PET SITTING PRICING GUIDE
Dog sitting rates: how much to charge
The 2026 US rates for overnight sitting, drop-in visits and dog walks, what to add for a second dog, holidays and medication — and a free calculator that turns them into a price you can put on your website.
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The short answer
Professional pet sitters charge $75 to $150 a night for overnight dog sitting (Scritches, September 2026), and Pet Sitters International's 2026 survey of its member businesses puts the US average at $110.43 a night.
Drop-in visits are priced by length: PSI's 2026 averages are $20.64 for 15 minutes, $28.39 for 30 minutes and $46.26 for an hour. Dog walks cost about the same — $28.43 for 30 minutes and $46.98 for an hour (PSI) — and Airtasker puts a 30-minute walk at $15 to $30 (May 2026).
Add $5 to $10 for each extra dog (Care.com), 25% to 50% for major holidays and $5 to $15 for giving medication (Scritches).
Charge per visit, per walk and per night, not per hour: your drive between clients is part of every visit, and a flat price covers it.
FREE PRICE CALCULATOR
What should I charge for this booking?
Pick a walk or an overnight stay, then the dog, the day and the extras. The range uses the published 2026 US rates in the table below; drop-in visit averages are under the table.
Suggested price
$15–$30
dog walk, 30 minutes
A starting range from published US rates, not a quote for a customer. Count your drive time, check the range against your own costs (the formula below) and your local market, then set your prices.
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Put your pet sitting prices where customers look
Add your town, and Zarla builds your pet sitting website from this one line. Then tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your prices, and change them any time.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.
RATES · SEPTEMBER 2026
Dog sitting and dog walking rates (2026)
Typical US rates per walk and per night. Drop-in visits, from Pet Sitters International's 2026 member survey: $20.64 for 15 minutes, $24.61 for 20, $28.39 for 30, $37.98 for 45 and $46.26 for an hour on average; a live-in or 24-hour stay averages $167.62.
| The job | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| Dog walk | 15 minutes: $10–$25 · 30 minutes: $15–$30 · 45 minutes: $25–$45 · 60 minutes: $30–$60 · Airtasker |
| Overnight sitting (in the owner's home) | General pet sitting: $45–$75 · Professional sitter: $75–$150 · Scritches |
| Hourly, as posted by sitters on Care.com | $16–$23 an hour · Care.com |
Rates read off each publisher's page in September 2026. The calculator above uses exactly these numbers. Full source list below.
ADD-ONS AND ADJUSTMENTS
What to charge for extra dogs, holidays and special care
Each extra takes time or care — price it as its own line, or as a percentage on top.
| What | Typical US price · source |
|---|---|
| The dog: puppy or high-energy | 10%–20% more · Scritches |
| The dog: senior or special needs | 15%–25% more · Scritches |
| When: major holiday | 25%–50% more · Scritches |
| One extra dog | +$5–$10 · Care.com |
| Giving medication | +$5–$15 · Scritches |
| Reactive-dog handling | +$10–$25 · Airtasker |
Where a row shows a sum (a rate × a quantity, or a percentage worked out from published dollar ranges), the arithmetic is ours and the inputs are the publisher's.
THE PRICING FORMULA
How to price pet sitting and dog walking
Six steps from your costs to the numbers on your price list.
Count the whole visit
A 30-minute visit with a 15-minute drive each way is an hour of your day. Price the hour, not the half.
Add up your costs
Gas, insurance, bonding, booking software and supplies for a month — spread across the visits you do.
Split the price
Pet Sitters International shares a benchmark split: labor 45%–50% of the price, overhead 20%–30%, profit 20%–30%.
Price by length
Set a price for each visit and walk length — 15, 30 and 60 minutes — and a nightly rate for overnights.
Check it against the market
PSI's 2026 averages: $28.39 for a 30-minute visit, $28.43 for a 30-minute walk, $110.43 a night.
Add surcharges
$5–$10 per extra dog, $5–$15 for medication, 25%–50% on major holidays.
The formula, worked through
Say it's a 30-minute drop-in, 15 minutes' drive from home each way — an hour of your time. The PSI average for a 30-minute visit is $28.39.
If labor should be 45%–50% of the price (the PSI benchmark), a $28.39 visit leaves about $13–$14 for your hour. Price the same visit at $35 and your hour is worth about $16–$18, with the rest covering overhead and profit.
So “30-minute visits from $35” is a fair line for your price list if your market supports it — or keep $28 and group your visits in one neighborhood so the drive shrinks.
The benchmark split and the $28.39 average are Pet Sitters International's; the drive time and the $35 are an example, not a benchmark.
What to charge in your area
The ranges on this page are US national figures, and pet care prices swing a lot by city. Airtasker's 30-minute walk prices run $25–$45 in New York and San Francisco and $30–$35 in Los Angeles, against $22–$28 in Chicago, $15–$25 in the suburbs and $10–$20 in rural areas (May 2026). Scritches puts overnights in New York at up to $175 a night.
Care.com's posted hourly dog sitting rates show the same spread: $21.94 in Seattle and $20.47 in Los Angeles against $13.38 in San Antonio (August 2026). Across all prices, the Bureau of Economic Analysis puts California at 110.7 against a US average of 100 and Arkansas at 86.9 (2024 regional price parities, released February 2026).
Outside the US, treat the ranges as a shape, not a price — Pet Sitters International's survey covers Canada separately, in Canadian dollars — and check what local sitters list on their own websites.
Put your prices on your website
A price list — even “from” prices — answers a customer's first question before they pick up the phone, and it's the line an AI assistant can quote when someone asks what pet sitting costs near them.
If you build your site with Zarla, tell the editor “add a pricing section: 30-minute dog walks from $25, overnight sitting from $85” and your prices go on the site, in a section you can edit any time. Want to see a finished site first? Browse pet sitting website templates or see how Zarla builds pet sitting websites.
Still setting up? Write your pet sitting business plan, and when the prices are set, read how to get your business on Google.
Dog sitting rates: common questions
$75–$150 a night as a professional sitter, or $45–$75 for general pet sitting (Scritches, September 2026). Pet Sitters International's 2026 survey puts the US average at $110.43 a night, and Care.com's at $96.66. The calculator above adds extra dogs, holidays and special care.
$15–$30 for a 30-minute walk and $30–$60 for an hour (Airtasker, May 2026). PSI's 2026 averages are $28.43 for 30 minutes and $46.98 for an hour.
PSI's 2026 averages: $20.64 for 15 minutes, $28.39 for 30 minutes, $37.98 for 45 minutes and $46.26 for an hour. Price each length separately, so a quick check-in doesn't cost the same as an hour's visit.
$5–$10 per extra dog per visit (Care.com; Scritches gives the same range). Cats add less — Scritches puts an extra cat at $3–$5.
Most professional sitters do: Scritches puts major-holiday surcharges at 25%–50%, and says 58% of professional sitters charge them. Say so on your price list before the bookings come in.
Pet Sitters International's 2026 survey puts a live-in or 24-hour stay at $167.62 on average in the US, against $110.43 for an overnight.
Per visit, per walk and per night. Hourly rates undersell the drive: sitters on Care.com post $16–$23 an hour for a one-hour visit, well under the $46.26 PSI members average for the same hour.
Yes — at least “from” prices for walks, drop-ins and overnights. It answers the first question before the call and gives an AI assistant a real number to quote. On a Zarla site, tell the editor “add a pricing section” with your prices, and change them any time.
Where these numbers come from
Every range on this page is read off a published source, dated below. They're US figures for residential work — typical, not a rule; your costs and your market come first.
- Pet Sitters International — How to Set Your Pet-Sitting and Dog-Walking Rates (2026 State of the Industry Survey) — dated July 2026, read September 2026
- Scritches — Overnight Pet Sitting Rates (+ What to Charge in 2026) — dated September 2026, read September 2026
- Scritches — The Complete Guide to Pet Sitting & Dog Walking Rates — dated September 2026, read September 2026
- Airtasker — How Much Does a Dog Walker Cost in 2026? — dated May 2026, read September 2026
- Care.com — Dog Sitting Rates: What You Should Charge — dated August 2026, read September 2026
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — regional price parities by state, 2024 — dated February 2026, read September 2026
Put your pet sitting prices on your website
Add your town and your business name, and Zarla builds the site from that one line. Your prices go in a pricing section you edit by chat.
Already have a website? Bring it across →Zarla keeps your old page addresses where it can and redirects the ones that change, helping you keep the Google standing you've built.