“Breaking the Piggy Bank: Parents & the High Price of Child Care”

February 2006

The National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies has released “Breaking the Piggy Bank: Parents and the High Price of Child Care”, based on a nationwide survey of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (CCR&Rs) and State CCR&R Networks and a series of focus groups with parents across the country. With nearly 12 million children under 5 in some type of child care every week, millions of American families struggle with the cost of care.

• Child care prices are high compared to other household expensesHigh child care prices force parents to make sacrifices in the quality of careWorking families earning low incomes especially struggle to afford child care
• Child care, especially high quality care, is expensive
• Child care prices are high compared to other household expenses
• High child care prices force parents to make sacrifices in the quality of care

Working families earning low incomes especially struggle to afford child careNew York, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Washington) and for an infant (Minnesota, Massachusetts, California, New York, Virginia, Illinois, Rhode Island, Washington, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Colorado).

The study examines not only the cost of child care, but also the cost of care in comparison to the median income in each state. In some states, lower costs are linked to factors that also lower the quality of care. For instance, in some Southern states, there are lower caregiver to child ratios, which can make care less expensive. For example, in New York the ratio is 1:8, meaning one caregiver for every eight 4-year-old children, while in some Southern states the ratio is 1:16 or even 1:18 for the same age children.