Live-In vs Live-Out Housekeeper: Which Is Right for Your Home?

A live-in housekeeper sleeps on your property and works longer or split hours, with accommodation, utilities, and meals included as part of the package. A live-out housekeeper has their own home, comes in for fixed hours, and is paid a straight salary.

The right choice depends on your property, your routine, and how much privacy both sides want.

This guide is for clients still working out which arrangement is best. If you’ve already decided and you’re ready to hire, see our hire a housekeeper page.

What is the difference between a live-in and live-out housekeeper?

A live-in housekeeper has private accommodation in your home or attached to it. Their hours are longer and often split across the day. A live-out housekeeper goes home at the end of their shift and works set hours, the same as any other job.

The work itself looks similar. The contract, the cost, the paperwork, and the kind of person who applies can be quite different though.

Do I need a live-in housekeeper?

Live-in works when you need someone on the property outside normal hours:

• A second home in the Hamptons, Aspen, or Palm Beach that has to be ready when you turn up at short notice
• A country estate where the next staff member lives quite far away
• A principal who travels often and wants the home looked after when they’re not there
• A property with lots of guests, late events, or early starts

   

Laurine Mallet, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet, on Hamptons placements: “If it’s a second property, you need someone only for July, let’s say. Living nearby is quite difficult because the Hamptons is like an island at the end of an island. To reach it, it can take an hour and a half each way. So very often they offer accommodation.”

For a city home you live in full-time, live-out is usually the better answer. For a remote estate or a busy second home, live-in is the only thing that works.

When should I hire a live-out housekeeper instead?

In Manhattan, San Francisco, and most other US cities, live-out is the default. Properties are smaller, the cost of giving up a bedroom is high, and most candidates want to go home at night.

That independence is a big part of why people stay in a job for years. Younger candidates especially want a life outside the property, and live-out gives them that.

If your home is a five-bedroom Manhattan apartment and the staff bedroom is small, asking someone to live in is the fastest way to lose them after six months.

Is a live-in housekeeper cheaper than a live-out housekeeper?

The cash salary on a live-in role is lower, but once you add up the cost of the accommodation, utilities, and meals you’re providing, the total cost to the employer is closer to a live-out package than it looks. Live-in pay is part salary, part benefits in kind. Live-out is salary only.

What you’re providing on the live-in side is private accommodation, all the bills (water, heating, electricity), Wi-Fi, and most or all of the food. In a city, the rent on that accommodation alone can be worth a fifth or even a quarter of the salary. In the country it’s worth less, but you’re also saving the housekeeper a long commute they would otherwise want to be paid for.

Live-out is simpler. You pay the salary, the employer payroll taxes (FICA, FUTA, state unemployment), workers’ comp, and any health insurance or other benefits you choose to add. There’s no accommodation to value and no in-kind paperwork.

US housekeeper salaries have gone up steadily, partly because households are bigger and roles are more specialized than they used to be. A property of 800 to 1,000 square meters with multiple staff working as a team is now normal at the top end. 

Do I have to pay tax on a live-in housekeeper’s accommodation?

In the US, you can sometimes avoid it. Under IRS Section 119, the value of the accommodation can be left out of your housekeeper’s taxable income if three things are true, it’s on your premises, you require them to live there as a condition of the job, and it’s there for your convenience as the employer (for example, the property needs someone on site).

If those three things are true, the accommodation isn’t taxed. If they’re not, the rental value gets added to her W-2 as wages and you both pay payroll taxes on it. Get this wrong and you’ll have a tax problem later, so check it with your accountant before you set the package.

For a live-out housekeeper, the salary is higher and there’s no in-kind benefit to deal with. What you don’t get is anyone on the property after hours.

What accommodation should I provide for a live-in housekeeper?

This is where we sometimes see employers go wrong. A small, dark room next to the laundry counts as accommodation in the contract. It won’t keep a good housekeeper for more than a few months.

Laurine, remembering her own years working as a live-in nanny: “If you provide really good accommodation, the candidate will feel comfortable and happy and will stay long term. While offering a really tiny and small room, the candidate is going to stay for months, but after a month she’s going to be very tired and miss privacy. So she will probably leave. It was my own experience.”

Good live-in accommodation has:

• A separate entrance, or at least a private corridor
• A bedroom and bathroom of her own, not shared with the family or other staff
• Somewhere to sit other than the bed. A small living area or kitchenette is ideal
• Wi-Fi included
• Permission to have a guest over now and again, written into the contract

   

Younger candidates especially just won’t accept cramped accommodation like they maybe used to. Post-Covid we’ve seen that what people will put up with has changed. The housekeeper who took a box room in 2015 is not the housekeeper who applies in 2026.

Why is personality fit more important for a live-in role?

In a live-out role, you see the housekeeper for the hours they’re working. In a live-in role, you pass them in the kitchen on a Saturday morning. You’ll end up seeing them a lot, and not just anywhere, inside your actual home. So it’s extremely important that their personality matches with yours.

Laurine once placed a live-in night nanny with a UHNW family who traveled a lot and stayed in five-star hotels. The candidate started behaving like a guest. She asked for upgraded bedding in her hotel room and asked for housekeeping services for herself. None of that kind of behavior came up in the interview. It only showed up once she was inside the family’s life. Laurine replaced her.

That’s the harder part of live-in screening. An interview shows you a candidate in theory. The way someone actually behaves inside a private home is something you only see once they’re in it, which is why we organize paid trial days before any live-in placement.

What should be in a live-in housekeeper contract?

A live-in contract needs everything a normal employment contract has (hours, duties, salary, vacation, notice) plus a section on the accommodation. The accommodation section is the part most employers leave out, and it’s the one that causes problems later.

Morgan Richez, co-founder of Morgan & Mallet: “The accommodation section on the contract is really important. When you’re not happy with someone and you need to fire this person, you can’t say to them you need to leave the property the next day, because you provided the accommodation. You need to leave a small time for the person to search for another accommodation.”

The accommodation section should cover:

• A description of the accommodation, what’s included, what isn’t
• Whether they can paint, redecorate, or hang pictures
• Whether they can invite guests or have family stay during her vacation
• An inventory of fixtures and fittings at the start and end, the way you’d do with a rental
• A notice period for moving out, usually longer than the standard live-out notice

   

For the rest of the contract, what’s needed really depends on where you live. A handful of states (including New York and California) have specific domestic worker laws which cover overtime, rest days, and notice periods. Most states don’t, and the contract has to do that work itself. Either way, the live-in section is the part that catches employers out.

Do live-in housekeepers stay in jobs longer than live-out?

A good live-in role usually holds people longer than a good live-out role, because moving house is a bigger decision than changing job. But that only applies if the accommodation is comfortable and time off is respected.

A live-out role with reasonable hours, weekends off, and decent pay can keep people in the job for years. Morgan, on scheduling: “If you split completely the day off between Tuesday and Friday, I know as a recruiter it’s going to be so difficult. The people won’t accept that, even if you pay extra money. Weekend off is the best way to do.”

A live-in role with comfortable accommodation and respect for her time off can hold someone for longer still. The package is what does it, not the live-in or live-out label.

How does Morgan & Mallet help you decide?

When you call us, the first conversation isn’t about candidates. It’s about which arrangement actually fits your property and the way you live.

If you’ve got a townhouse on the Upper East Side, the answer is almost always live-out. If you’ve got an oceanfront house in Southampton you only use in summer, it’s almost always live-in. 

You might have a situation where it’s not obvious whether the housekeeper should live-in or out. Those are the ones we work through with you on the call.

Every candidate has done a 90-minute interview with us, had a criminal background check, and had references checked back five to seven years. Every placement comes with a 90-day replacement guarantee. For live-in roles, we also help with the contract, the accommodation clauses, and the IRS Section 119 paperwork, working with employment lawyers in your state.

Hire a housekeeper through Morgan & Mallet

Call our New York office on +1 (646) 965-2308 or contact us online. We staff households nationally.