Well on my street alone there are 3 providers who work under the table for $20 a day .... and within 3km range the average is $30 .... however I charge $38 per day for children under 2 and $35 a day for children over 2 as a daily rate or $170 a week and $160 a week if they are full time and that fee includes paying me for 10 stats, 10 vacation and 10 personal/emergency days for which I am closed .... so yes a CONSIDERABLE amount more than the average for my direct neighborhood.

However I am still 'mid range' fees for my overall city which ranges between $20 - 40 a day depending on if you are living in a more 'affluent' neighborhoods are not ... those differences in income between all the housing being 'subsidized and rental' units or all the houses are between $125,000 - 200,000 or in those mid range of $225,000 - $400,000 or the really really fancy ones with houses all over $425,000 upward of $1,000,000.

I live in a neighborhood that borders all 'rental' housing and the low range starter homes cause we wanted to stay in a mortgage that if something happened to my spouses income I could cover the mortgage and vise versa. What works for ME is that my neighborhood is near the highway and most of my clientele are not FROM my city but 'bedroom communities' coming in to work in my city and driving 'past me' en route to work or back home ~ they want the level of program I am offering and are willing to pay for it because their home towns tend to be more 'under table over ratio providers' cause that is the mentality in the small more rural cities.

If you are offering MORE than your peer who is able to maintain a full viable business with less programming and less 'training' and so forth than IMO you should have no problem finding a handful of clients to pay you what you are asking .... do not worry about the $20 a day provider and WHY they are offering that option