The short version
The State Department sets the au pair stipend from the federal minimum wage: $7.25 × 45 hours, minus a 40% credit for room and board, equals $195.75/week. That is the floor, not a flat national rate. Host-family agreements also require families to follow applicable state and local laws — and in states with higher minimum wages, that second sentence is where the money moves. In California, sponsor guidance says families must pay at least the state or local minimum wage for all hours, which comes to $760.50/week at 45 hours. In Massachusetts, court rulings applied the state domestic-workers law, which comes to $635.50/week at 45 hours. Same program, same hours, triple the paycheck — the state is the whole difference.
The federal formula
The federal stipend is a piece of arithmetic, not a negotiated wage. Start with the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour — unchanged since 2009. Multiply by the 45-hour weekly cap: $326.25. Then subtract the 40% credit the program allows for room and board, $130.50. The result is $195.75 a week, paid flat: a 20-hour week owes the same stipend as a 45-hour week, and even a week with no hours at all still owes the full stipend. Agencies may set higher minimums, and families in expensive cities commonly pay $250–$300 a week to stay competitive during matching. But nobody may pay less than the floor — and in some states, the floor itself is higher.
Why states can require more
Au pairs are J-1 exchange visitors in a federal program, so it is natural to assume federal rules are the only rules. They are not. The host-family agreement every family signs says families must comply with applicable state and local laws, and courts have backed that reading. In 2019, a federal court ruled that Massachusetts wage law applies to au pairs; an appeals court upheld the ruling, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review it. The practical effect is that the “national” stipend is really a patchwork — and families who budget the federal number in a high-wage state are budgeting the wrong number.
Massachusetts: the $635.50 example
Massachusetts is the clearest case because a court spelled out the math. The state domestic-workers law gives au pairs the state minimum wage — $15.00 an hour in 2026 — plus overtime at time-and-a-half for hours past 40. The room-and-board credit, however, is not 40%: it is a flat ~$77 a week ($35 for housing plus $6 a day for meals). At 45 hours: 40 hours × $15.00 = $600.00, plus 5 overtime hours × $22.50 = $112.50, for a gross of $712.50. Minus the $77 credit: $635.50 a week, or $33,046 a year. That is $439.75 a week — $22,867 a year — above the federal floor. Those five hours past 40 sit inside the federal 45-hour cap, so this is a state premium, not extra hours.
California: the $760.50 example
California works differently, and the result is even larger. Sponsor guidance tells California families to pay at least the greater of the California or local minimum wage for all hours of childcare, or the federal stipend. At the 2026 California rate of $16.90 an hour, 45 hours comes to $760.50 a week before any capped California meal and lodging credits — $564.75 a week, or $29,367 a year, above the federal floor. California allows only capped meal and lodging credits, far less than the federal 40%, so families should not assume the federal credit applies.
The states in between
Most states sit between the federal floor and the California/Massachusetts extremes, and in those states sponsors commonly apply the same 40%-credit arithmetic to the state wage. The pattern is easy to see at 45 hours: Washington, at $17.13 an hour, comes to $462.51 a week. New York City and its suburbs, at $17.00, come to $459.00. New Jersey, at $15.92, comes to $429.84. Colorado, at $15.16, comes to $409.32. Each is the state wage × 45 × 0.60 — the federal formula with a state wage plugged in. Confirm with your sponsor.
What is not changing yet
Two pending changes get discussed as if they were already law. They are not. In October 2023, the State Department proposed a sweeping overhaul — a 40-hour weekly cap instead of 45, a tiered national wage formula, overtime past 40 hours, and a $700 education stipend — but it was never finalized, and the Department has said it will issue a new proposal instead. Separately, a bill called the Modernize the Au Pair Program Act would bar states from enforcing their own au pair rules and require a single uniform national stipend. It has been introduced, not enacted. Until a final rule or a new law actually takes effect, the current mix — the federal formula plus state law — is what governs. Families planning a 2026–2027 match should budget on today’s rules, not on proposals.
What to do before you match
First, find your state’s 2026 minimum wage — and your city’s, if it sets its own. Second, decide your realistic weekly hours, remembering the hard federal cap of 45 hours and 10 hours a day. Third, run the numbers for your state’s rule: the federal 40%-credit formula in most states, the no-credit state-wage rule in California, the overtime-plus-flat-credit rule in Massachusetts. Fourth, get your sponsor agency’s answer in writing — which rule they apply in your state, and what credits they allow. A family that confirms the state number before matching never has to explain a surprise mid-year.
The worked example
A family in Los Angeles plans 45 hours a week. California’s 2026 minimum wage is $16.90 an hour. Gross pay: 45 × $16.90 = $760.50. The federal stipend would be $195.75, so the California rule governs: $760.50 a week, or $39,546 a year in stipend alone. The gap against the federal floor is $760.50 − $195.75 = $564.75 a week, or $29,367 a year. That $29,367 gap is the entire reason this guide exists: it is the cost of assuming the national quote applies everywhere.
Run your own numbers: the free au pair state pay calculator covers every state’s 2026 rate, all three rule modes, and a pay ladder showing where your state lands against the federal floor — plus the full annual cost in the au pair true-cost calculator.