Let’s be honest: Andy Cohen has somehow turned babysitting rates into a full-blown financial investigation. Apparently, $30 an hour is enough to get everyone reaching for their calculators.
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Cohen has been branded “cheap” after revealing how much he pays his babysitter, with the conversation unfolding during an episode of Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM.
The Real Housewives reunion host told Jeff Lewis that he pays his 23-year-old babysitter $30 an hour to look after his children. Cohen is dad to seven-year-old son Benjamin and four-year-old daughter Lucy.
For some people, $30 an hour sounds pretty generous. For Lewis, however, the number apparently needed a second look.
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Jeff Lewis Had Questions
Lewis did not exactly ease into the discussion. His reaction was immediate:
“Oh, hmm. That sounds cheap to me. Especially from someone with your money.”
And because no babysitting-rate debate is complete without doing the math down to the last dollar, Lewis then asked Cohen about a recent childcare stint.
“She was there for two hours, and you gave her 60 bucks? Did that even cover the cab?”
Cohen quickly corrected the calculation.
“She was there for two hours and fifteen minutes, so I gave her $70.”
That works out to roughly $31.11 an hour for the two hours and 15 minutes — which means Cohen technically paid more than the $30 hourly rate he initially mentioned. Still, Lewis wasn’t convinced.
The Babysitter Math Gets Personal
Lewis brought up what he pays his own babysitter, saying he pays $37 an hour to look after his nine-year-old daughter, Monroe. And apparently, if Lewis had been handling Cohen’s childcare bill, the total would have climbed even higher.
“I probably would’ve given her 100 for two hours, two kids.”
Suddenly, we have entered the kind of conversation where everyone starts mentally reviewing their own babysitting experiences, checking local rates and wondering whether they have been underpaying — or wildly overpaying — this entire time.
Is Andy Cohen’s $30 an Hour Actually Cheap?
That depends on who you ask. Cohen’s rate isn’t being discussed in a vacuum. Childcare costs vary based on location, experience, number of children, hours and expectations. And looking after two young children is obviously a different gig from watching one older child.
Then there’s New York, where Cohen is based, and where childcare costs can make the phrase “just get a babysitter” sound like something said by someone who has never checked their bank account afterward. The online reaction has been mixed, although plenty of commenters have landed on the “Andy, you can afford another ten bucks” side of the argument.
And honestly, that’s probably why this particular conversation has people talking. $30 an hour might sound like a lot to one person and surprisingly little to another. At the end of the day, Cohen paid $70 for two hours and 15 minutes of childcare. Lewis says he would have paid $100 for two hours with two children.
Now the internet gets to do what it does best: argue over someone else’s money.
So, what do you think? Is $30 an hour enough for babysitting two kids in New York, or should Andy Cohen be paying a little more?