If you’ve ever wondered how Palm Beach’s wealthiest raise their families, ask their six-figure-earning nannies!
To be a nanny on the island of Florida’s Palm Beach, it requires more than just good childcare skills and an affinity for messes, but a unique set of skills, discretion, and the ability to change your schedule on a moment’s notice.
‘Every family is different, so sitters must have the ability and flexibility to accommodate each individual family’s requests, personalities, needs and expectations,’ Christelle Martin, the CEO of Sitters In A Second, told DailyMail.com.
And discretion is a major asset in the job field, as nannies are working with high-profile people who engage with equally as impressive guests.
Martin has her sitters sign an NDA to ‘ensure trust, respect and credibility with our local families and the hotels and resort guests to whom care is provided.’
So how does one get one of these coveted high-paying jobs with some of the country’s most wealthy?
For Jovana Capric, 33, of Florida, she began her nanny career after being poached from Chuck E. Cheese in Boca Raton, she told The New Yorker.
‘There was someone having his second birthday party, and the parents just loved how I interacted with their son,’ she told the outlet. ‘And they’re, like: “Hey, do you by chance babysit?”‘
She eventually dropped out of college and began nannying full-time in 2015 and she’s now a rotational nanny for a family, where on her on-weeks, she could work more than 60 hours.
However, the gig pays well. For Capric, she makes a base salary of $145,000 a year. Plus she gets a housing stipend and a bonus, pushing her toward the $160,000 mark, she told The New Yorker.
‘That’s also why I get paid a lot, because my dedication to this family is my life, pretty much,’ she told the outlet. ‘There’s no way I could have my own family and do this job.’
And with more wealthy people flocking to the Sunshine State from major cities, like New York, many now seeking help in their mansions.
This has led to booming business for butlers, now called ‘hospitality managers’ or ‘estate managers’, private chefs, nannies, drivers, security guards and especially housekeepers.
A typical salary for a housekeeper used to be $25 an hour in 2020. In 2024, it surged to nearly $50 an hour, CNBC reported.
Yearly, housekeepers with experience are making upwards of $150,000 plus benefits – including 401(k) plans, healthcare, and overtime.
April Berube, owner and founder of the Wellington Agency told DailyMail.com last year that she has more than 30 years of experience in placing all types of household domestic staff – including private chefs, nannies and housekeepers.
‘The highest demand right now we’re seeing is in Miami, Palm Beach, and it’s still in New York and the Hamptons,’ she said – adding that her clients usually have multiple homes.
And it’s more than just time the employees of the wealthy need to accumulate to work on the same island that President Donald Trump spends his weekends on at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Chauffeurs are encouraged to attend the Rolls-Royce White Glove Chauffeur Training Program to perfect their ‘champagne stop’ – which requires them to gently roll to a halt, The New Yorker reported.
And the wealthy expect their staff to keep up with appearances as much as they do.
A family reportedly replaced one of their chefs for being too sweaty, Berube told The New Yorker.
They also have to deal with the parents and the children’s moods and always be positive.
‘Who wants to hire someone who is low energy or who walks into a household and is negative?’ Berube said.
‘There’s a lot of people out there like that, but my clients do not want that.’
Housekeepers will also need to know how to care for fine art and china, delicate rugs, and how to wash designer clothes, The New Yorker reported.
Some households even dictate what shoes staff will wear and have uniform requirements.
And like Capric, several will be recruited from parks and outings. Waiters will even be recruited from the gym due to their nice appearance.
Tim Edwards, a former butler, said he often recruited waiters from the gym because they were clean-cut and presentable.
However, looks alone wouldn’t cut it.
‘It has to be one of those people that wants to be in the back row, not the front row,’ he told The New Yorker.
Nannies are also expected to deal with a variety of different household rules, like some who don’t allow screen time for their children.
A nanny named Isabel told The New Yorker that she expected to be an emotional resource for the children and to teach them how to be well-mannered and have conservations with adults.
And being a full-time nanny for the wealthy isn’t some deal made on the couch anymore, as some will involve lawyers while negotiating benefits and pay, The New Yorker said.
Currently families will also counteroffer in hopes of keeping their staff too.
And the old timers of Palm Beach are bristling at the newcomers, who snapping up their nannies.
‘This new migration has brought its share of horror stories – of newcomers poaching nannies, snapping up tee times and cosmetic surgery appointments, and emitting an overall tenor of rudeness and ruthlessness,’ journalist Daisy Prince wrote in a recent Vanity Fair piece.
Palm Beach was the 10th wealthiest city in Florida last year, according to a Forbes ranking, with an average household income of $332,764 and a staggering median home value of $1,523,100.