Stay-at-home parents now worth over €60k (and still being undervalued)
If you've ever wondered what your actual worth would be as a stay-at-home parent… well, prepare to feel both validated and slightly furious. Because according to new research, the role would cost over €60,000 a year to replace. And yet? Most people still massively underestimate it.
The latest figures from Royal London Ireland put the value of a stay-at-home parent at €60,112 annually. That's what it would cost to hire professionals to cover childcare, cooking, cleaning, school runs, homework help, household management and all those other invisible tasks that somehow just… get done.
Here's the kicker though. More than eight in ten Irish adults (82% to be exact) still fail to recognise the true financial value of this work. When 1,000 people were surveyed about what they thought stay-at-home parenting was worth, the average estimate came in at just €34,477. That's a shortfall of over €25,000 from reality.
Survey reveals people estimate stay-at-home parent work at €34,476.
The numbers don't lie
This is actually the 10th year Royal London Ireland has run this study and the estimated value has jumped nearly 50% since they started tracking it in 2015. Back then, the figure sat at €40,560. Now we're looking at over sixty grand. The cost of living crisis hits everywhere it seems… including the cost of actually raising your kids.
Less than one in five people (18%) guessed correctly that the role would be worth more than €50,000. Meanwhile a quarter of those surveyed reckoned you could replace a stay-at-home parent for between €20,000 and €30,000. And 6%? They put the figure at under ten grand. For round-the-clock childcare, meal prep, cleaning, driving, teaching, and emotional labour.
Men were more likely than women to underestimate the value. Just 14% of men said it would cost over €50,000 compared to 22% of women. Young adults aged 18-24 also tended to lowball it.
Who actually gets it?
The people most likely to correctly value stay-at-home parenting? Those aged 35-44. Makes sense really. They're the ones deep in the trenches, juggling nap schedules and school collections and trying to figure out what on earth to make for dinner again. They know exactly what the job entails because they're living it.
Location matters too apparently. Adults in Dublin and the rest of Leinster were more accurate with their estimates, likely because childcare costs in those areas are through the roof anyway. When you're paying Dublin crèche prices you develop a very clear understanding of what this work is actually worth.
Karen O'Flaherty, Senior Propositions Executive at Royal London Ireland, put it well: "Stay-at-home parents carry out an enormous amount of daily responsibilities, from childcare and household organisation to education support, taxiing, and daily logistics – all of which would be very expensive to replace."
Breaking down the costs
Royal London calculated exactly what you'd need to pay for each element of the stay-at-home parent role. Thirty hours of childcare a week at €15.50 an hour. Eight hours of cleaning. Fifteen hours of cooking. Five hours of homework help. Handyperson duties. Gardening. Taxi services. It adds up to €1,156 every single week.
And let's be real here. That €60,112 figure doesn't even account for the mental load. The remembering of PE days and permission slips. The knowing when the Calpol is running low. The planning of birthday parties and playdates and what to put in tomorrow's lunchbox. You can't outsource that to anyone.
What this research really highlights is how much unpaid and largely unseen work happens in homes across Ireland every day. Work that keeps families functioning but rarely gets the recognition it deserves. Whether you're a stay-at-home parent full time or juggling all of this alongside a job outside the home, the contribution is massive.
So next time someone asks what you 'do all day'? You can tell them you're working a €60k job. With no sick days, no annual leave, and definitely no performance bonuses!