Nanny Salary Canada by Province: 2026 Wage Guide

Your nanny is the person your kids run to when they fall down, the one who knows which stuffed animal fixes a bad day and exactly how your toddler likes their sandwich cut. Before any of that, though, there’s a practical question every family has to answer honestly: what should you actually pay them?

The honest answer depends on where you live. A wage that clears the legal floor in Alberta would be against the law in British Columbia. A rate that feels generous in Saskatchewan is close to the typical rate in Ontario. So let’s walk through it together: the legal minimum wage your province sets, and the going rate families are actually paying, both pulled straight from government sources as of October 2026.

Once you’ve settled on a number, get it in writing. Our guide to nanny employment contracts covers what else belongs in that document alongside the rate.

Two different numbers, and why both matter

Every province sets its own general minimum wage under its own Employment Standards Act. Think of this as the line you can never cross, not a recommendation for what to actually offer. Most families end up paying above it, because the number on paper doesn’t capture what you’re really asking your nanny to take on: your schedule, your kids’ personalities, the small emergencies that come up on a Tuesday at 4pm.

To see what families are actually paying, the Government of Canada’s Job Bank publishes wage data for the “Nanny” occupation, drawn from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey and Employment Insurance claims data. One quirk worth knowing before you read the table below: Job Bank’s published low figure for each province is simply set equal to that province’s current minimum wage, not an observed low from real survey respondents. The median and high columns tell you much more about what nannies are genuinely earning.

What nannies are actually paid, by province

Province / territory	Low	Median	High	Underlying source
Canada (national)	$15.00	$19.00	$28.00	Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada
British Columbia	$18.25	$19.00	$28.00	Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada
Alberta	$16.00	$20.00	$25.00	Employment Insurance Survey Data
Saskatchewan	$15.70	$18.00	$29.81	Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada
Manitoba	$16.40	$18.00	$22.00	Employment Insurance Survey Data
Ontario	$17.95	$19.00	$30.00	Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada
New Brunswick	$15.90	$19.19	$25.26	Employment Insurance Survey Data
Nova Scotia	$17.00	$19.00	$23.00	Employment Insurance Survey Data
Newfoundland and Labrador	$16.35	$18.00	$25.00	Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada
Northwest Territories	n/a	$17.20	n/a	2021 Census, Statistics Canada
Nunavut	$20.17	$23.07	$34.97	Small Area Estimation, Statistics Canada
Prince Edward Island	Not published by Job Bank for this occupation			Refer to the national figure
Yukon	Not published by Job Bank for this occupation			Refer to the national figure

Source: Job Bank, “Nanny” occupation (NOC 17171) wage report, updated November 19, 2025, reference period 2023-2024.

Nationally, the median sits at $19.00/hour, with the high end reaching $30.00/hour in Ontario and $29.81/hour in Saskatchewan. Nunavut stands apart on every measure, which tracks with both its $20.17/hour minimum wage and the overall cost of living up north.

British Columbia: the highest floor outside the territories

If you’re hiring in British Columbia, you already know the cost of living is high, and the wage floor reflects that. At $18.25/hour, BC has the highest general minimum wage of any province, effective June 1, 2026, and it climbs again every June 1 with the BC Consumer Price Index. The nice thing for BC families is that the gap between the legal floor and what nannies are actually earning is narrower here than almost anywhere else in the country: Job Bank’s median matches the national median at $19.00/hour.

Your overtime obligations (daily overtime after 8 and 12 hours, weekly overtime after 40 hours) interact directly with whatever hourly rate you set, so it’s worth reading alongside your wage decision. See our BC nanny overtime and employment standards guide for the full breakdown, and our guide to BC workers’ compensation registration for what you owe WorkSafeBC on top of wages.

Ontario: the widest range from top to bottom

Ontario’s general minimum wage reached $17.95/hour on October 1, 2026, part of the province’s annual inflation adjustment. What stands out here is the spread: Job Bank reports a $30.00/hour high end, the widest range of any province we could source data for. That tells you Toronto-area families are paying a real premium for experienced caregivers, while rates elsewhere in the province sit closer to the median.

Ontario nannies are also entitled to statutory holiday pay calculated correctly against whatever rate you set; our Ontario nanny statutory holiday pay guide walks through the math.

Alberta: one province, two very different rules

Alberta’s general minimum wage is $15.00/hour, unchanged since October 1, 2018, the lowest base rate in the country. But if your nanny lives with you, a different rule applies entirely: Alberta’s Employment Standards Regulation requires live-in domestic employees to be paid a flat $2,848 per month, no matter how many hours they actually work that month, instead of an hourly wage. A live-out nanny in Alberta is paid the general $15.00/hour minimum instead. If a live-in arrangement only runs part of a month, that monthly minimum can be pro-rated, and you may deduct up to $4.41 per night of lodging and $3.35 per meal consumed, with your nanny’s written authorization.

Worth knowing: Job Bank’s Alberta data (drawn from Employment Insurance survey data rather than the Labour Force Survey used in most other provinces) shows a $20.00/hour median, five dollars above the general minimum. Most Alberta families are already paying well above the floor.

Atlantic Canada: four provinces, four different calendars

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador each adjust their minimum wage on their own schedule, so it’s easy to lose track of which rate applies when:

• New Brunswick moved to $15.90/hour on April 1, 2026, indexed to the provincial Consumer Price Index.
• Nova Scotia moved to $17.00/hour on October 1, 2026. One nuance worth flagging if you employ a part-time nanny there: Nova Scotia’s Minimum Wage Order (General) exempts anyone doing domestic service or personal care in a private home for a householder, for 24 hours a week or less, from the minimum wage rules entirely.
• Prince Edward Island moved to $17.30/hour on October 1, 2026, with another increase to $17.60/hour already scheduled for April 1, 2027.
• Newfoundland and Labrador moved to $16.35/hour on April 1, 2026.

Across the Atlantic provinces, Job Bank’s median nanny wages run close together, from $18.00/hour in Newfoundland and Labrador to $19.19/hour in New Brunswick, all within about a dollar of the national median.

The territories: the highest wages in the country

If you’re raising a family in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut, you already know everyday costs run higher, and the minimum wage reflects it. Nunavut’s $20.17/hour (effective September 1, 2026) is the highest in Canada, followed by Yukon’s $18.51/hour (effective April 1, 2026) and the Northwest Territories’ $17.20/hour (effective September 1, 2026). All three index their minimum wage annually to local inflation and, in the NWT and Nunavut, average hourly wage growth too, so expect it to keep climbing each year.

Nanny-specific wage data is thinner up north. Job Bank publishes a Nunavut benchmark built from a Statistics Canada small-area estimation model ($23.07/hour median, $34.97/hour high), and a single Northwest Territories figure from the 2021 Census ($17.20/hour), while Yukon’s nanny-specific data isn’t published due to data limitations.

Does an ECE credential change the number?

There’s no legal requirement tying a private nanny’s pay to an Early Childhood Educator (ECE) credential. But it’s a reasonable benchmark if your candidate holds one: Job Bank’s national wage data for the ECE occupation shows a median of $22.30/hour, roughly $3.30/hour above the national nanny median of $19.00/hour.

One important caveat: British Columbia’s government ECE Wage Enhancement, which can add up to $6.00/hour on top of base pay, is for ECE-certified staff working at licensed child care centres, not for private in-home nannies. If you hire a nanny directly, even one with an ECE credential, that provincial top-up isn’t something you or your nanny can access. It’s a useful way to understand ECE market value, not a benefit tied to hiring through RoostPay.

What a fair rate really reflects

None of these numbers tell the whole story, and that’s by design. A nanny isn’t just covering hours; she’s covering your family. The minimum wage is the floor the law sets, but what you actually offer tends to reflect everything that sits above it: the school pickups and drop-offs, meal prep, light tidying up after your kids, help with homework, shuttling between activities, staying calm through a sick day, flexibility for an early morning or a late meeting that runs long. If you have more than one child, a baby in the mix, a child with additional needs, or you’re hoping for a second language, a clean driving record, or current first aid training, that’s more responsibility and more trust, and most families pay accordingly.

There’s no formula for exactly how much more any one of those should add to the hourly rate. It’s a conversation between you and your nanny, shaped by what the role actually asks of her and how much you’re asking her to hold. The wage floor and the Job Bank benchmarks above are your starting point and your sanity check, not the full picture of what a fair offer looks like for your family.

The hourly rate isn’t your whole cost

Whatever hourly wage you land on, your real cost as an employer runs a bit higher once mandatory deductions are added in. On top of gross wages, you’re responsible for your employer share of CPP and EI remittances, plus vacation pay (commonly 4% of gross wages in most provinces), plus any provincial workers’ compensation premium. Together, these typically add somewhere in the range of 12 to 14% on top of the hourly rate before vacation pay, depending on your province and what your nanny earns over the year.

Our free Canadian Nanny Tax & Cost Calculator does the math for your specific province, so you know your true all-in cost before you make an offer, not after your first pay run. When the offer is a net number, the nanny net pay calculator turns that take-home pay into the gross hourly rate.

Putting the number in writing

Once you have a number in mind, three things help you get it right:

1. Check the rate against your province’s current minimum wage before you sign anything, since several provinces adjusted their rates partway through 2026.
2. Put the rate, schedule, and any guaranteed hours in a written contract. See our complete nanny employment contract guide for what else a compliant Canadian contract needs.
3. Track actual hours against the agreed rate every pay period, especially if your nanny’s schedule shifts week to week. Our guide to variable-shift nanny payroll covers how CPP, EI, and overtime respond when hours aren’t fixed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum wage for a nanny in Canada?

There is no single national number. Each province and territory sets its own general minimum wage, and your nanny’s pay can’t fall below that floor (with a couple of narrow exceptions, like Alberta’s separate flat monthly rate for live-in nannies and Nova Scotia’s exemption for domestic work of 24 hours a week or less). As of October 2026, general minimum wages range from $15.00/hour in Alberta to $20.17/hour in Nunavut.

Is the minimum wage the same as what nannies actually get paid?

Not usually. The minimum wage is the legal floor your province sets. What nannies actually earn, tracked by the Government of Canada’s Job Bank using Statistics Canada survey data, tends to sit a few dollars above that floor in most provinces, and it moves with experience, the scope of the role, and local demand.

Does an ECE (Early Childhood Educator) credential mean I have to pay my nanny more?

There’s no legal rule that ties private nanny pay to an ECE credential. That said, it’s a useful data point: Job Bank wage data shows early childhood educators nationally earn a higher median wage than nannies, so it’s worth weighing if your candidate holds one. One caveat: British Columbia’s government ECE wage top-up program is for staff at licensed child care centres, not private household nannies.

Do I still owe CPP, EI, and vacation pay on top of the hourly wage?

Yes. Whatever hourly rate you and your nanny land on, you’re responsible as the employer for your share of CPP and EI remittances, plus vacation pay (commonly 4% of gross wages, more in some provinces after five years of service). Those additions typically add roughly 12 to 14% on top of the gross hourly wage, before any provincial workers’ compensation premium.

Is the minimum wage different for a live-in nanny?

In most provinces, no, the same hourly minimum applies whether your nanny lives in or lives out. Alberta is the exception: live-in domestic employees are paid a flat monthly minimum rather than an hourly rate, while live-out nannies in Alberta are paid the general hourly minimum wage.

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Setting the right wage is step one. Staying compliant on every pay run after that, correct CPP and EI, vacation pay, overtime, and year-end T4s, is where RoostPay takes over, so you can spend less time on payroll math and more time with your family.

Start your free 30-day trial and run compliant Canadian nanny payroll on one flat plan: CA$24/month or CA$228/year, with unlimited employees.

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Official Government & Statistics Sources