The $195.75 weekly stipend is only the federal floor — and in some states, state wage law pushes the legal minimum two or three times higher. Pick your state, set the weekly hours, and pick the rule that matches your state to see the weekly minimum your family actually owes.
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What is the legal minimum stipend in your state?
Enter your state’s minimum wage and the weekly hours — the ladder below shows where your state lands between the federal floor and the highest state.
How it works: Federal 40% credit formula: stipend = max(wage × hours × 0.60, $195.75). State wage, no 40% credit: stipend = max(wage × hours, $195.75). Massachusetts: stipend = max(min(hours, 40) × wage + max(hours − 40, 0) × wage × 1.5 − $77, $195.75). The stipend is flat for any hours from 0 to 45 — a lighter week does not lower it.
How au pair pay is calculated
The au pair program is a federal J-1 cultural-exchange program run by the U.S. Department of State, and its stipend starts from a single federal formula. But au pairs live and work in real states — and in two of them, courts and sponsor guidance have layered state wage law on top. That is why the same 45-hour week can legally cost $195.75 in one state and more than $700 in another.
The federal formula is public: federal minimum wage ($7.25) × 45 hours, minus a 40% credit for room and board = $195.75/week. The 40% credit is the part state rules attack: California’s sponsor guidance says families must pay at least the greater of the California or local minimum wage for all hours or the federal stipend, and California allows only capped meal and lodging credits — far less than 40%. Massachusetts goes further: court rulings held the state domestic-workers law applies to au pairs, so overtime past 40 hours is paid at 1.5× and the room-and-board credit is a flat ~$77/week ($35 housing + $6/day meals), not a percentage.
Worked example: Massachusetts, 45 hours
Massachusetts minimum wage in 2026: $15.00/hr. Regular pay: 40 × $15.00 = $600.00. Overtime: 5 × $22.50 = $112.50. Gross: $712.50. Minus the flat room-and-board credit: $712.50 − $77 = $635.50/week. Annual stipend: $635.50 × 52 = $33,046. That is $439.75/week — $22,867 a year — more than the $195.75 federal floor. The same 45 hours at the federal formula with the $15 wage would be only $405/week — the Massachusetts rule adds $230.50 a week on top of that.
Where this comes in handy
Before you match: price the real weekly minimum for your state so the budget you approve is the budget you actually pay.
Comparing states: a move from Texas to California more than triples the legal stipend floor — the calculator makes the gap visible.
Setting hours: in Massachusetts, every hour past 40 costs 1.5× — the calculator shows whether a 45-hour week is worth it.
Sanity-checking advice: if anyone quotes $195.75 as a national flat rate, this is the number that corrects them.
Au pair state pay questions
Does the federal $195.75 stipend apply everywhere?
It applies everywhere as a floor, not as a flat rate. The State Department sets $195.75/week as the minimum a host family must pay; nothing stops a state wage law, a sponsor agency, or the family itself from requiring more. In states with higher minimum wages and no special rule, sponsors commonly apply the same 40%-credit arithmetic to the state wage — which is why the federal-formula mode of this calculator exists.
Can I just pay $195.75 in California?
No — not as the legal minimum. Sponsor guidance for California says families must pay at least the greater of the California or local minimum wage for all hours of childcare, or the $195.75 federal stipend. At the 2026 California rate of $16.90/hr, 45 hours comes to $760.50/week before any capped California meal and lodging credits. Paying $195.75 in California would underpay by $564.75 a week.
Why is Massachusetts different?
Because a court said so. In litigation over the state domestic-workers law, a federal court ruled in 2019 that Massachusetts wage law applies to au pairs, an appeals court upheld it, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it. The result: Massachusetts families owe the state minimum wage, overtime at 1.5× past 40 hours, and only a flat ~$77/week room-and-board credit. At $15/hr and 45 hours, that is $635.50/week.
What about overtime?
Under federal J-1 rules, overtime is prohibited entirely — an au pair may never work more than 45 hours a week or 10 hours a day, even if she agrees and you offer extra pay. The “overtime” in the Massachusetts calculation is not extra hours: it is the state’s 1.5× premium on hours 41–45, which still sit inside the federal 45-hour cap. Plan backup care for busy weeks instead of extra hours.
What if my au pair works fewer hours?
The stipend does not drop. The federal stipend is a flat weekly amount for any hours from zero to the cap — a 20-hour week still owes the full weekly minimum. That is why this calculator floors every result at $195.75 (or the state-rule equivalent): fewer hours never lower the legal minimum.
Does the proposed federal rule change anything?
Not yet. The State Department proposed an overhaul in October 2023 — a 40-hour weekly cap, a tiered national wage formula, overtime past 40 hours, and a larger education stipend — but it was never finalized, and the Department has said it will issue a new proposal instead. Until a final rule takes effect, the current federal formula plus state law is what governs.
Where do I confirm my number?
With your sponsor agency, in writing, before you sign a match. Agencies track which rule they apply in each state, and their answer governs your placement. This calculator is a planning estimate, not legal advice — state and city rates change yearly, and some cities set higher local minimums than the state.
Learn the method: the free how au pair pay changes by state guide walks through the federal formula, the Massachusetts and California rules, the pending federal proposal, and what to confirm before you match — step by step.