The cost of hiring a maid or domestic helper in Singapore in 2026 has two price tags: a one-off upfront cost of roughly S$3,000 to S$7,000, and an ongoing monthly cost of about S$1,000 to S$1,650. The monthly figure catches people out, because the salary you negotiate is only part of it. On top of the helper's pay you owe the government a S$300 monthly levy (or S$60 if your household qualifies for the concession), plus her insurance, six-monthly medical checks, food, and rest-day pay if she works on her day off. The upfront cost bundles the agency fee, a S$5,000 security bond, insurance, the work permit, the settling-in programme, and her airfare. None of these is negotiable with MOM, and getting one wrong is how a household that budgeted S$1,000 a month ends up paying S$1,400. This guide lays out every line item with the 2026 figure and the rule behind it, shows who gets the cheaper S$60 levy, and explains the one tax break that quietly disappeared.
Split the cost into two buckets and it stops being confusing. The upfront bucket is what you pay before and around the time your helper starts: agency fee, security bond, insurance, work permit, medical exam, settling-in programme and her flight. The monthly bucket is what recurs every month for as long as she works for you: salary, levy, food, and her share of consumables. Most households land around S$3,000 to S$7,000 upfront and S$1,000 to S$1,650 a month, and where you sit in each range depends on the helper's nationality and experience, whether you qualify for the concessionary levy, and how generous your agency package is.
The single biggest monthly cost is split between salary and levy. A new helper's salary in 2026 typically runs from the high S$400s to the mid S$800s, and the levy adds either S$300 or S$60 on top depending on your household. So two families paying the same S$650 salary can have monthly bills S$240 apart purely because one qualifies for the levy concession and the other does not.
Treat any agency's single headline number with suspicion. A quote of "S$3,500 to start" usually means the placement fee plus loan-financed deductions, not the true cash you part with once you add the bond, insurance and first month's salary. Ask for the full itemised list before you sign anything.
| Cost item | 2026 figure | When you pay | Mandatory? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly levy (1st helper, normal) | S$300/month (S$9.87/day) | By the 17th of the next month | Yes (MOM) |
| Monthly levy (concessionary) | S$60/month (S$1.98/day) | By the 17th of the next month | Yes if you qualify |
| Helper's monthly salary | ~S$480 to S$850+ | Monthly, within 7 days of period end | Yes (contractual) |
| Security bond | S$5,000 guarantee | Upfront (banker's/insurer's guarantee) | Yes, except Malaysians |
| Medical + personal-accident insurance | ~S$300 to S$600 for ~26 months | Upfront, renewed with permit | Yes (MOM) |
| Agency placement fee | ~S$1,000 to S$3,000 | Upfront | No (DIY is allowed) |
| Settling-in programme (first-timers) | ~S$76 to S$93 (by provider) | Within 7 days of arrival | Yes for first-time MDWs |
| Employers' Orientation Programme | S$35 online (S$35.65 to S$60 in class) | Before the permit application | Yes for first-time employers |
| Work permit (apply + issue) | S$35 + S$35 (~S$70 per cycle) | Upfront, then every renewal | Yes (MOM) |
| Six-monthly medical exam | ~S$30 to S$60 each | Every 6 months | Yes (MOM) |
The foreign domestic worker levy is a monthly tax you pay the government for the privilege of employing a helper, and it has nothing to do with her salary. For your first helper the normal rate is S$300 a month, or S$9.87 a day if she enters or leaves part-way through a month. A second helper in the same household costs S$450 a month at the normal rate. You pay by the 17th of the following month through GIRO or PayNow QR.
Pay late and the penalty is small at first but the consequences are not. MOM charges a penalty of 2 percent of the unpaid levy for each month overdue, prorated by day; if that works out to less than S$20, the penalty is the lower of S$20 or 30 percent of the unpaid levy. Miss two months running and MOM revokes the work permit, and while any levy is outstanding you cannot apply for, issue or renew a permit. Set the GIRO limit high enough to clear the bill and this never bites.
You can claw some levy back when the helper is not actually here. MOM waives the full daily levy for the days she is overseas (a stretch of at least seven consecutive days counts) or on hospitalisation leave, capped at 60 days a calendar year for each reason. Apply from the first of the month after the levy bill, within a year of the bill date. It is not a full monthly exemption, only the days she was away, but on a home-leave trip it trims a useful chunk off that month's S$300.
The concessionary rate is S$60 a month (S$1.98 a day), and it is the difference between an affordable helper and an expensive one. You qualify if your household includes a Singapore Citizen child under 16, an elderly Singapore Citizen or eligible PR aged 67 or above, or a person with disabilities certified as needing help with at least one activity of daily living. The concession covers one helper per eligible person and is capped at two helpers per household. Over a year, S$60 instead of S$300 saves you S$2,880 per helper, so it is worth checking your eligibility on MOM's levy concession page before you assume you are paying full freight.
One thing changed at the tax end. The Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Relief, which used to let working mothers claim twice the levy paid as an income-tax deduction, lapsed from Year of Assessment 2025. So you can no longer offset the levy against your taxes. The concessionary S$60 rate still exists for qualifying households, but the tax deduction is gone. If you are mapping out where your income goes, our income tax calculator reflects the current reliefs, and the income tax guide covers what survived the 2025 changes.
There is no statutory minimum wage for domestic workers in Singapore, but the source countries set their own floors, and those bind you in practice. The Philippines raised its minimum allowable wage for newly hired household service workers to US$500 a month (around S$650) for contracts processed from 21 October 2025, so a fresh Filipino helper effectively starts at about S$650. Indonesian fresh helpers commonly start around S$550 to S$600, and Myanmar helpers tend to be the cheapest, often in the high S$400s to S$550. Experienced or transfer helpers, and anyone with specific skills like infant or elderly care, command more, pushing into the S$700 to S$850-plus band.
Salary is the lever you can negotiate, but going low has costs. A helper paid well below the going rate is more likely to transfer out the moment her contract allows, leaving you to pay agency and replacement fees all over again. A S$50-a-month bump that keeps a good helper for years is cheaper than a fresh placement every two years.
You must pay the salary in full and on time, within seven days of the end of each salary period, and you cannot deduct from it for accommodation, food or the levy. MOM requires salary to be paid electronically for most new and renewed permits, which gives both sides a clear record. Keep the receipts or transfer logs; a salary dispute is one of the things that can cost you the S$5,000 security bond.
MOM makes you carry three forms of financial protection for your helper, and they are not optional. First, a security bond of S$5,000 for every non-Malaysian helper. This is a banker's or insurer's guarantee, not cash you hand over; it is a binding pledge to pay the government up to S$5,000 if you or your helper breach the work permit or bond conditions, for example late salary, the helper going missing, or failing to send her home when the permit ends. Buy it from any bank or insurer; the premium for the guarantee is modest, often bundled into an insurance package.
Second, medical insurance with an annual claim limit of at least S$60,000 covering inpatient care and day surgery. Since 1 July 2023 the enhanced rules require a higher S$60,000 limit, and for claims above S$15,000 the insurer pays 75 percent while you co-pay 25 percent. From 1 July 2025 a further stage standardised the exclusion clauses, split premiums into two age bands (50 and under, versus over 50), and routed insurer payments directly to hospitals. You cannot pass any of the medical insurance cost to your helper.
Third, personal accident insurance with a sum assured of at least S$60,000 a year, paying out to your helper or her beneficiaries if a sudden accident causes permanent disability or death. In practice agencies sell these as a single package covering the bond, medical and personal-accident insurance for a 26-month permit cycle, and you will see prices from roughly S$300 to S$600 depending on the helper's age and the coverage. Compare two or three packages rather than taking the agency's default; the cheapest compliant plan that still meets the S$60,000 limits is fine. If a hospital bill ever lands on you, an emergency fund is what stops it derailing your month.
Agency placement fees are the most variable line and the one with the most room to save. A maid agency typically charges S$1,000 to S$3,000, covering sourcing and screening candidates, arranging the medical exam, and filing the work permit and insurance. Hiring directly, or taking over a transfer helper already in Singapore, can shrink or skip this fee, though you then handle the paperwork yourself through MOM's online services. The work permit itself is cheap: MOM charges S$35 to apply and another S$35 on issuance, so about S$70 for a new permit and the same on each renewal, paid to MOM, not the agency.
Two orientation steps catch first-timers out, one for you and one for her. If this is the first helper you have ever employed, you must complete the Employers' Orientation Programme (EOP), a three-hour course on your duties as an employer, at least two working days before you submit the work permit application. It costs S$35 online or S$35.65 to S$60 in a classroom depending on the language. Separately, the helper herself must attend the Settling-in Programme (SIP), a one-day orientation she completes within seven days of arriving, excluding Sundays and public holidays. MOM sets the SIP fee at each approved provider rather than a single flat rate, so it runs from roughly S$76 to S$93, GST included and borne by the employer. Throughout her employment you must send her for a six-monthly medical examination (the 6ME) screening for pregnancy and infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, syphilis and HIV; each check runs roughly S$30 to S$60 at a clinic. There is also a pre-employment medical exam before the permit is issued.
Watch how agencies structure the deal. Many advance the helper's airfare, placement and other costs and recover them through salary deductions over the first months, which is legal within limits but means the helper's take-home is lower at the start and she may be more inclined to transfer once the loan is cleared. Ask the agency to show you the deduction schedule in writing, and ask whether the package is refundable if the helper leaves within a set period. A good agency offers a replacement guarantee; a thin one leaves you paying twice.
Since 1 January 2023 every employer must give a helper at least one rest day a month that cannot be bought out. She is entitled to one rest day a week; for any weekly rest day she agrees to work, you must pay at least one day's salary on top of her monthly pay. The standard daily rate is her monthly salary divided by 26. So on an S$650 salary, each forgone rest day costs you S$25, and giving up all four in a month adds S$100 to that month's bill. Budget for this if you expect her to work weekends.
Food and consumables are the quiet add-on. You must provide your helper with three meals a day or a food allowance, plus a safe place to sleep. Households commonly spend S$150 to S$300 a month feeding a helper, and a little more on toiletries, a local SIM and the occasional medical co-payment. These do not show up in any agency quote, but they are real and recurring.
Other small costs round out the picture: a home leave flight every two years when the contract renews (often a few hundred dollars), renewal of the work permit and insurance package every cycle, and any medical bills below the insurance threshold. Put together, the gap between the salary you negotiate and the total you actually spend each month is usually S$400 to S$600. Running the real all-in number through a monthly budget calculator before you commit stops the surprise.
You have two ways in, and they cost differently upfront. A new hire is sourced from her home country, flown in, and put through the medical and settling-in steps, so you carry her airfare, the Settling-in Programme and the full agency placement fee. A transfer takes over a helper already working in Singapore whose current employer is releasing her, which skips the flight and the Settling-in Programme, often trims the agency fee, and lets her start within days rather than weeks. The catch is a transfer helper is experienced, so she usually asks for more, commonly S$700 and up, and you inherit whatever habits the last household trained into her.
The recurring costs are identical whichever route you take. The S$300 levy (or S$60 concessionary), the S$5,000 security bond, medical and personal-accident insurance, the work permit, the six-monthly medical and her salary all apply the same way. The difference is purely in the one-off bucket, so a transfer typically saves a four-figure sum at the start while costing a little more each month in salary. Over a full contract those two often roughly cancel out, which is why the real deciding factor is fit and timing, not headline price.
If your household is the one releasing a helper, you are on the other side of this trade. Her next employer takes over the permit and you stop paying the levy from the transfer date, but you remain liable for any salary, levy or repatriation owed up to that point. Settle the account cleanly before the handover so nothing lands back on your security bond.
| Cost item | New hire (from overseas) | Transfer (already in Singapore) |
|---|---|---|
| Agency placement fee | Full, ~S$1,000 to S$3,000 | Often lower, sometimes waived |
| Airfare to Singapore | You pay it | Not needed |
| Settling-in Programme | ~S$76 to S$93 (first-timers) | Not needed (already completed) |
| Typical starting salary | ~S$480 to S$700 | ~S$700 to S$1,000+ (experienced) |
| Time to start | Weeks (sourcing + visa) | Days |
| Levy, bond, insurance, work permit | Same | Same |
Numbers in ranges are easy to wave away, so here is one concrete household. Say you hire a fresh Filipino helper at S$650 a month, you do not qualify for the levy concession, and you use an agency charging S$2,000. The upfront bucket is the S$5,000 security bond (a guarantee, so only a modest premium leaves your account), about S$486 for a 26-month insurance package, the S$2,000 agency fee, S$70 for the work permit, S$35 for your Employers' Orientation Programme, about S$80 for her Settling-in Programme, a pre-employment medical, and roughly S$500 to S$700 for her airfare. That lands near S$3,300 to S$3,600 in real cash on day one, more if the agency fee runs higher.
Then the monthly bucket starts. The S$650 salary plus the S$300 levy is S$950 before you have bought a single grocery. Add about S$200 for food, S$20 for her phone, and budget one forgone rest day at S$25, and you are at roughly S$1,195 a month. Across twelve months that is about S$14,300, and the levy alone is S$3,600 of it.
Now run the same household with the S$60 concessionary levy, say because there is a grandparent aged 67 living with you. The monthly figure drops to about S$955 and the year falls to roughly S$11,500, a S$2,880 swing from the levy concession alone. That single line is why checking your eligibility matters more than haggling S$50 off the agency fee. Put your own salary, levy band and food budget into the monthly budget calculator and you will see the real number for your household, not a generic range.
Frame it as a recurring commitment, not a one-off purchase. At S$1,000 to S$1,650 a month, a helper costs S$12,000 to S$20,000 a year, and over a typical four-year stint that is S$48,000 to S$80,000 plus the upfront costs each renewal. The case is strongest when the helper frees a higher-earning parent to keep working, or replaces more expensive paid care for an elderly or disabled family member, which is also exactly when you qualify for the S$60 levy.
The cheapest helper is rarely the best value. Lowballing the salary or churning through helpers every contract carries hidden costs: repeated placement fees, settling-in time, and training someone new. A helper you pay fairly and retain for years usually works out cheaper per year than two or three short stays.
Before you sign, stress-test the number against your budget. If a S$1,400 monthly all-in would push your fixed expenses past what your income comfortably covers, a part-time cleaner or shared care may fit better than a live-in helper. Run the figure through the budget calculator and compare it against the cost of preschool care if the alternative is childcare; sometimes a helper is cheaper than two full-day childcare places, and sometimes it is not.
About S$1,000 to S$1,650 a month all-in, plus a one-off S$3,000 to S$7,000 upfront. The monthly figure covers her salary (roughly S$480 to S$850+), the S$300 levy (or S$60 if you qualify for the concession), food, and rest-day pay. The upfront cost covers the agency fee, the S$5,000 security bond, insurance, the work permit, the settling-in programme and her airfare.
The normal levy for your first helper is S$300 a month (S$9.87 a day), and S$450 a month for a second helper. The concessionary rate is S$60 a month (S$1.98 a day) if your household has a Singapore Citizen child under 16, an elderly member aged 67 or above, or a person with disabilities. You pay by the 17th of the following month.
Households with a Singapore Citizen child below 16, an elderly Singapore Citizen (or eligible PR) aged 67 or above, or a certified person with disabilities who needs help with at least one activity of daily living. The concession covers one helper per eligible person, capped at two helpers per household, and saves S$2,880 a year per helper versus the S$300 rate.
Singapore sets no statutory minimum, but source countries do. The Philippines requires US$500 a month (about S$650) for newly hired Filipino helpers from October 2025. Indonesian fresh helpers commonly start around S$550 to S$600, and Myanmar helpers in the high S$400s to S$550. Experienced or specialised helpers earn S$700 to S$850 or more.
Medical insurance with at least a S$60,000 annual claim limit (you co-pay 25 percent on claims above S$15,000), and personal accident insurance with a sum assured of at least S$60,000 a year. You also need a S$5,000 security bond for every non-Malaysian helper. Agencies usually bundle the bond and both policies for roughly S$300 to S$600 per 26-month permit cycle, and you cannot deduct any of it from her salary.
No. The Foreign Domestic Worker Levy Relief, which let working mothers deduct twice the levy paid, lapsed from Year of Assessment 2025. You can no longer offset the levy against income tax. The concessionary S$60 monthly levy still applies to qualifying households, but the separate tax deduction is gone.
Yes. Since 1 January 2023 you must give at least one rest day a month that cannot be compensated away. She is entitled to one rest day a week, and for any weekly rest day she agrees to work you must pay at least one extra day's salary, calculated as her monthly salary divided by 26.
It can be. A direct hire or a transfer helper already in Singapore lets you skip or reduce the S$1,000 to S$3,000 agency placement fee, but you then handle the work permit, insurance and paperwork yourself through MOM, and you lose any agency replacement guarantee. The levy, bond, insurance and other statutory costs stay the same either way.
Yes, if it is your first time employing a migrant domestic worker. You must complete the Employers' Orientation Programme (EOP), a three-hour course on your duties as an employer, at least two working days before you submit the work permit application. It costs S$35 online or S$35.65 to S$60 in a classroom depending on the language. You cannot send a representative unless you meet specific exemption conditions such as being aged 60 or above.
Usually cheaper upfront but a little dearer each month. A transfer helper already in Singapore skips the airfare and the Settling-in Programme and often part of the agency fee, saving a four-figure sum at the start. Because she is experienced she tends to ask for a higher salary, often S$700 or more, so the monthly cost runs above a fresh hire. The levy, security bond, insurance and work permit are identical either way.
MOM charges a penalty of 2 percent of the unpaid levy for each month it is overdue, and if that comes to less than S$20 the penalty is the lower of S$20 or 30 percent of the unpaid levy. Miss two consecutive months and MOM revokes the work permit, and while any levy is outstanding you cannot apply for, issue or renew a permit. You can also claim a levy waiver for days she is overseas for at least seven consecutive days or on hospitalisation leave, capped at 60 days a year for each.
This is general financial information for Singapore, not personal financial advice. Figures change — verify current rates against the official sources above before acting. See our full disclaimer.