House sitters are responsible for watching over a home owner's house to ensure it remains occupied while the owner is away. When the owner is away, the house sitter is tasked with performing basic cleaning and maintenance services and keeping the home operational. They occupy the house and monitor surveillance, earning an average salary of $56,000 annually or $27 per hour.

House sitters follow the homeowners' instructions and act swiftly in the case of an emergency. They shut windows, close curtains or blinds, lock doors, and set up alarm systems. They also water indoor plants as instructed by the homeowners and contact the appropriate service providers to repair problematic plumbing and air conditioning systems.

In terms of the academic requirements, house sitters mostly hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. They have a proven house sitting experience and the ability to follow verbal and written instructions. To succeed excellently in this field, they are expected to have excellent organizational, customer service, problem-solving, and communication skills. They also need to be honest and reliable.

What Does a House Sitter Do

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a house sitter, we found that a lot of resumes listed 76.8% of house sitters included pet, while 6.0% of resumes included water plants, and 3.0% of resumes included plant care. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

How To Become a House Sitter

If you're interested in becoming a house sitter, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 43.3% of house sitters have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.1% of house sitters have master's degrees. Even though some house sitters have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

House Sitter Career Paths

Average Salary for a House Sitter

House Sitters in America make an average salary of $51,771 per year or $25 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $108,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $24,000 per year.
Average House Sitter Salary
$51,771 Yearly
$24.89 hourly

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Roles and Types of House Sitter

There are several types of house sitter, including:

Nanny

Role:

A nanny is an important figure in many children's lives. Usually, nanny's look after the children while the parents work so their job responsibilities change every single day. If you're cool with sticky fingers and keeping a flexible schedule, then you're in for a wild ride.

As a nanny, you'll probably be responsible for getting the children to their responsibilities, whether that's school or extracurricular activities. You might have to pick them up from school and those other activities as well.

Your hours as a nanny depend on the family that you're working for. Some people might only need you for part of a day each day while others will need you from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. We weren't kidding when we said a wild ride.
  • Average Salary: $40,262
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Baby Sitter

Role:

A babysitter is someone ready to take full responsibility for the welfare and health of children when their parents are not around. You will be given the authority to be involved in every part of their lives, including meals, hygiene, education. Monitoring the everyday activities of the children is also your responsibility. This includes keeping the playground safe and sanitizing play equipment regularly to prevent germs and diseases.

You also need to teach the children the importance of good hygiene, including brushing their teeth twice daily, eating healthy food, using the toilet, and getting adequate rest. You will sometimes need to engage the children to read, assist with their homework and other extracurricular activities, create daily lesson plans that will be educational and interesting at the same time. You are allowed to discipline them, when necessary, encourage good behavior such as treating each other kindly and respecting their parents and elderly ones.

You will also discuss information about each child with their parents to know the scope of your authority and responsibility. As a babysitter, you must be responsible. You must also possess excellent communication skills, be a lover of children, and have problem-solving skills. The salary of a babysitter is $40,418, but you must possess a high school diploma.
  • Average Salary: $30,972
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Companion

Role:

A companion is a kind of social worker who helps sick, elderly, or recovering people with chores around the house. They assist them in their hygiene practices, administer their medication, and make sure they keep healthy and get appropriate exercise.

Companions also simply keep people company. They have a conversation or play chess with their patients and generally help people feel less lonely and emotionally more stable. They make social life easier, too, by planning events and accompanying their patients to them.

Being a caring and empathetic person is essential if you want to be a companion. Having nursing training and experience in CPR will come in handy as well, just as physical strength for situations when you need you to supply the energy for both of you.
  • Average Salary: $29,246
  • Degree: High School Diploma

States With The Most House Sitter Jobs

Number Of House Sitter Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California2,009$63,760
2Florida1,645$49,157
3Texas1,624$39,834
4New York1,163$64,382
5Pennsylvania1,101$68,688
6Illinois901$40,067
7Ohio863$45,293
8Michigan845$48,390
9New Jersey751$62,169
10North Carolina748$53,884
11Georgia745$47,669
12Virginia580$46,352
13Tennessee563$42,341
14Arizona520$43,661
15Indiana499$53,852
16Washington480$44,064
17Massachusetts457$64,239
18Missouri456$38,264
19Maryland423$57,461
20Colorado419$34,830
21Wisconsin405$55,688
22South Carolina359$40,869
23Minnesota356$46,011
24Iowa341$39,274
25Oregon306$42,600
26Connecticut287$61,851
27Alabama278$47,356
28Kentucky266$40,647
29Oklahoma259$46,520
30Louisiana232$42,925
31Kansas216$36,722
32Nevada206$51,860
33Utah185$37,449
34Mississippi178$40,373
35Nebraska167$37,867
36Arkansas149$36,682
37West Virginia142$46,869
38New Mexico136$42,733
39Idaho130$42,608
40New Hampshire116$57,962
41Maine109$59,161
42Montana98$35,749
43Delaware86$60,668
44Rhode Island83$61,237
45Hawaii83$42,793
46South Dakota66$38,131
47Vermont59$58,482
48Alaska47$66,688
49Wyoming47$37,317
50North Dakota46$49,001

House Sitter Education

House Sitter Majors

11.7 %
8.0 %

House Sitter Degrees

Bachelors

43.3 %

High School Diploma

23.8 %

Associate

23.1 %

Top Skills For a House Sitter

Choose From 10+ Customizable House Sitter Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use House Sitter templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your House Sitter resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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House Sitter Demographics

House Sitter Gender Distribution

Female
Female
74%
Male
Male
27%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among house sitters, 73.5% of them are women, while 26.5% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among house sitters is White, which makes up 59.6% of all house sitters.

  • The most common foreign language among house sitters is Spanish at 62.7%.

Online Courses For House Sitter That You May Like

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1. Essentials of Palliative Care

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This course starts you on your journey of integrating primary palliative care into your daily lives. You will learn what palliative care is, how to communicate with patients, show empathy, and practice difficult conversations. You will learn how to screen for distress and provide psychosocial support. You will learn about goals of care and advance care planning and how to improve your success with having these conversations with patients. Finally, you will explore important cultural...

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2. Foundations for Assisting in Home Care

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This course is intended as a self-study course for those interested in exploring a career as a Home Health Aide or Personal Care Aide...

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3. Symptom Management in Palliative Care

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This course should be taken after the Essentials of Palliative Care course and continues building your primary palliative care skills – communication, psychosocial support and goals of care. You will learn how to screen, assess, and manage both physical and psychological symptoms. You will explore common symptoms such as pain, nausea, fatigue, and distress and learn specific treatments. You will continue to follow Sarah and Tim’s experience and learn cultural competencies critical for optimal...

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How Do House Sitter Rate Their Jobs?

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5.0

House SitterMay 2019

5.0

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What do you like the most about working as House Sitter?

I can learn patient fast get ething in order plan thing get meals together help any way I can give medicine on time I am there with the patience all time time help them Show More

What do you NOT like?

I can't think of nothing 8 don't like I am a person that can get al8ne w it th ething as long as it is right Show More

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Top House Sitter Employers

Most Common Employers For House Sitter

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Dana Incorporated$109,404$52.602
2Homes.com$95,501$45.914
3Patient Care Inc$73,767$35.461
4EMPLOYERS$65,807$31.644
5Opportunity International$59,118$28.422
6Northside Hospital$58,269$28.015
7Angela Hospice$55,973$26.912
8Ryan$52,471$25.231
9Care.com$52,235$25.118
10My Own Med$51,997$25.002