Cost of child care for one child can be more than rent in some US counties

“Families are struggling and women are disproportionately impacted.”

Source: United States Department of Labor

WASHINGTON – The newly updated National Database of Childcare Prices shows the price of child care for U.S. families is more than a month’s rent for many, forcing parents with younger children to spend a significant portion of family income on these expenses, the U.S. Department of Labor announced today.

Sponsored by the department’s Women’s Bureau, the database includes county-level median prices for center- and home-based providers for children from ages 0 to 12. It covers prices from 2008 to 2022 in 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, making it the most comprehensive public federal source of childcare prices at the county level.

The latest finding follows the addition of prices from 2019 to 2022 and an analysis of childcare prices in 2,512 U.S. counties.

Inflation adjusted price of child care in El Paso County, Texas*

(New Mexico did not provide county-level data, so Las Cruces Digest is publishing El Paso County numbers as a reference.)

Age	Type	Price	% of Income (median)
Infant	Center-based Home-based	$7,035 $6,401	10.3% 9.4%
Preschool	Center-based Home-based	$6,516 $6,113	9.4% 9.0%
Toddler	Center-based Home-based	$6,689 $6,170	9.8% 9.0%
School-Age	Center-based Home-based	$6,228 $5,824	9.1% 8.5%

^{Source: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/women.s.bureau.department.of.labor/viz/CountyFactsheets/Childcareinthecounties}

“The fact that the median cost of center-based infant care is more than the median cost of rent should be of urgent concern,” said Women’s Bureau Director Wendy Chun-Hoon. “Families are struggling and women are disproportionately impacted. We know interventions like the American Rescue Plan have helped, but more federal investments are needed to ensure child care is accessible and affordable for all.”

Nationwide, the NDCP finds families spend between 8.9 percent and 16 percent of their median income for full-day care for one child with 2022 annual prices ranging from $6,552 to $15,600. The counties where center infant prices demand the highest share of median family income include Stearns County, Minnesota; Bronx County, New York; Piute County, Utah; Essex County, Vermont; Grays Harbor and Wahkiakum counties in Washington; and Guanica County, Puerto Rico.

Explore the NDCP website to learn more.

Article posted by:

Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.