That’s according to recently released data that outline the heavy financial burden on the nearly 14 million American parents who rely on paid caregivers to care for their children. Families spent $15,600 per year on full-day care per child in 2022 (the most recent year for which data are available), although those with infants could face costs of up to $31,544 per year. To Recently updated. Database Compiled by the Department of Labor.
That’s higher than the same-year U.S. median rent of $15,216, while some families are spending nearly 30% of their annual earnings on child care, the agency noted. Overall, the cost of child care is An increase of more than 50 percent during the last decade.
“Infancy in this country is a cause of poverty. It has nothing to do with it, it’s a cause of poverty,” said Elliott Haspel, author of the nonfiction book “Crowling Behind, America’s Child Care Crisis and How to Fix It.” ” is the author of ” told Harvard Graduate School of Education in October.
Haspel noted that the demographic group most likely to face eviction “is black children under the age of five. And most of that is a child care story. It’s not a housing story.”
Families with infants typically pay more for childcare, as do those who live in more populous countries. or using center-based rather than home-based care, the Labor Department found.
“The fact that the average cost of center-based child care is higher than the average cost of renting should be of immediate concern,” said Wendy Chun-Hoon, director of the Women’s Bureau of Labor’s division, in a statement. . “Families are struggling and women are being disproportionately affected.”
Counties in which children’s costs demand the highest share of median family income include:
- Stearns County, Minnesota
- Bronx County, New York
- Peyote County, Utah
- Essex County, Vermont
- Grays Harbor and Wahkicum County in Washington
- Guanica County, Puerto Rico
Child care can cost more than housing or college.
The cost burden of paying for child care can exceed a typical family’s annual housing costs, and even cost more than in-state tuition at public universities, another study found.
In some US states, child care costs are rising. More than a quarter With a typical family spending $700 a month on the service, a median household’s total income, Bank of America found in a 2023 report.
In 2022, the cost of childcare for two children at a center was higher than a typical annual mortgage payment in 41 states and the District of Columbia, while childcare at a center cost more than a public university in 32 states and DC. I was more than in-state tuition. According to To Advocacy organization First Focus.
Taking up a large portion of many families’ incomes, childcare workers are typically underpaid. By May 2023, wages averaged $15.42 an hour, or just over $32,000 a year, according to To Federal data. Overall, the nation’s childcare workforce is the lowest paid 5% of all occupations, Haspel noted.
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the current. Shortage of childcare workers As thousands left the industry in favor of higher paying work. FirstFocus found that more than half of child care providers surveyed in 2024 said their programs were under-enrolled compared to their current capacity for reasons including staff shortages.
The Labor Department said $24 billion in federal pandemic aid to child care providers, along with another $14 billion to help states deal with the problem, kept costs from rising further.
“We know that interventions like the American Rescue Plan have helped, but more federal investment is needed to ensure that child care is accessible and affordable for all,” Choon said in the 2021 referring to the massive stimulus bill, which aims to improve the economy. health crisis.