How Much to Charge for Summer Camp: A Pricing and Budget Guide

To work out how much to charge for summer camp, cost one camp week from the staffing up, divide it by the campers who will actually pay, add a reserve, then compare the result with what families near you already pay. In the two worked examples below, that math lands at about $250 a week for a modest day camp and about $735 for an overnight week. Your inputs will differ. The method holds.

How much to charge for summer camp: the formula

A defensible weekly price comes from four steps, in this order:

1. Cost one week, starting with staff. Your ratio sets your headcount, and headcount drives most of the budget.
2. Divide by paying campers, not beds. Use the enrollment you expect to fill, minus scholarship seats.
3. Add a reserve, then gross up for card fees and discounts, which come off every payment.
4. Sanity-check against the market: published benchmarks, plus five to ten camps in your drive radius with similar hours and inclusions.

Copying the established camp down the road means copying a price built on its costs, which may reflect a paid-off property or donors you lack.

The cost lines in one camper-week

Price one week first, then multiply by the season.

Staff wages, set by your ratio

Your state's ratio is a floor, and it decides how many people you pay. Connecticut requires one staff member aged 16 or older per 12 day campers aged six and up (one per nine under six), and in resident camps one per eight campers aged eight and up (one per six under eight), at all times, including trips (Regs. Conn. State Agencies sec. 19a-428-2(n)). New York sets a general ratio of 1:12 for day camps and, for overnight camps, 1:10 for campers eight and older and 1:8 below that, with separate ratios for specialty activities and trips (10 NYCRR 7-2.5). Rules vary and change, so read your own.

Then add the people a ratio does not show: a float for breaks, bathroom escorts and sick days. A state may also leave the director out of the count. In Michigan, the director of a camp with more than 50 campers does not count toward the ratio (Mich. Admin. Code R 400.11111(3)). Our free camper-to-staff ratio planner checks every group against the ratio you set.

Pay floors vary too. Federal law exempts an organized camp that operates no more than seven months a year, or passes a seasonal receipts test, from federal minimum wage and overtime (29 U.S.C. 213(a)(3)). But the Department of Labor found that a summer day camp run by a year-round riding stable was not a separate establishment, so its counselors did not qualify (opinion letter FLSA2004-6NA). California lets organized camps that meet American Camp Association standards pay counselors and program staff a weekly salary of at least 85% of the minimum wage for a 40-hour week, whatever the hours (Cal. Lab. Code 1182.4). At the 2026 state rate of $16.90 an hour (California DIR), that is $574.60 a week by our arithmetic. Wisconsin's weekly counselor minimums are $350, or $265 with board, or $210 with board and lodging (Wis. Admin. Code DWD 272.07). The national median wage for recreation workers (occupation 39-9032) was $17.58 an hour in May 2025 (BLS).

Payroll burden and the training week

Employers pay 6.2% Social Security and 1.45% Medicare, 7.65% in total (IRS Topic 751). Workers' compensation and state unemployment vary by state and job class; our examples assume another 4%. Pre-season training is paid time that comes before any tuition does, so spread it across your sessions.

Food

Day camps choose between a snack and a lunch. Overnight camps feed campers and staff three meals plus snacks. For a public reference point, USDA's 2026 Summer Food Service Program rates for sites that are neither rural nor self-preparation, in every state except Alaska and Hawaii, are $3.1375 for breakfast, $5.51 for lunch or supper and $1.295 for a snack, up 3.7% on average (Federal Register, Feb. 4, 2026). They are sponsor payments, not a food budget, but a per-meal assumption far below them deserves a second look.

Facility or rent

Day camps often rent a school, church or park building; get in writing what the rent includes. Overnight camps that own land should spread year-round costs over the summer sessions, net of off-season rentals.

Insurance

Camp insurers commonly quote general liability, abuse and molestation coverage (ask whether your general liability policy covers or excludes it), participant accident and medical, auto including hired and non-owned, property, workers' compensation, and directors and officers cover for a nonprofit board. Confirm the list with a licensed agent. Our premiums are placeholders, since we found no neutral published source; get real quotes before pricing.

Transportation and supplies

Field trips mean buses. In the American Camp Association's survey of 2014 operations, day camps spent a larger share of their budgets on transportation and overnight camps a larger share on food (ACA, "Show Us the Money"). Program supplies and first-aid stock are small per camper but add up.

Screening and training

Screening is one of the smallest lines and one of the least optional. A national background check through VolunteerBadge costs $5 per staff member, under 10 cents per camper-week in the day camp example. It does not replace a fingerprint-based check, registry clearance or other screening your state, accreditor or insurer requires; budget for and run those too. Start with our state-by-state camp screening requirements.

Registration software and payment fees

Registration platforms charge a subscription, a per-registration fee or both, and card processing comes on top. As one published example, Stripe's standard U.S. rate as of September 2026 is 2.9% plus 30 cents per domestic card payment, or 0.8% for ACH debit, capped at $5 (Stripe pricing). On a $252 card payment that is $7.61, about 3%.

Admin and a reserve

Admin covers marketing, permits, accounting and the office. The reserve, 10% in our examples, covers a thin week or a broken van. Margins are thin: in ACA's survey of 2011 operations, the average profit margin was 10% for day camps and 3% for resident camps, with medians of 11% and 2% (ACA, "The Dollar$ and Cents of Operating a Camp").

Worked example: a day camp budget for one week

An illustrative camp, not a real one: 60 campers aged 6 to 12, weekdays from 9 to 4, for 8 weeks. A 1:12 ratio gives 5 counselors, plus 1 float; the director and an assistant director who doubles as first-aid lead sit outside the ratio. Families pack lunch. We expect 54 paying campers (90% of seats) and a 7% average discount. Other inputs are in the table.

This camp needs about $235 from each paying camper-week. Divided by 0.93 for the discount allowance, the list price is about $252. Two tests show how fragile that is. If 45 campers pay instead of 54, the cost is $282 per paying camper. If counselor pay rises $2 an hour, it rises about $12 once training, burden, reserve and fees are added. Run both on your own numbers in our free camp season budget workbook.

Worked example: an overnight camp week

Also illustrative: 80 campers aged 8 to 14, Sunday to Saturday (six days of meals), six sessions on a camp-owned site. A 1:8 ratio gives 10 counselors, plus 2 for time off and nights. With lifeguards, a nurse, kitchen and maintenance staff and two directors, that is 21 staff. Counselors earn $600 a week, above California's 2026 weekly floor for camps its rule covers ($574.60). A flat weekly salary like this assumes the camp qualifies for the federal seasonal-camp exemption and any state camp rule; if it doesn't, hourly minimum wage and overtime apply. We expect 72 paying campers and the same 7% discount allowance.

That is about $684 per paying camper, or a list price near $735. Food and site costs together outweigh counselor pay. On food, USDA's lower 2026 rates for a breakfast, lunch, supper and snack total about $15.45 a day, so $14 for food alone (kitchen labor is its own line) is in range.

Day camp prices and overnight fees: the benchmarks

Published figures on summer camp cost per week are older than most directors expect, and nearly all come from surveys of ACA-accredited camps:

Treat these as ranges, not targets. Newer figures are due: ACA says reports and a data dashboard from its 2025 CampCounts survey will be available by early fall 2026. Its early summary says more than two-thirds of responding camps filled 80% or more of capacity in summer 2025; a first-year camp should assume less. Our examples sit inside the published ranges. That makes them plausible, not right for your market; the local comparison decides.

Summer camp pricing strategy: discounts, tiers, add-ons

Every discount is a cost line. In ACA's 2014 survey, more than 80% of camps offered a discount and 30% of campers received one; ACA's 2018 Business Operations Report found that more than 75% of camps gave away over $1,000 in discounts a year. Build the average into the list price, as our 7% does.

Early-bird pricing

An early-bird rate buys cash and an early read on enrollment. Tie its deadline to the date you commit to staff and rent. A hypothetical example: 10% off for families who pay in full by March 1.

Sibling discount

Keep it modest and apply it to the second and later children. Supplies, food and the ratio do not shrink for a sibling. Cap combined discounts (for example, at 15% in total) so early-bird, sibling and multi-week offers cannot stack below your cost.

Tiered or sliding-scale pricing

Some camps publish two or three prices for the same week, such as a supported rate, a standard rate and a sustaining rate that helps fund scholarships. Others use income bands. Say how families qualify, and budget the supported seats as a cost.

Extended day

Price before- and after-care from the staff hour, because the ratio still applies. At $16 an hour plus 11.65% burden, 10 extra hours a week cost $178.64 per staff member: $14.89 a child with 12 children, $29.77 with six. Price near the half-full figure.

Deposits and refund policy

A non-refundable deposit covers admin and holds a seat; a dated refund schedule protects the enrollment your budget assumes. Write both before registration opens. Sample language to adapt (not legal advice):

A non-refundable $75 deposit per camper per week is due at registration and applies to tuition. Cancellations received by May 1 receive a full refund of tuition paid beyond the deposit; by June 1, a 50% refund; after June 1, no refund, but you may transfer to another week with open space.

What parents can use to pay for camp

This is where day and overnight camps part ways, and it belongs on your registration page.

The child and dependent care credit. The IRS says the cost of overnight camp is not a work-related expense, while day camp may be, even when it specializes in one activity such as computers or soccer (IRS Publication 503; IRS news release IR-2024-216). The child must be under 13, the care must let the parents work or look for work, and expenses are capped at $3,000 for one child or $6,000 for two or more. Starting with tax year 2026, a 2025 law (Pub. L. 119-21) raises the rate: it starts at 50% and drops 1 point for each $2,000 of adjusted gross income over $15,000 until it reaches 35%. Above $75,000 of AGI ($150,000 on a joint return), it drops 1 more point per $2,000 ($4,000 joint), to a floor of 20% (26 U.S.C. 21(a)(2)). Returns for 2025 still use the old scale, 35% down to 20%.

Dependent care FSAs. From 2026, employees can exclude up to $7,500 a year of employer dependent care assistance, up from $5,000, or $3,750 if married filing separately (26 U.S.C. 129(a)(2)(A)). IRS Publication 15-B says the tests for this benefit are basically the same as for the credit (IRS Publication 15-B), and the statute defines eligible assistance by reference to the credit's work-related expenses (section 129(e)(1)), so the same day and overnight line applies. Publication 503 reduces the credit's dollar limit by excluded benefits, so the same dollars cannot count twice.

Receipts. Parents must report the provider's name, address and taxpayer identification number. Publication 503 lets a tax-exempt provider be listed as "Tax-Exempt", but printing your EIN saves a phone call. It also treats application fees and similar indirect costs parents must pay to get care as work-related, so itemize them, and list any optional overnight separately.

Subsidies. Federal child care subsidy rules define a provider as one licensed or otherwise authorized to give care for fewer than 24 hours a day in a non-residential setting (45 C.F.R. 98.2). Whether a day camp can accept state subsidies is state policy, so ask your state's child care subsidy agency.

Camp scholarships and funding sources

Financial aid is normal. ACA's 2018 Business Operations Report found that more than 93% of camps offered financial assistance and 67% awarded $10,000 or more in scholarships a year; in its 2025 CampCounts survey, 85% of organizations offered campers financial assistance. In the 2014 survey, the average camp awarded $77,700, reaching about 24% of campers (27% at overnight camps, 17% at day camps). Budget scholarships as a line with a named source:

• Donations and a sustaining tier. Keep scholarship gifts and tuition on separate ledger lines so you can show donors where their gifts went.
• Grants. Community foundations and youth-focused funders are the usual first stop. Browse nonprofit grant opportunities and the funder directory.
• Community funds. ACA points families to congregations, military-family funds, civic clubs, sororities and fraternities.
• ACA's Send a Child to Camp Fund, which ACA-accredited day and overnight camps apply for through the UltraCamp Foundation. If accreditation is on your list anyway, see how to get your camp ACA accredited.

For start-up cash, SBA microloans go up to $50,000, averaging about $13,000, through nonprofit intermediary lenders to small businesses and certain not-for-profit childcare centers (SBA Microloans). A nonprofit camp should ask an intermediary whether it qualifies.

Mistakes that sink first-year camp budgets

1. Pricing on capacity. Our day camp goes from $235 to $282 per paying camper when 45 pay instead of 54.
2. Staffing to the ratio with no float. The first sick day puts a group out of ratio.
3. Forgetting the weeks before tuition. Training, set-up, insurance deposits, permits and, if accrediting, ACA's February 1 application deadline all come first.
4. Letting discounts stack. Cap the combined total.
5. Ignoring fees and refunds. Card fees plus a generous refund policy can erase the reserve.
6. Promising unfunded scholarships. A scholarship with no funding source is a discount you forgot to budget.

Our free guide to launching a camp puts these costs on a calendar, alongside licensing lead times by state.

Before you publish next summer's rates

Run both tests on your own numbers and get insurance quotes in writing. One line stays small whatever you do: screening. VolunteerBadge runs volunteer and staff background checks for $5 each, with ID-and-selfie verification on applications and a verified badge a staff member can carry. It is a national check, so where your state requires a fingerprint-based check or a registry clearance, run that as well.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I charge per week for a day camp?

Start from your own cost per paying camper-week, not a national average. In our illustrative 60-camper day camp, that came to about $235, for a list price near $252. ACA's 2018 averages ran from $199 to over $800 a week, so compare with local camps that run similar hours.

How much does it cost to run a summer camp per camper?

It depends mostly on staffing, food and site costs. In ACA's survey of 2011 operations, the average expense per camper-day was $71.20 at day camps and $98.00 at resident camps. Those figures are old, so build your own week line by line.

Can parents use an FSA or the dependent care credit for summer camp?

For day camp, often yes. IRS Publication 503 says day camp may be a work-related expense when the child is under 13 and the care lets the parents work or look for work; overnight camp is not. From 2026, a dependent care FSA can exclude up to $7,500 a year, and federal law ties FSA-eligible care to the credit's definition, so the same line holds.

How much of a sibling discount do camps give?

We found no published standard. Keep it modest, apply it to second and later children, and cap combined discounts. Build the average discount into your list price so it does not come out of your reserve.

Do summer camps make a profit?

Some do, but margins are thin. In ACA's survey of 2011 operations, the average profit margin was 10% for day camps and 3% for resident camps, which is why a reserve line matters.

Sources

1. Camp Trends: Tuition, American Camp Association (accessed September 2026).
2. How to Afford Camp, American Camp Association (accessed September 2026).
3. CampCounts 2025, American Camp Association (accessed September 2026).
4. Show Us the Money, American Camp Association, Camping Magazine (accessed September 2026).
5. The Dollar$ and Cents of Operating a Camp, American Camp Association, Camping Magazine (accessed September 2026).
6. Publication 503 (2025), Child and Dependent Care Expenses, Internal Revenue Service (accessed September 2026).
7. Child and Dependent Care tax credit can help offset summer day camp expenses (IR-2024-216), Internal Revenue Service (accessed September 2026).
8. 26 U.S.C. 21, Expenses for household and dependent care services necessary for gainful employment, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (accessed September 2026).
9. 26 U.S.C. 129, Dependent care assistance programs, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (accessed September 2026).
10. Publication 15-B (2026), Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits, Internal Revenue Service (accessed September 2026).
11. Topic no. 751, Social Security and Medicare withholding rates, Internal Revenue Service (accessed September 2026).
12. Summer Food Service Program; 2026 Reimbursement Rates, USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Federal Register (accessed September 2026).
13. Occupational Outlook Handbook: Recreation Workers (May 2025 wage data), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (accessed September 2026).
14. 29 U.S.C. 213 (FLSA section 13), Exemptions, Office of the Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives (accessed September 2026).
15. Opinion Letter FLSA2004-6NA (summer day camp), Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of Labor (accessed September 2026).
16. California Labor Code 1182.4, California Legislative Information (accessed September 2026).
17. Minimum Wage Frequently Asked Questions, California Department of Industrial Relations (accessed September 2026).
18. Wis. Admin. Code DWD 272.07, Recreational or educational camps, Wisconsin State Legislature (accessed September 2026).
19. Youth Camp Statutes and Regulations (May 2025 compilation), Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (accessed September 2026).
20. 10 NYCRR 7-2.5, Personnel, supervision and camp safety plan, New York State Department of Health (accessed September 2026).
21. Children's and Adult Foster Care Camps, R 400.11101 to 400.11413, Michigan Administrative Code (accessed September 2026).
22. Pricing, Stripe (accessed September 2026).
23. Microloans, U.S. Small Business Administration (accessed September 2026).
24. 45 C.F.R. 98.2, Definitions (Child Care and Development Fund), Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (accessed September 2026).