How much does a first-time surrogate earn in Washington?
A first-time gestational surrogate in Washington matched through Private Label Surrogacy receives a typical total package of roughly $68,000 to $78,000. It is built on $60,000 base compensation (proposed, up from $55,000). Experienced surrogates, those who have completed at least one surrogacy, receive $65,000 to $70,000 base.
Compensated surrogacy has only been legal in Washington since January 1, 2019. If a friend looked into surrogacy before then, she was told something different from what you will hear now. Today a Washington surrogate is compensated under a written agreement, with her own attorney, on the same terms PLS offers in every state it recruits in.
Natalie Gaudio-Fricano, a PLS case manager, wrote this page. She was a three-time egg donor and a gestational surrogate who delivered a boy for an international couple in October 2016, after her first transfer succeeded, and she has worked in medicine since 2002. PLS figures below are pending final confirmation by Nancy Block, RN, and are marked until confirmed.
What is in the full compensation package?
The base is paid for the pregnancy itself. Around it sit monthly and milestone payments, reimbursements, insurance and support.
| Component | Amount | Trigger | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base, first-time surrogate | $60,000 (proposed) | Heartbeat confirmed | Installments through the pregnancy |
| Base, experienced surrogate | $65,000 to $70,000 | Heartbeat confirmed | Installments through the pregnancy |
| Monthly allowance | $300 | Agreement signed | Each month |
| Medication start | $500 | Injectable medications begin | At medication start |
| Transfer fee | $1,000 | Each embryo transfer | At transfer |
| Maternity clothing | $750 for one baby; $1,000 for multiples | Pregnancy confirmed | One time |
| Housekeeping | $90 per week | 32 weeks of pregnancy | Weekly |
| Breast milk pumping | $200 per week | You choose to pump after delivery | Weekly |
| Multiples | $5,000 for twins; $10,000 for triplets | Multiple pregnancy confirmed | Added to base installments |
| Lost wages, you and your partner | Actual documented wages | Time off for the journey | As incurred |
| Life insurance | Extended policy up to $750,000 | Before transfer | Premium paid by the intended parents |
Payment triggers and timing: confirm schedule with Nancy.
"Typical" in the package figure means a singleton pregnancy with the usual allowances and milestone payments; your own total depends on how long your journey runs, whether you pump, and your documented lost wages.
Here is how one variable moves the total. If the first transfer does not work and a second one does, you receive a second $1,000 transfer fee, and your $300 monthly allowance runs for the extra months the second cycle adds. Your base compensation is unchanged, because it is tied to the pregnancy, not to the number of attempts.
The intended parents also pay, through escrow, for things that would otherwise cost you money: travel to their clinic (flights, hotel, meals, mileage, child care, and lost wages for you and a companion), your own attorney, your monitoring, and a dedicated health policy if your plan excludes surrogacy. Support is part of it too: mental-health support from independent licensed professionals and at least six nutrition consults with Julie Bendix, MPH, RD, LD, CLC.
When is each payment made and who holds the money?
Your payments follow the medical calendar:
- Signing. The monthly allowance begins.
- Medications. The $500 medication-start payment is made when injections begin.
- Transfer. $1,000 is paid at each transfer.
- Heartbeat. Base compensation installments begin.
- Week 32. Housekeeping support starts.
- Postpartum. The final base installment is paid, along with pumping support if you pump.
If a transfer does not result in a pregnancy, you keep the transfer fee, the medication-start payment and the allowance already earned.
Every payment comes from an independent licensed escrow agent. The intended parents fund it with $10,000 at match and the balance before your medications start, so the money for your compensation exists before your first injection. PLS does not hold it and never has.
That is a deliberate choice, made years before the Surro Connections agency collapsed in late 2025 and the SEAM escrow failure involved more than $16 million. When agencies fail, surrogates can be stranded mid-journey: PLS took on three of them in 2025 and 2026, pro bono. See how escrow works.
What are the requirements to become a surrogate in Washington?
Washington's Uniform Parentage Act requires a surrogate to be at least 21, to have given birth before, and to complete medical and mental-health evaluations. PLS's criteria go further. You must be:
- 21 to 43 years old
- A US citizen or permanent resident
- At a BMI under 33
- Someone who has had at least one healthy full-term pregnancy and is raising a child now
- A non-smoker
- Not receiving government assistance
- Living in a stable home
- Not currently taking antidepressants
Screening takes several weeks once your records arrive. The seven steps are application, interview, a medical records review by Mark Silverberg, DDS, MD, a background check, an insurance review, a psychological evaluation by an independent licensed professional, and medical screening at the intended parents' clinic. Dr. Silverberg reads your prenatal and delivery records personally and writes a physician summary for the clinic.
Where do Washington surrogates do monitoring and transfer?
Washington surrogates matched through PLS monitor at a clinic in Seattle, Tacoma or Spokane. Monitoring is the bloodwork and ultrasounds before transfer and in early pregnancy, close to home and paid by the intended parents.
For the transfer, many Washington surrogates travel to Oregon Reproductive Medicine in Portland, one of PLS's 14 partner fertility centers. Others travel to wherever the intended parents' clinic is. Either way you go for medical screening first and then for the transfer, a companion can come, and escrow pays. The pregnancy test is 9 to 11 days after transfer.
After the fertility clinic releases you, your prenatal care continues with your own OB near home, and you deliver at a local hospital.
What does Washington law mean for you as a surrogate?
Since January 1, 2019, Washington's updated Uniform Parentage Act has made compensated gestational surrogacy legal. You must have independent legal counsel, and the agreement must be signed before medications begin. The intended parents obtain a pre-birth parentage order, so you are not named as a parent.
In practice: you have your own lawyer, paid by the intended parents, who reviews every term before you sign. Your compensation is set in that agreement and paid from escrow. And parentage is settled before you deliver. Confirm the current requirements with Washington counsel; this summary is pending review. Intended parents can read surrogacy in Washington.
How to apply with PLS
Take the eligibility check first. Then apply and interview with a case manager, send your records for Dr. Silverberg, and complete the background check, insurance review and psychological evaluation. Nancy Block runs matching herself. Matching averages about 6 months and depends on intended-parent demand for your state and profile.
Natalie or Jenni Symons, a fellow former surrogate, is your case manager from match through delivery. The national picture is on surrogate compensation.
Sources
- Washington Uniform Parentage Act (updated, in effect January 1, 2019), Washington State Legislature. Pending review by Washington counsel.
- Private Label Surrogacy surrogate compensation schedule, pending confirmation by Nancy Block, RN.