Child Care Worker Salary
Child care worker salaries in the United States were relatively low in May 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational employment and wages survey, with no state or territory in the United States having an annual average salary of greater than $25,000 for workers in the child care occupation. The national average annual salary was slightly more than $20,000 in May 2009.
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Average Salary
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The national average, or mean, salary for child care workers in May 2009 was $10.07 per hour, or approximately $20,940 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational employment and wages survey. Annual salaries are calculated by multiplying hourly wages by 2,080--the number of hours a person employed full-time would work in a year, excluding overtime--and rounding up or down.
Median Salary
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The median hourly wage for child care workers in May 2009 was $9.25 per hour, or approximately $19,240 on an annual basis. The median wage is the one at which 50 percent of workers in that occupation earn more than that salary while the other 50 percent earns less.
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Percentile Wages
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The lowest-paid 10 percent of child care workers made $7.37 per hour in May 2009, which works out to an annual salary of approximately $15,340. For the highest-paid 10 percent of child care workers in May 2009, the hourly wage was $14.24 per hour or higher, which was equivalent to an annual salary of approximately $29,620.
Employment by Industry
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The largest number of child care workers--244,540--worked in the child day care services industry, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2009 figures. The elementary and secondary schools sector was second-biggest, employing 143,680 child care workers, while other amusement and recreation industries were third, employing 33,990. In total, 595,640 people were employed as child care workers in the United States in May 2009.
Best-Paying Industries
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Home health care services was the only industry with a mean annual salary of greater than $30,000 for child care workers in May 2009. The second highest-paying industry was specialty hospitals, where the average annual salary was $28,540.
Top-Paying Areas
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The District of Columbia was the highest-paying administrative district in the United States for child care workers in May 2009, with an average annual salary of $24,590, followed by Massachusetts, where the average annual salary was $24,480. New York, the third highest-paying state, was the only other area with an average annual salary of greater than $24,000, at $24,040. California was fourth at $23,730 and Alaska fifth at $23,670.
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References
- Photo Credit mother playing with her baby image by Galina Barskaya from Fotolia.com
