Tool · Households
What does a kasambahay actually cost you?
The cash wage is only part of it. Enter the region and the wage you plan to pay, and this returns the true all-in monthly and annual cost — the wage plus the three mandatory employer contributions and the 13th-month pay you are legally on the hook for. Every rate is dated and sourced.
Arrangement
True monthly cost
₱8,683
That is ₱104,196/year — a ₱1,683/month premium over the ₱7,000 cash wage.
Meets the Cebu kasambahay minimum
₱7,000/month is at or above the ₱7,000/month minimum for Central Visayas (Region VII).
| Employer cost line | Per month | Who bears it |
|---|---|---|
| Cash wage | ₱7,000 | Paid to the worker |
| SSS (incl. EC) | ₱710 | Employer 10% of MSC ₱7,000 + ₱10 EC |
| PhilHealth | ₱250 | Employer 2.5% of ₱10,000 premium base |
| Pag-IBIG | ₱140 | Employer 2% of ₱7,000 fund salary |
| 13th-month (accrued) | ₱583 | One month’s wage / 12, paid as a December lump sum |
| All-in per month | ₱8,683 |
The worker's side
The worker takes home ₱6,260/month in cash after a ₱740 member-share deduction (SSS + PhilHealth + Pag-IBIG). The 13th-month pay is on top, by 24 December.
Notes on your numbers
₱7,000 meets or exceeds the Cebu kasambahay minimum of ₱7,000/month (Wage Order No. ROVII-DW-05).
At ₱5,000/month or above, RA 10361 §30 splits the premiums: you pay the employer share (₱1,100/month across the three agencies) and the worker pays the member share (₱740, deducted from the cash wage). PhilHealth uses its ₱10,000 income floor, so even a below-₱10,000 wage generates the ₱500 minimum premium.
The cash wage is not the cost. Contributions plus accrued 13th-month add ₱1,683/month on top — about 24% over the wage — so your true monthly cost per worker is ₱8,683, not ₱7,000.
The 13th-month line (₱583/month) is an accrual: it is legally one month's wage paid as a lump sum by 24 December. Set it aside monthly so the December bill does not land as a surprise.
Live-in arrangement: board and lodging (a private space, meals, utilities, water) are a real additional cost you carry on top of these figures. RA 10361 requires them but sets no peso value, and we do not invent one — budget your own household's actual food and space cost separately.
Methodology, formula + sources
How this is calculated
The all-in employer cost is the cash wage plus the three mandatory employer contributions (SSS with its Employees' Compensation premium, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG) plus the prorated 13th-month pay. The load-bearing rule is RA 10361 §30: below ₱5,000/month the EMPLOYER shoulders 100% of the SSS + PhilHealth + Pag-IBIG premium; at ₱5,000 and above the worker pays the proportionate member share and the employer pays only the employer share (plus EC, which is always employer-only). SSS uses the household Monthly Salary Credit floor of ₱1,000; PhilHealth applies its ₱10,000 income floor, so even a below-₱10,000 wage generates the ₱500 minimum premium; Pag-IBIG is 2% + 2% on the fund salary capped at ₱10,000. The regional kasambahay minimum comes from that region's RTWPB 'DW' wage order and drives the legality flag — it is not a modelled figure. Live-in board and lodging is a real additional cost we deliberately put no peso value on.
Formula
allInMonthly = cashWage + sssEmployer + philhealthEmployer + pagibigEmployer + 13thAccrual
RA 10361 §30 (the branch):
wage < 5,000 → employer pays BOTH shares (member + employer) of SSS/PhilHealth/Pag-IBIG
wage ≥ 5,000 → employer pays only the employer share; worker pays the member share
SSS = MSC = round(wage / 500) × 500, clamped [1,000, 35,000]
employerShare = 10% × MSC ; memberShare = 5% × MSC ; EC = ₱10 (MSC < 15,000)
PhilHealth base = clamp(wage, 10,000, 100,000) ; total = 5% × base ; each side 2.5%
Pag-IBIG base = min(wage, 10,000) ; each side = 2% × base
13thAccrual = round(cashWage / 12) // one month’s wage, spread over the year
allInAnnual = allInMonthly × 12 Constants + data sources (each dated)
| Value used | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Kasambahay minimum — Cebu (Region VII): ₱7,000/mo (NCR ₱7,800 · Iloilo ₱6,500 · Davao ₱6,500) | NWPC / DOLE-RTWPB regional domestic-worker (kasambahay) wage orders | 2026-03 |
| SSS: 15% of MSC (employer 10% + member 5%) + ₱10 EC · MSC floor ₱1,000 / ceiling ₱35,000 | SSS Circular No. 2024-006 — 15% contribution rate, effective January 2025 | 2025-01 |
| PhilHealth: 5% of salary (each side 2.5%) · floor ₱10,000 / ceiling ₱100,000 | PhilHealth Circular 2024-0004 — 5% premium, ₱10,000 floor / ₱100,000 ceiling, held for 2026 | 2026-01 |
| Pag-IBIG: 2% employer + 2% member on fund salary, capped at ₱10,000 | HDMF Circular No. 460 — Maximum Fund Salary ₱10,000, effective February 2024 | 2024-02 |
| 13th-month pay: 1/12 of the year’s basic wage (one month), paid by 24 December | PD 851 (13th-month pay) · RA 10361 §25 (kasambahay entitlement) | 1975-12 |
Worked example (reproduce this by hand)
A ₱7,000/month live-out helper in Cebu (Region VII).
- ₱7,000 ≥ ₱5,000 → §30 split applies (worker pays the member share)
- SSS: MSC ₱7,000 → employer 10% = ₱700, + ₱10 EC = ₱710
- PhilHealth: wage below the ₱10,000 floor → 2.5% × ₱10,000 = ₱250 (employer half)
- Pag-IBIG: 2% × ₱7,000 = ₱140 (employer half)
- 13th-month accrual: 7,000 / 12 = ₱583
- all-in = 7,000 + 710 + 250 + 140 + 583 = ₱8,683/month
→ ₱8,683/month, ₱104,196/year all-in — a ₱1,683/month premium over the ₱7,000 cash wage. Same numbers in code, ledger, and tests.
Assumptions
- The SSS Monthly Salary Credit is bracketed to the nearest ₱500 step (the published brackets are MSC ± 249.99); the household schedule floors it at ₱1,000, below the ₱5,000 regular-employed floor.
- The EC premium is ₱10/month for the Monthly Salary Credits kasambahay wages fall in (it rises to ₱30 only at MSC ₱15,000+).
- Contributions are computed on the cash wage; a live-in worker’s board and lodging is a real cost but carries no statutory peso value, so it is not added as a line.
Known limits — what this does not model
- Statutory contributions and the wage floor only — this is not the total cost of employment. It excludes recruitment/agency fees, uniforms, toiletries, one-off medical, and (for live-in) food, a private space and utilities.
- The four regions here are the LiveInPH coverage set (NCR, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao). A region not listed is set by its own RTWPB DW order on its own schedule.
- A wage entered below ₱5,000 is modelled correctly (employer shoulders all) but is below the legal minimum in every region shown, and is flagged as such.
The data behind this tool
Kasambahay minimum by region.
There is no single national kasambahay wage — each Regional Wage Board sets its own monthly minimum on its own schedule. Central Visayas (Cebu) sits above Western Visayas (Iloilo) and Davao Region, a genuine cross-city fact.
| Region · city | Monthly minimum | Wage order | Effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Manila · National Capital Region | ₱7,800 | Wage Order No. NCR-DW-06 | 2026-02-07 |
| Cebu · Central Visayas (Region VII) | ₱7,000 | Wage Order No. ROVII-DW-05 | 2025-10-04 |
| Iloilo · Western Visayas (Region VI) | ₱6,500 | Wage Order No. RBVI-DW-07 | 2025-11-19 |
| Davao · Davao Region (Region XI) | ₱6,500 | Wage Order No. RB XI-DW-04 | 2026-03-13 |
Baseline — limited data
Cebu ₱7,000/mo · latest order 2026-03
This is the baseline reading for each region's kasambahay minimum wage (as of 2026-03). One real period on record — a trend line appears once at least 2 dated periods are collected. We do not back-fill or interpolate intermediate points to make a line look complete; a longitudinal claim is worth exactly the number of periods actually measured.
Download the wage panel, reuse it, or audit the calculator against it.
Cite this dataset
Citation
LiveInPH. "Kasambahay (Domestic-Worker) Monthly Minimum Wage by Region (NWPC/RTWPB) — NCR, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao" (2026-03). LiveInPH, https://liveinph.com/data/kasambahay-minimum-wage. Accessed 2026. Licensed CC BY 4.0.
Free to reuse, including commercially and by AI systems, on one condition: attribute “LiveInPH, https://liveinph.com” and link the dataset page. The CSV carries the same provenance in its header comment.