent at home may qualify for income-tested payments such as Parenting Payment or Family Tax Benefit Part B. In the US there is no federal stay-at-home parent payment, though families may claim the Child Tax Credit at tax time.
What is the salary of a stay-at-home mom?
There is no salary. The figures you see are replacement values, such as Insure.com’s 2025 Mother’s Day Index estimate of US$145,235 a year, which values the work using BLS wages for 19 household jobs. It is what the work would cost to hire out, not money a mum receives.
How do I work out what my work at home is worth?
Use the Home Hours Ledger: multiply your weekly hands-on childcare hours by a published median childcare wage, then multiply by 52. With an illustrative 30 hours, that is US$26,239.20 a year at the BLS median of $16.82 an hour, or A$54,600 at the Australian median of $35 an hour.
Can a stay-at-home mum still build super or retirement savings?
Yes, but not automatically. In Australia, compulsory super contributions only come from an employer, so a mum at home misses them unless she or her partner contributes. In the US, savings usually depend on the household setting money aside, since there is no employer match without a job.
Is remote sales a realistic way for a stay-at-home mum to earn?
It can be, if you are comfortable with commission-heavy pay and a learning curve. Results vary and take time, so treat early months as building skill.
Results vary. Nothing here is a promise of income. See our earnings disclaimer.
