The other day I overheard a conversation in the park while waiting for my pug to sniff a dry bush on the curb. Two girls were power walking, passing by me, discussing something animatedly. I tuned in when one of the girls, looking not older than 25 years old, said: “They offered me a $90,000 annual salary.” At this point I was eavesdropping in full force.
I pulled my pug out of the bush and rushed after the two girls. I was eager to find out what kind of a job a 25 year old just landed for $90,000 a year. What I heard next surprised me to no avail. In fact, it shocked me because I did not realize that household jobs can pay so much money. The girl was offered a nanny’s position.
That night I came home and did some research on-line to see what kind of household jobs are out there that pay so much. As it appeared there are quite a few household jobs that offer good money. I assume that the jobs below are offered by estates, wealthy families and celebrities. I, personally, refuse to pay $100 for someone to clean my small condo.
Here are some of the salaries you can expect to earn with a domestic-type of job:
Nanny
Duties: take care of children on a daily basis. The job may or may not include responsibility for feeding children, providing adequate exercise, some cleaning for children and even doing some family laundry. Nannies can be live in or live out. Salary range: I saw job offers as low as $18 an hour to $1,000 a week. The highest offer was from Cincinnati and paid $65,000. I did not encounter any offers of $90,000.
Household Manager or Butler
Duties: make sure that the home runs smoothly. Sometimes duties might include food preparation, cleaning and serving drinks. Salary range: $40,000-$80,000 which also may include accommodations. I found a job announcement that also offered a private house and a car to their butler. The property was located in Montana.
Personal Assistant
Duties: a social secretary type of duties that require a high level of confidentiality. Duties may include directing correspondence, typing letters, memos, answering emails and running errands. A personal assistant might act as a bookkeeper, might hire or fire other household employees. One of the responsibilities might be personal shopping for the lady or gentlemen of the house (I can do it!) Salary range: 40,000 – 90,000 which also may include accommodations. I found a job announcement that required fashion experience. This job was in New York and offered $85,000.
Family Chef
If you love cooking this job might be for you! Duties: pretty obvious – cooking good nutritious meals, menu planning, selection of produce and meats, pantry shopping. Salary range: $30,000 – $90,000. I saw a job announcement for a live in family chef job located in Florida. The announcement said that the family likes gourmet food and wine, and entertains friends on a regular basis. A five star restaurant experience was required. Salary offered was $90,000.
Housekeeper
Duties: household cleaning and the upkeep of fine houses and estates. Duties might include ironing and laundry. Salary range: $40,000 – $75,000. I saw job offers that required knowledge of proper care for fine art, furniture and collectibles. There was a job offer in New York that asked for experience in organizing pantries, closets and cupboards. This job paid $75,000.
Estate Manager
Duties: this is an administrative position that requires expert knowledge of personnel and home management, property and even ground expertise. The ideal candidate should have a degree in business, accounting or even an MBA, and also should posses a very important understanding of politics of a home. This position requires extreme discretion for obvious reasons. Salary range: $85,000 – $250,000. There were a few positions (mostly in New York) that required experience with renovation of complicated homes and hiring architects and designers.
Final note: some of the positions included benefit packages. However, some never mentioned any. However, the estate manager positions almost always offered a “corporate” benefit package.
That’s so interesting! I don’t think it’s as possible down here to be paid that much – mainly because the living costs are so expensive to start with! I do know that sometimes nannies have degrees in childhood education and such things, so I guess they work for it!
It still blows me away that nanny’s job can pay as high as 90K. I could not believe it when I heard it.
I can believe it. Taking care of a kid is hard work!
Maybe they have 3 kids or something like that.
I can’t believe it either. But they sure as heck deserve it. That and teaching children are some of the most grossly underpaid jobs ever.
Very interesting! $90K seems like an awful much though especially since someone who pays that much would most likely offer free boarding in their house in order to get full use out of their nanny. Lucky girl!
Either that or the family has demon children.
Ha, completely joking! Kind of…
I was thinking the same! 🙂 On a serious note, I think it was a very wealthy family. Who else can afford to pay so much?
I didn’t know household jobs paid so much! I don’t know many people who have these kinds of jobs, though. Maybe it’s worth looking into. Hmmm… I wonder how much they pay in Texas… Anyway, I wish there were more jobs you can do from your own house that paid a good salary. I have to go into the working world in a few months. We shall see how that turns out.
I can see myself being a personal assistant or an estate manager actually. I was thinking about it after you wrote this post. But don’t make me clean or cook or babysit. 🙂 I was amazed at the salary range though.
This is definitely true! A lot of engineers here in SF get offered 100k to start out of undergrad. Out of business school at 29 or so, many get $150-200k packages. But, it’s expensive out here !
Sam
Very interesting! I imagine a lot of the higher salary comes from being based on NYC. What kind of life can you live in NYC on 75-90k? I have no idea.
I don’t think a very good life, honestly. I think rent is about almost 3K for a tiny place. But if you don’t pay rent, or have to buy food, then I suspect you can live very well.
True! If you’re living in your employer’s mansion and eating their fancy food and maybe doing the family’s grocery shopping with an unlimited Whole Foods budget…this isn’t sounding bad at all! 🙂
That’s impressive. I always say I could never work in a household and be so close to another family (it’s weird to know other people’s affairs), but I’ve never been offered $90K to be a nanny…maybe I’d reconsider 🙂
There are still butlers? Who knew?
I had a friend in school who had worked as a personal assistant for Hollywood celebrities. She was actually an assistant to Sharon Osbourne when they were filming The Osbournes and she showed up in a few scenes of the show. It was never her passion, which was why she was in school, but it helped her make a living for several years.
I think butlers are employed by very wealthy families only. 🙂 But yes, there are still butlers.
I never really thought much about this either but I can see how people owning large estates would want to hire and pay well to ensure that there home and their children are well looked after.
That is indeed eye-opening! I guess a lot depends upon reference…
References are definitely very important. I guess no one will let you in a house with no references.
I can hardly imagine being able to afford to pay someone that much! Does that mean, then, that stay-at-home parents are worth 90K?
I’d say “definitely yes!” if not more! 🙂
That’s crazy. $90,000 for a nanny!!?
did she take the job? 😛
I am sure! Wouldn’t you? 😉
90,000 for a nanny? Holy cow.. For who, Madonna?? 🙂
I’ve always thought that a Pharmacist would be a sweet job.. Yeah, they have to go to school forever, but they get paid as much as 150k. In this internet age, where all the medical advice and drug interactions in the world are available at the tip of your fingertips.. It really wouldn’t be a very hard job.
I wanted to be a pharmacist a long time ago. Not because I thought they are paid well but because they looked very knowledgeable and cool. 🙂
That’s amazing, especially considering that we pay our nanny $235/mo. It is part time though hehe.
I’ve always loved cooking, but am getting a bit old for the restaurant pace. Maybe a degree in culinary arts and go looking for a private job as F&B manager for a rich family. If it comes with food and accommodations I could probably save 80% of my salary easily.
I bet you can save a lot by living in with a family. Not many expenses would be involved in maintaining one’s lifestyle.
The other side of this particular coin is the perception people have about other jobs. Many people think everyone in TV or Radio is making $100k or more a year.
While that may be true in the Top 10 or 20 markets…that’s not the case in medium and small markets.
And another thing…because I do a Morning Show people think I only work 4 hours a day. Nope. I work a full 8 hours (some days more) because I do more than just my show. However, my hours are unusual- 4am to Noon.
I hired a nanny for one of my old bosses. That girl was like 25 and getting an easy $65,000 plus transportation and a HOST of perks. I was jealous. Sigh.
Some household job that make you work for millionaires, definitely pays well. average Joe can’t afford a butler, chef or estate manager. Seeing in that direction, yes those are high paying jobs.
The only job on that list that might be worth the hassle is Estate manager. All the other job are 24 hour jobs! F that! I want to go home and not be called all hours of the night. 85k / 12,400 hours (24/hrs) = 6.8 dollars per hour. Nope not worth it at all!
I don’t think I’d want any of those jobs, but the traditional “butler” position really encompasses almost all the areas above. Butlers in large estates over in Europe often ran the household, cooked, paid bills, drove people to and fro, and hired folks when needed for maintenance and parties. Some deal with children also. Its not a lot different than what you would see from an executive assistant in most major companies.
Having been a personal assistant before, I’m pretty sure it would take about a $60-90k job offer for me to be willing to do it again. That and references that person I’m working for is not crazy.
I cannot believe that people would pay 90k for a live in chef!!!!
Wow! If only I were any good at any of those. However, I would still prefer to have a housekeeper than be one – at least I’ll know that my house runs like clockwork not like the ad hoc mess it is now.
Back when I was a poor student a friend, knowing of my plans to become rich, gave me a greeting card.
On the outside it said: “The problem with being rich is….”
and inside: “…is that you have to associate with rich people.”
Now that I’ve known a few, and I’m talking about the hire butlers and chefs type of rich, I appreciate the downside. I don’t want to have dinner with them and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to cook it for them. 😉
When I was in high school/college I made $20 an hour (cash) as a lifeguard at a private pool club owned by a wealthy family. It wasn’t a full-time job, just summers, but I can only imagine what they paid their full-time hired help.
We were actually just talking about this in my supply chain management class. It’s interesting how some jobs pay well but have less prestige so people don’t want them. We were using the example of manufacturing jobs vs. lawyers. Most people that go to law school graduate but never pass the bar. They average making 35K a year, and manufacturing jobs pay closer to 50K-60K annually. It’s interesting how people would still prefer law school over manufacturing.
Also, wait til you read about Dockworkers and Public School Official salaries. $150-300,000 easy! 🙂
2 types of jobs that aren’t highly skilled generally pay well: Those that no one wants to do, and those which can’t book many hours… 😉
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