HOW MUCH MONEY SHOULD MOMS BE PAID?

For the 13th Year, Salary.com Reveals Its Annual "Mom Salary" By Aaron Gouveia, Salary.com contributing writer.

How Much Are Moms Worth in 2013?

Moms. We literally wouldn't be here without them. And whether they stay-at-home or work full- or part-time, how can you ever put a price on all they do? All the homemade meals, the nighttime lullabies, the nursed boo-boos, and the fact that when she's driving and slams on the brakes she thinks she has Hulk strength in that right arm she sticks out to protect whoever is riding shotgun? Who could ever even attempt to categorize moms and all that they do in a financial sense? Hey, we're SALARY.com OK? That's what we do. Obviously this is all in good fun and in no way 100% scientific, but for the 13th consecutive year we're doing our small part to show everyone how important mothers are by calculating what they would be paid if they actually received a salary for all of their hard work.

How Do You Put a Price on Motherhood?

So how do we determine the amount moms are paid? In a nutshell, we rely on your input and our salary data. Our Mom Salary Wizard is open to mothers all year long, and we ask our users to tell us how much time they spend each week doing various "mom jobs." From there, we take your final tallies, have our compensation experts mesh the number of hours with our salary data for the various jobs, and voila -- you're able to see mom's paycheck. We break it down by stay-at-home and working mothers, and present the top 10 jobs on which moms say they spend the most time. Since most families are on the smaller side (except if you're the Duggar Family), we only used salary data for companies with 25 full-time employees or less. But the links we're providing throughout the article consist of salaries for ALL companies sizes, hence you might see some varying numbers.

This year we had more than 6,000 moms take our survey, and the buzzword is "steady." We also sought out real-life moms to get their thoughts on this year's survey. In what should come as no surprise in this economy that is still largely spinning its wheels, the salaries for stay-at-home and working moms only increased marginally compared to last year even though moms are putting in close to 100 hours a week of household and childcare duties. Want to know which jobs moms do the most and what the final tally was? Read on.

10. Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer Median annual salary: $170,300 Stay-at-home Moms: 3.3 hours per week Working Moms: 2.6 hours per week Many mothers are the leaders of their respective households. And what is a CEO if not the head of a family? Keeping both short-term and long-term strategic decisions in mind, mom-as-CEO has to look out for the well-being, stability, and future of her organization. Granted, the shareholders meeting might be done in pajamas over breakfast or at night on the couch, but moms are often tasked with the duties of steering the ship.

Chief Executive Officer contd

And as moms everywhere will tell you, there are more than a few icebergs to avoid and squalls to weather along the way. Theresa, a mother of three children in Texas, said "Being a mom is all about accountability and making tough decisions. Not only do I need to make sure the bills are paid, I also need to prioritize the bills when there isn't enough money to pay all of them. Part of leadership is making tough decisions," she said. Unlike the CEOs who take home huge bonuses, sometimes moms simply have to settle for hugs and "thank yous" instead of a golden parachute.

9. Laundry Machine Operator

Laundry Machine Operator Annual Median Salary: $20,700 Stay-at-home Moms: 6.2 hours per week Working moms: 4.1 hours per week You might've thought you had a lot of clothes before you had kids. Bet you'd reconsider now. The clothes might be smaller, but there are so many more of them. Maybe you splurged at the baby store for your first kid and bought way too much.

Laundry Machine Operator

Many people get hand-me-downs from friends and family members, which brings boxes of new outfits to wash. And if you've got several kids, you know the laundry is never done. It's just one around the clock, endless cycle of washing, drying, and folding that will cause you to wonder why you ever agreed to start a family in the first place. "My husband helps with laundry at nights and the weekend, but he works and I stay home so I need to get most of it done during the day or else it'll be unmanageable," said Mary, a Massachusetts mom of two. "I want my family's clothes to be clean but sometimes I want to scream because it seems like I never finish anything."

8. Psychologist
Psychologist Annual Median Salary: $79,100 Stay-at-home moms: 7.3 hours per week Working moms: 6 hours per week We realize actual psychologists go to school for years and receive training many moms simply don't possess. But bear with us. As a mom -- especially when your kids approach the tween and then teen years -you might not be a trained psychologist but you'll most likely feel like an honorary one after your kids traverse the minefield that is childhood.

Psychologist
You'll need to guide them on bullying -- both dealing with the emotional trauma of it and how to react to it. You'll be their sounding board on broken hearts, bad grades, ending friendships, and countless other problems for which kids need your counsel. "Last week my 10-year-old asked me why someone would bomb a marathon, and was scared that someone would bomb the local 5k race her father is running next month," said Kathy, a mother of two from Rhode Island. "Being honest with kids while still making sure they feel protected is pretty hard."

7. Janitor
Janitor Annual Median Salary: $20,700 Stay-at-home Moms: 7.8 hours per week Working moms: 4.2 hours per week Motherhood is messy. It starts with the first diaper and doesn't get better until they move out of the house. Kids are constantly overflowing their diapers, messing in their pants once the diapers are off, drawing on walls, spilling their drinks on the carpet, throwing food, tracking mud through the house, etc.

Janitor
Most moms have an arsenal of cleaning supplies fit to handle each and every circumstance, because getting ketchup stains off the couch and white carpet is no task for a rookie. Martha, a mother of two in Florida, said "When my first son was 8 weeks old and I was still learning the ropes, I was in a restaurant and he had a blow out. Everything was covered in baby poop, including his onesie. As I was in the ladies room freaking out, another mom saw me and opened up her HUGE purse. She told me to throw the stained outfit in the trash and no worry about it, then gave me everything I needed -- including a spare onesie. That's the day I officially became a mom."

6. Van Driver
Van Driver Median Annual Salary: $28,300 Stay-at-home Moms: 8 hours per week Working moms: 5.7 hours per week Get comfortable in that minivan, because you're going to spend a lot of time in it. From the pediatrician appointments as a baby you'll eventually drive to daycare and school. And once youth sports begin (as early as 4 years old in some cases), then you're really in trouble.

Van Driver
It doesn't matter if your kids are participating in hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, football, lacrosse, karate, wrestling or all of the above, there's a good chance you'll be carting your kid(s) -- and their teammates -- to different venues all throughout the area. Throw in things like music lessons, the theater, and weekends when your kids want to go to the movies, and it's all over. Don't bother keeping the meter running, you'll end up losing count. "I had the worst of it because I was a school bus driver AND I had two boys two years apart who each played three sports a season," said Cynthia in Massachusetts. "Scheduling rides and troubleshooting conflicting times is exhausting, not to mention trying to stay awake at the wheel when you've been non-stop since 6 a.m."

5. Computer Operator
Computer Operator Median Annual Salary: $32,900 Stay-at-home Moms: 8.9 hours per week Working moms: 6.5 hours per week Technology is a vital component of motherhood for most women. From the minute women find out they're pregnant, many of them download apps that tell them how the baby is growing, what to expect at certain stages of pregnancy, etc. So it's no wonder that not too long after the kids are born, technology finds a way into their lives.

Computer Operator
Whether it's age appropriate apps on the cell phone or iPad or doing homework on the laptop or desktop, kids are brought into the technological fold earlier and earlier. And while the Internet is a great tool, moms need to shepherd kids through not only the instructional phase of operating a computer, but also keep them safe. "Sometimes I feel like a bad mom for this, but my 2-yearold can work my iPod already," said Christine, a mother from New York. "They're gonna have to use all of this stuff when they're older so I figure I might as well get them used to it."

4. Facilities Manager
Facilities Manager Median Annual Salary: $65,700 Stay-at-home Moms: 10.8 hours per week Working moms: 7.1 hours per week The moms we surveyed are not afraid to get their hands dirty. The job description for this position is "ensures optimal functioning of building systems including mechanical, electrical, fire/life safety, and elevators.

Facilities Manager
May manage a staff of employees in the maintenance of buildings and grounds. May oversee contractors for facility renovation project." Whether you're a stay-at-home mom or a working mom, it's often up to you to make sure things are running smoothly. If not, these moms make sure they call someone in, or even fix it themselves. I can attest to this one personally, as my wife is the fixer and handywoman. When the dryer vent needed fixing, she was on it. When the dishwasher stopped working my response was to kick it and try it again, but it wasn't until she got home that it actually was opened up and fixed. Thanks honey!

3. Day Care Center Teacher

Day Care Center Teacher Median Annual Salary: $27,200 Stay-at-home Moms: 13.3 hours per week Working moms: 5.3 hours per week Somewhere between newborns and going off to kindergarten, moms will find themselves basically working as a day care teacher.

Day Care Center Teacher

Whether you're at home full time taking care of your child or even if he/she goes to actual day care for some of the week, this job is mostly about keeping the kids busy and entertained. But it's also largely educational and plays an important role in the development of kids as they prepare for kindergarten and beyond. To wit: "We usually have breakfast and then some play time, then arts and crafts until lunch," said Kristen, a Massachusetts mom who cares for her 3-year-old. "I also work in some exercises I found online to go over numbers and letters in the afternoon."

2. Cook
Cook Median Annual Salary: $28,200 Stay-at-home Moms: 14 hours per week Working Moms: 8.5 hours per week There's just something about mom's home cooking. As the second most time-consuming task on this year's list, it's clear moms are cooking up a storm on a daily basis. Some mothers get really into cooking, even going so far as planning meals in the beginning of the week.

Cook
That involves scoping out the local newspapers and websites for the best coupons, purchasing everything at the grocery store, and then cooking and freezing the meals for use later in the week. Bonus points for organic cooking and eating healthy. "Multiple kids usually means multiple meals," said Amanda, a mother of three from California. "My youngest will eat pasta but only with the sauce on the side. My oldest puts ketchup on everything but if mustard even comes near him it's all over. And my son (the middle child) has eaten nothing but chicken fingers since he was three. It's hard to keep up sometimes."

1. Housekeeper
Housekeeper Annual Median Salary: $21,000 Stay-at-home Moms: 14.4 hours per week Working moms: 8 hours per week For the third year in a row, the job of housekeeper is what takes up the most of mom's time. Kids are messy in every conceivable way and picking up after them takes the moms in our survey more than 14 hours every single week.

Housekeeper
That's a lot of making beds, picking up the house, vacuuming, dusting and -- everyone's least favorite thing -cleaning the bathroom. It's not sexy or glamorous but housekeeping is a basic tenet of motherhood, and it continues to be the largest task on mom's list in 2013. But it's something in which a lot of mothers take much pride. "My husband helps me clean when he's home, but he works full time while I'm at home with the kids so I look at it as my job to do the bulk of the house cleaning," said Kate, a mother of one in Massachusetts. "Does it get tiring and boring? Of course. My house isn't sparkling all the time but I do like to have it as clean as possible."

And the Total Is...

So what does all of this mean and how much are moms really worth? A lot! Stay-at-home moms work an average of 94 hours per week for a total estimated "mom salary" of $113,586 a year. Working moms -- in addition to their 40-hour work week -- spend an additional 58 hours on household and childcare jobs, and would earn a total of $67,435 if they collected a paycheck.

Stay-at-home moms spent slightly less time on their "mom jobs" this year, going from 94.7 hours a week to 94, while working moms inched up from 57.9 hours last week to 58. Both salaries increased slightly, with SAHMs up from $112,962 last year and working moms up from $66,978. Again, this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of everything moms do, but it's our way of thanking them and showing moms how much we appreciate them.