Care.com

What: Care.com is an employment site for baby sitters, pet-sitters, nannies, elder-care, housekeeping and home care nurses

Expected pay: $10 – $30 per hour (high-end of the range generally is for elder and nursing care)

Husl $core: $$$

Commissions & fees: $19 annually for screening; premium membership $9 monthly

Where: Major U.S. cities. 

Requirements: Be a legal resident; over the age of 18 (or over 14, with parental permission to baby sit); clean criminal record.

Review:

With more than 14 million family members and 11 million caregivers, Care.com is the industry giant. That gives caregivers greater potential to find a job.

The site demands an annual screening fee of $19, and also encourages caregivers to sign up for a premium membership that costs $9 a month. Don’t. That membership is renewed until you cancel, which is far and away the biggest complaint we see about this site. Some 480 consumers have complained to the Better Business Bureau about Care.com — mostly about auto-charges to both caregivers and clients. The site does not send any notifications before the auto-charges are levied and the fees are not refundable. 

Otherwise, the site does appear to be effective in connecting both babysitters and adult caregivers with potential clients. Earnings typically range from $15 – $25 per hour.

Recommendations

Other sites that offer good child care opportunities are Trusted and Urban Sitter. The better site to find dog-walking jobs is Rover. For jobs in eldercare, try Carelinx. 

What their users say (from Indeed): 

Care.com is an excellent resource in finding work with children, pets, and elderly people. I had a lot of luck working off of this site and was able to secure multiple jobs.

Care.com has helped me meet some wonderful families that i have known for years. the only downside is making the sitters pay for a membership seems insane.

I love the work that I do with care.com. The clients needing assistance with care for their loved one or housekeeping services are very nice and professional. A typical month of work can vary, also you can work as a caregiver and a housekeeper the at the same time.

I’ve worked with Care for 3 years. It can be a good job to have if you want flexible hours and you can set your own prices for services you provide. The only downfall is having to pay a $20 monthly fee to stay premium. If you are not premium then you won’t be able to talk to potential clients. I have also had a difficult time using their payment system. They actually kept drawing money out of one of my client’s accounts. The client and I had to go to our own banks and tell them to stop letting Care take money out of the client’s account. From then on I’ve told future clients to use a different way to pay me.

*Updated 5/6/2021