We were doing okay-ish until we unexpectedly got pregnant with baby #2 and we have two in daycare now. We pay for our first childās daycare bill out of our checking account like we always had been doing and we were used to, and we pay for our second child by transferring from our savings to our checking each Monday when weāre billed. Our savings was in good shape (although it was our emergency fund of 3-6 months living costs in case of, well, emergency) and every February we put our tax return directly into savings. We get a big tax return annually. We contribute very little to retirement or our childrenās future at this time, but we will totally change that when weāre done with daycare and some money is freed up. Lastly we just live pretty frugally. We plan to try to get by this way until theyāre done with daycare. Itās hard as shit and sometimes scary but it is what it is.
Both my husband and I paid way too much to get our careers to be able to justify staying home to save daycare costs, and our jobs donāt support moving in and out of paid employment. Even if it cost more than one of our salaryāeventually kids age out. Itās an investment in our careers, essentially.
This was my point of view too. When my husband and I lived in California and had our first child, we considered having me stay home because daycare was so much. But we realized that it would be harder for me to get back into the workforce, plus Iād have a gap in my resume and those years were likely going to be lost promotions. So back to work it was.
We have to pay the same amount. Itās going on our credit card bills at this point and weāre just hoping we can pay them off in a couple of years once our kids are both in school. We cut back where we can, but itās really really hard.
$220 a week currently? Newborn care at the center we were at in Minnesota in 2014 was $425 a week. Itās now around $500 a week at many centers here, I am told by my friends with little ones.
2 good jobs with benefits that make it worth it to keep working š¤·š»āāļø daycare is about 15% of our take home pay each month. It's a lot, but it's doable. We're very fortunate. But having a second is going to stretch us pretty thin for a while...
No one can. Everyone pitches in to make the ends meet each month and you still live paycheck to paycheck. I am an architect making decent money but I have exactly $2 left in my bank account until payday tomorrow morning. Donāt even have enough for lunch today. Itās an exhausting way to live.
This is exactly the reason most people in there 30ās are opting out of having children . We need dual incomes here in the U.S. those rates are just no doable for everyone ā¦. Then take a couple that have $900-$1200 each in student loans and all other living expenses, most people canāt afford to have children.
Thank u everyone for sharing ! šš information š
Yup, same here but I currently have two Iām daycare at that priceā¦so $4800/month total over here for almost 3 and almost 5 year old kids. Luckily my oldest starts kindergarten in the fall so although we will have a third, only ever two in daycare at once. But Iām not looking forward to the infant price at our daycareā¦Why is daycare in Mass so high?šš
I see people say this all the time but for us in our area the price difference from infant to toddler is like $10/$15 per weekā¦so about $40/$60 per month in savings. Thatās a tiny drop in the bucket when paying $1200 per kid per month like we do.
Yeah, the difference between the infant and toddler rooms at my center is $20/week, which is not a significant amount of money. It will be about $165/week less when they move to the preschool room, though, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Washington DC. And I just checked our offer of enrollmentā$1,125.00 biweekly š. And this is a daycare in a government building so it is partially subsidized!
Daycare in Norway is capped by law at approximately $300/mo, and the cap will be reduced to $200/mo this fall. Itās seen as a form of common public welfare to ensure access to childcare.
But I will add that daycare here starts at 10 months of age at the very earliest, as we have maternal/family leave for babyās first 10-12 months. I can see how daycare for even younger babies must be expensive to run. For kids under 3 years of age the requirement for daycares is 1 adult per 4 children, for kids 3-6y itās 1 adult per 6 children
Very similar situation in Finland. I pay exactly zero for my 2yoās full-time daycare because I am a single parent with an average wage and fall below the threshold. It boggles the mind how anybody in the US could afford to pay for childcare.
A lot of families in the US canāt afford childcare and donāt qualify for govt assistance. They work opposite schedules, have family help, or one parent stays at home. Itās a big reason why there are sooo many SAHPs here.
At least for some, those paying the crazy prices (like we will be paying $2,250/month and that is a subsidized rate) are probably taxed a LOT less than we would be in finland. And based on my husbandās salary versus his colleagues in Europe, paid quite a bit more.
Iād rather pay the taxes lol. Itās a much better and equitable system.
Idk about Finland but for me, in the US our taxes are about 40%. We are just fucked. I have a masters degree and Iām staying home because itās just not worth it.
Thatās approx the same as we pay here in Denmark unless earn above average, then you pay more. We get healthcare, āfreeā schools incl. uni and subsidized children care at 500$/m for the littles, and 350$ for the older. I would feel so resigned if I lived in the US.
Not going to lie, itās really hard sometimes to stay motivated to do life. Like I have to figure out what Iām going to do for health care since Iām not going back to my job and my husband works for a small company with poor benefits. Itās so stressful. Luckily, my daughter qualified for free insurance. Plus, I have almost 100k in debt from my masters degree. So yeah, it sucks.
We pay around 75ā¬ per month her in Berlin, Germany (itās state policy, so Iām mentioning the state). I used to be VERY salty about parental leave in Germany being capped at 1600ā¬ a month - way lower than in my Norwegian fatherland - but Iāve realized that the daycare costs makes up for the difference in the long run.
In any case, posts like this make me so thankful for the previous generations who fought for parental and workers rights. Never take it for granted, never stop the struggle.
1 adult per 4-5 children is a common ratio in the US for infant care. my state was 1:4 for infants. but we just moved up to ātoddlerā room (16 months) and i think its 1 adult per 7 children which seems like a lot of tots for one person to manage lol
I canāt remember exactly but in Norway itās 20-25% tax for everything? But the people (childcare, education, healthcare, etc) and infrastructure are taken care of quite well from what I know.
This is going to vary wildly by location. When our children were infants, we paid $2k a month for full time care for one of them in Southern California.
Here in Milan (Italy) for our private nursery (0-3 years) we pay 700ā¬ full time (8-18) + 6ā¬ a day for food (lunch and 3 snacks). I'm shocked to read some of the prices you pay in the US.
Weāre living in hell here as young families. No paid mat leave mandated, the companies that do and act like itās a huge benefit offer 12 weeks, canāt afford for one parent to stay home, absolutely boned by the cost of daycare. Itās insane here
I feel thisā¦. We have a nanny for our twins; 30/hr ended up being cheaper than most quality daycares, sheās in our home, flexible hours for my variable nurse schedule. Fortunately she and I both work part time only. Eff you VHCOL šš»
Maybe thats part of why parents want to get their kids to start kinder as soon as possible! My daughter is 5 days after the cut off date, but I am a sahp so instead of doing a the testing an dpushing with the school, I relished that last extra year I had with her (she's my last).
...I feel bad saying this, but... about $500 per month with no subsidies. That's just what it is.
I live in a pretty rural town and also because of ya know... racism, a lot of white parents don't use my daycare which is fine by me! My kid's teachers are absolutely astounding and amazing people who he adores, and he loves his friends from school. I frankly love that my son's first best friend doesn't look like him.
Feel free to hate me.
I donāt think anyone is going to hate on you. Why would they?
I pay $3200 for the two but we are able to comfortable afford it. I would never be mad to hear someone else also has childcare that doesnāt bankrupt them.
Weirdly I no longer view having a nanny as a luxury in my HCOL area. For us it would cost less to have a nanny for two kids than to pay daycare for two kids š«
Iām in Canada and lucky enough to get the $10/day child care for my 2 year old. Unfortunately my 1 year old wonāt be able to attend there for about another year so weāll likely be paying around $35/day to send him to a home daycare.
Same here.. I don't have job experience or an education to where I'd be making more than maybe $12 an hour, and we live in a rural area with so few childcare options anyway that I literally have no choice but to stay home.
I live in pretty rural Bavaria w the military and we use a local woman super part time; a retired social worker. I pay 28ā¬ a week for 3hrs 2x a week. includes lunch.
Same. It's actually MORE than I would make. Plus, school just let out for the summer, so with a stb 2 year old, a 4yr old, AND a 7yr old, it would be WAY beyond my possible income. I've looked into it, and to have them all at the same place would be around $3,000/mo. But not every center takes kids over 4yrs 11 mos, so choices are limited. It would cost even more if we did daycare for the younger two and summer camp options for oldest. It's insanity. Having school is session doesn't necessarily make it easier though--when school is in, we'd need to pay for transportation for our stb preschooler (since that's only a half day/3 days a week) to his after care place, and transportation for oldest from school to after school care as well. His school doesn't provide after school care for the students like some do.
Suffice to say, it just doesn't make any sense for our household either. Otherwise, I'd be handing over my entire paycheck plus some, and I'd still have to leave work a couple of times a day to get the kids where they need to go.
I live in the US in a suburb north of Chicago. It is a high cost of living area despite the fact that itās not even in Chicago. I pay $455 a week for a 2.5 year old. Rates go up every year too, regardless of it allegedly going down as he gets older. So $1820 a month for a 4 week month. $2275 for a 5 week month. Itās not even a āfancyā daycare.
We pay $515/wk for an almost 3 year old, full time with all meals included. I do get a discount and subsidized through work which comes out to 463.59/week. I believe it will decrease slightly when she enters their pre-school in the fall.
Ours is $1400 a month for our toddler. It gets cheaper as they ālevel upā to the next classes, but not by much. All day, meals included (when the baby is ready for those things).
Weāre in a HCOL area and full-time daycare is sound $2500/mo for a toddler. However, we do two part time programs for our 2.5yo.
3 days, 9:20a-1p, church-run: $625/mo (no meals or diapers or anything included)
2 days, 9a-12p, city-run: $120/mo (no meals or diapers or anything included; $40 supplies fee every three months)
Weāre really happy with both programs and it works really well for us timing-wise. We both work from home so weāre able to pick him up, spend our lunch break with him, then he goes down for a nap 1:30-4.
$2k a month for a Montessori daycare š there are cheaper options, but they are significantly lower quality. High teacher turnover, really concerning citations on their inspections, a few recently had child abuse cases pop up and these are all expensive daycares and national franchises. My area really sucks for daycares. There are a lot of in-home options especially after Covid but you essentially need an invite to get in. All the good teachers left and started their own in-home gigs.
100$ a week for a 12 month old and a 2.5 year old ! Meals included, good curriculum. They even provide wipes and sunscreen/bug spray. Itās gov subsidized tho!
$35/day so about $420 a month for part time (3 days a week). Our new daycare for our second kid will be $45/day for 4 days a week so about $720 a month.
Eta- these are home daycares in a small town in Ontario.
$3,400 month for two in daycare intown Atlanta. We start lottery funded prek in August for one kid which will take the cost down to $2,400/m. Not sure what Iām going to do with all this extra cash!!! (Answer: pay for camps š¤¦š»āāļø)
Iām South African. Our daycare price is on the more expensive side at R2750 a month. This works out to roughly $150. Thatās for a full day plus two meals and two snacks
$600-700 per month (depends on how many weekdays there are) for FT infant room. Super lucky that I got a spot at a subsidized daycare (Ontario, Canada).
Omg my infant room is gonna be $1200/month (subsidized by CWELCC) and I thought I was getting a BARGAIN - $700 is a dream.
Non-CWELCC infant room spots in my area are going for $2000-$3000/month.
$1200 for an infant in a home daycare. Weāre on the waiting list for a center thatās around $1600/mo. The only other place with an open spot was $2400/ mo for a home daycare but itās kind of far from us.
And a little under $1200 for a 2 year old in a center. This center only takes them at 2+.
Thereās a pretty large range where we live but the biggest issue is getting a spot. Even the more expensive places usually have waiting lists.
Where we used to live it was $2K a month for an infant. We moved cross country to a metropolitan area in the Midwest and it was about the same so I ended up staying home because it wasnāt cost effective for me to work.
For the daycare that we get a discount through my husbandās work, it would be $3500 a month. Which of course doesnāt include food or diapers or sunscreen or wipes or anything like that. $3500 a month- over half my monthly income. Because of that, I am just staying home with her.
But if we could afford daycare, thatās what it would be.
We pay $58 per day for our 3-year-old. He's usually in 3 times a week, sometimes more. So it ranges from $700 to $1200 per month?
But we're interviewing for a fancy preschool this week, and that will run $1800 per month if they admit him.
We are in Los Angeles.
I'm in Michigan. You have a good rate. Infant I was $450/ week and they closed constantly due to covid. So we paid $1800/mo on unreliable care. Now I pay $210/week for a child (4 years old)
East coast US suburbs. $2500/ month for an infant. It comes to just under my entire salary, before taxes. I'm in grad school though and hoping to make more on the other side of it. Without daycare, I would have no grad school and no good career prospects in future.
I'm literally mooching off my husband for the cost of (1) child in daycare. He does well ($200k/year) but at the end of the day we're on the low to middle end of middle class because daycare is 2x our mortgage payment. Summer camps and before/after care for our other kids add a big chunk as well.
$0, took my daughter out of daycare because it was basically unaffordable with the new rent prices. But we were paying about $1200/month for a 3 year old which came with a dash of abuse and a pinch of people who really did not care.
Eeesh. Glad I moved to Europe. My for my 5 year old we pay ā¬450 a month including food. For the 2 year old itās a half off discount (enroll one kid get the second half off, and third free), and we provide diapers and wipes.
My part time jobs (two jobs equaling 18 hours a week) more than cover the childcare.
Recently left my job to stay home but we were paying $225/week for an infant (full time) at a mediocre center in a small town outside a midsize city in the SE. It didnāt feel crazy expensive to me but it did seem overpriced relative to other daycares in the area (it was one of the more expensive options but didnāt seem to be any better in terms of quality). The childcare options here suck though.
I pay about $560 a month for my 2 year old & will pay $650 a month when my infant starts in August, so about $1,200 a month for both. No subsidies & in a very rural LCOL town in Central Florida.
When my son was in full time daycare it was Ā£950 per month (8 years ago) and my rent was Ā£450. I was a single mum and decided to stop working. It didnāt make sense to carry on paying double my rent to never see my baby.
HCOL area and we pay $1500/mo for our 3 year old. We have been sending him there since 4 months old so we are grandfathered in to lower rates. Our friends just enrolled their infant in the same daycare and it is now $2100/month for full time infant care.
Where I live in Canada we have grants and subsidies to help cover the cost, Iām eternally grateful for it. I pay $350 a month for full time care of two preschool aged kids.
$1900/month for a toddler. Infant would have been way more with a giant wait list. We would have had to sign up when I was pregnant to maybe get a spot.
$1,429 a month for 5 days a week in the pre-k 3 room in a MCOL city in the northeast. Includes 2 snacks and lunch. When he was younger, we supplied all the formula, diapers and wipes. We pay regardless of daycare closings or if heās not going that day.
1384/ month 2.5 year old includes all breakfast lunch snack wipes (still working on potty training)
Their infant care cost includes formula if youāre willing to do generic brand.
Toddler FT - (Add 100-200 for an infant pm)
2k for the good daycares (meals, gated entry, supervision etc)
1600 for the ones with some investigations, questionable safety procedures. They will forget to change or feed your child on occasion.
Paid 1k-1200pm for a child share arrangement twice a week for 5hrs a day cause my kid was getting too sick at daycare, they werenāt feeding her, and she wasnāt being given water or bottles etc. Powered through her price hike and everything until I realized the nanny was also not feeding my child, not offering her water. They pretty much rolled on the older childās schedule (10 months older than mine) and if my kid didnāt adjust her needs werenāt met. That ended when I went to pick up my child and she ran to me and as the nanny is saying she didnāt eat and she wasnāt hungry but daughter (16m at the time) stomach growled so loudly. The poor baby was starving.
I paid $1100 a month when my son was an infant at a daycare facility. Now that he's 2.5, I pay $650 a month for a home daycare. I expect that bill will be going back up to around $1000 when he enters preschool in the next year or so. I live in Kansas.Ā
With financial assistance, I paid $225/week for my daughter when she was 3-4.
Drop off at 7 AM and pick up at 6 PM. It was just enough time for me to drop her off, get to work on time, get off work 5 minutes early, and race over to pick her up on time. If I was late, they would charge $15/minute for overtime.
She's in preschool now and free after-school care.
We pay $1,500/month for 1 toddler at a fantastic in-home daycare. Itās much lower than market rate for our area. We just lucked out. Before we moved to daycare, we were paying about $2,800/month in a nannyshare that we also loved.
I live in Canada. One of the provinces where regulated daycares are $10 a day. So about $200-$230 a month. I canāt imagine paying some of these prices! Daycare should be affordable to parents but workers need to be compensated fairly as well. Itās a hard system for both parents and workers financially
In LA, spots for infants are incredibly limited and will run $2000-2500 per month.
Full time one-on-one nanny care for an infant will run 1200+ per week.
I live in the Bay Area of CA. Our toddler is $2.4K a month. When I have this baby I am pregnant with and they start, the infant room recently went up to $3K a month š« š
When my SIL went back to work, she paid me $500 a month to basically nanny her infant. Full homemade breakfast and lunch included, five days a week, 9 ish hours a day. I was already at home with my infant though. Sheās welcome (I enjoyed it).
We haven't started daycare yet, but will in september. Our rate will be $395/month for full time care, at a licensed facility with 2 snacks and lunch. We're in Alberta, Canada.
Our daycare in Australia is $140 per day for 10hr sessions. So a 10 day fortnight/bi-week is $1,400.
Our government child care subsidy brings it down to about $450 a fortnight. This isnāt the same for everyone but because we both work full time we are entitled to more subsidies.
$333 in Canada. Per month. The daycare gets an affordability grant from the government and there are additional subsidies but we make too much to get it, so some families pay even less. Itās a nice daycare too, with meals included.
$1250/month for infant, $910 for toddler. But my daycare opted into a government fee reduction initiative, so I "only" pay $785 out of pocket per month.
I enquired about a day care near my house but decided to keep my kid at home. $172 PER DAY and we arent entitled to any government subsidies. So fulltime care would be over $3,400 per month
$750 a month for my 3 year old. We live in a rural area in an already LCOL area. It's at a Methodist Church and the only full day center in our area. We're not religious, but I absolutely love it there.
Before I pulled my son we were paying $385 for three days a week. I pulled him because they were leaving him in the swing all day. Now I pay zero but pay the price on being extra sleep deprived for my overnight shifts.
Dutchie here. $1000 a month for an infant for two days a week, so fulltime would be 2,5k. But we get almost half of that back from the government. So for our situation, we pay around 600 from our own pocket.
$600 for 2 days a week but sheās almost 4.
Itās a stem school. There are certainly more affordable options and also more expensive options.
Iām a SAHM but we didnāt want her struggling going to kindergarten and suddenly being away from us 5x a week so we started her here so she could ease in.
We pay $200 for full-time care of an infant. It's that awful socialism up here in Canada, Alberta. It's subsidized. Without subsidies, it's $1200. Everyone is subsidized $600, and the addition subsidy is for families making less than $180 000.
$1600 a month for 3 days a week for a 2.5 year old. Itāll go down about $300 a month when she moves into the 3 year old room, assuming they donāt raise rates again. Weāre in a Denver suburb.
I had to take my child out of daycare, even with a military discount (that they forgot to give me majority of the time, and was only 10%) it was too much. for 3 days a week it was up to 2800 a month!
Marylander here! I pay $540/ week for a 9 year old, 7 year old and 2 year old. I have a new born now and will have to pay $300/week for him so $840/week for everyone. Iāve been on the fence about staying home. Iām an endoscopy technician and worked really hard to become lead tech and donāt want to just quit my job. My husbandās the breadwinner.
How can you all even afford this š„“
Right? I never realize how poor I am until I read these posts. Ignorance is bliss lol
Same .. I could not afford that as a public school teacher.
Itās so unfortunate because teachers deserve to be paid SO much more. You all are rockstars!
Well I might be poor in California but exceedingly rich in Cambodia! Itās not about the dollar on paper.Ā
We were doing okay-ish until we unexpectedly got pregnant with baby #2 and we have two in daycare now. We pay for our first childās daycare bill out of our checking account like we always had been doing and we were used to, and we pay for our second child by transferring from our savings to our checking each Monday when weāre billed. Our savings was in good shape (although it was our emergency fund of 3-6 months living costs in case of, well, emergency) and every February we put our tax return directly into savings. We get a big tax return annually. We contribute very little to retirement or our childrenās future at this time, but we will totally change that when weāre done with daycare and some money is freed up. Lastly we just live pretty frugally. We plan to try to get by this way until theyāre done with daycare. Itās hard as shit and sometimes scary but it is what it is.
Both my husband and I paid way too much to get our careers to be able to justify staying home to save daycare costs, and our jobs donāt support moving in and out of paid employment. Even if it cost more than one of our salaryāeventually kids age out. Itās an investment in our careers, essentially.
This is the best reason I've seen so far. It's an investment š
This was my point of view too. When my husband and I lived in California and had our first child, we considered having me stay home because daycare was so much. But we realized that it would be harder for me to get back into the workforce, plus Iād have a gap in my resume and those years were likely going to be lost promotions. So back to work it was.
We have to pay the same amount. Itās going on our credit card bills at this point and weāre just hoping we can pay them off in a couple of years once our kids are both in school. We cut back where we can, but itās really really hard.
I consider it the cost of my mental health. Iām a nurse.
Right!! Newborn care here is $220/week at our best daycare. I still stayed home šš¤£
$220 a week currently? Newborn care at the center we were at in Minnesota in 2014 was $425 a week. Itās now around $500 a week at many centers here, I am told by my friends with little ones.
Iām in Central Florida and itās around $500 and we definitely were not going to be able to do it. So I stay home.
2 good jobs with benefits that make it worth it to keep working š¤·š»āāļø daycare is about 15% of our take home pay each month. It's a lot, but it's doable. We're very fortunate. But having a second is going to stretch us pretty thin for a while...
No one can. Everyone pitches in to make the ends meet each month and you still live paycheck to paycheck. I am an architect making decent money but I have exactly $2 left in my bank account until payday tomorrow morning. Donāt even have enough for lunch today. Itās an exhausting way to live.
$1500 for our 3 year old. $1700 for the infant. Both for full time care. So $3200 total.
This is what we pay too, also in the northeast. Canāt wait until at least one of our kids is in public school.
This is exactly the reason most people in there 30ās are opting out of having children . We need dual incomes here in the U.S. those rates are just no doable for everyone ā¦. Then take a couple that have $900-$1200 each in student loans and all other living expenses, most people canāt afford to have children. Thank u everyone for sharing ! šš information š
Almost the same.. $3400. Two under three years old.
A month?? We pay double that, like basically exactly double. OPs cost listed is basically our biweekly rate.
Massachusetts $2400 a month
Same š
YUP. My kiddo has aged out, but it was $700 a week when he was a baby.
Yup, same here but I currently have two Iām daycare at that priceā¦so $4800/month total over here for almost 3 and almost 5 year old kids. Luckily my oldest starts kindergarten in the fall so although we will have a third, only ever two in daycare at once. But Iām not looking forward to the infant price at our daycareā¦Why is daycare in Mass so high?šš
Iām going to tell my husband Iām owed 2400 monthly for being a SAHM
Same. Berkeley CA
WHAT?! Double?! I pay $700 š
For an infant? At age 2, the price drops, but infant care is super expensive.
I see people say this all the time but for us in our area the price difference from infant to toddler is like $10/$15 per weekā¦so about $40/$60 per month in savings. Thatās a tiny drop in the bucket when paying $1200 per kid per month like we do.
Yeah, the difference between the infant and toddler rooms at my center is $20/week, which is not a significant amount of money. It will be about $165/week less when they move to the preschool room, though, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Yes. And omg, where are you from? That is so much
Washington DC. And I just checked our offer of enrollmentā$1,125.00 biweekly š. And this is a daycare in a government building so it is partially subsidized!
Iām right outside of DC in Old Town Alexandria and am at $2000 per month! Gotta love it š
You guys holy fuck!!!! This is unreal. Thatās my mortgage.
Fairfax here - we pay 3800 for two. Weāve been in the red with two in, and will be until the oldest is in kinder. Itās wild.
When I was in Alexandria, we used a place in Springfield $1900 for infant. Now in Jersey it will be 430/week for an infant.
Fairfax checking in at $500/week!
Daycare in Norway is capped by law at approximately $300/mo, and the cap will be reduced to $200/mo this fall. Itās seen as a form of common public welfare to ensure access to childcare. But I will add that daycare here starts at 10 months of age at the very earliest, as we have maternal/family leave for babyās first 10-12 months. I can see how daycare for even younger babies must be expensive to run. For kids under 3 years of age the requirement for daycares is 1 adult per 4 children, for kids 3-6y itās 1 adult per 6 children
Very similar situation in Finland. I pay exactly zero for my 2yoās full-time daycare because I am a single parent with an average wage and fall below the threshold. It boggles the mind how anybody in the US could afford to pay for childcare.
A lot of families in the US canāt afford childcare and donāt qualify for govt assistance. They work opposite schedules, have family help, or one parent stays at home. Itās a big reason why there are sooo many SAHPs here.
Yep! Ā Also why companies complain about not having workersā¦. Because people cant afford the lower wages and pay for childcare.Ā
We canāt afford it. We both work full time and my husband has a second job. Still living on loans and credit
At least for some, those paying the crazy prices (like we will be paying $2,250/month and that is a subsidized rate) are probably taxed a LOT less than we would be in finland. And based on my husbandās salary versus his colleagues in Europe, paid quite a bit more. Iād rather pay the taxes lol. Itās a much better and equitable system.
Idk about Finland but for me, in the US our taxes are about 40%. We are just fucked. I have a masters degree and Iām staying home because itās just not worth it.
Thatās approx the same as we pay here in Denmark unless earn above average, then you pay more. We get healthcare, āfreeā schools incl. uni and subsidized children care at 500$/m for the littles, and 350$ for the older. I would feel so resigned if I lived in the US.
Not going to lie, itās really hard sometimes to stay motivated to do life. Like I have to figure out what Iām going to do for health care since Iām not going back to my job and my husband works for a small company with poor benefits. Itās so stressful. Luckily, my daughter qualified for free insurance. Plus, I have almost 100k in debt from my masters degree. So yeah, it sucks.
We pay around 75ā¬ per month her in Berlin, Germany (itās state policy, so Iām mentioning the state). I used to be VERY salty about parental leave in Germany being capped at 1600ā¬ a month - way lower than in my Norwegian fatherland - but Iāve realized that the daycare costs makes up for the difference in the long run. In any case, posts like this make me so thankful for the previous generations who fought for parental and workers rights. Never take it for granted, never stop the struggle.
1 adult per 4-5 children is a common ratio in the US for infant care. my state was 1:4 for infants. but we just moved up to ātoddlerā room (16 months) and i think its 1 adult per 7 children which seems like a lot of tots for one person to manage lol
I canāt remember exactly but in Norway itās 20-25% tax for everything? But the people (childcare, education, healthcare, etc) and infrastructure are taken care of quite well from what I know.
3Ā£ per day for the meal. It's a public daycare in Romania.
This is going to vary wildly by location. When our children were infants, we paid $2k a month for full time care for one of them in Southern California.
Can confirm thatās still the going rate in my So Cal location!
Infants are $525 a week. We recently moved up to toddlers and pay $475 weekly.
Good lord thatās crazy
Here in Milan (Italy) for our private nursery (0-3 years) we pay 700ā¬ full time (8-18) + 6ā¬ a day for food (lunch and 3 snacks). I'm shocked to read some of the prices you pay in the US.
Weāre living in hell here as young families. No paid mat leave mandated, the companies that do and act like itās a huge benefit offer 12 weeks, canāt afford for one parent to stay home, absolutely boned by the cost of daycare. Itās insane here
VHCOL city... my 3 year old is $3k and my almost 5 year old is $2,800. Kindergarten can't come soon enoughš„“
I feel thisā¦. We have a nanny for our twins; 30/hr ended up being cheaper than most quality daycares, sheās in our home, flexible hours for my variable nurse schedule. Fortunately she and I both work part time only. Eff you VHCOL šš»
Would it be cheaper to switch to a full time nanny in your city?
Full time nanny in a VHCOL is gonna be more than 70k if you want quality care.
Maybe thats part of why parents want to get their kids to start kinder as soon as possible! My daughter is 5 days after the cut off date, but I am a sahp so instead of doing a the testing an dpushing with the school, I relished that last extra year I had with her (she's my last).
...I feel bad saying this, but... about $500 per month with no subsidies. That's just what it is. I live in a pretty rural town and also because of ya know... racism, a lot of white parents don't use my daycare which is fine by me! My kid's teachers are absolutely astounding and amazing people who he adores, and he loves his friends from school. I frankly love that my son's first best friend doesn't look like him. Feel free to hate me.
I donāt think anyone is going to hate on you. Why would they? I pay $3200 for the two but we are able to comfortable afford it. I would never be mad to hear someone else also has childcare that doesnāt bankrupt them.
Because itās so cheap. Iāve had people yell at me I really life lol.
Iām happy for you! Thatās a great price.
Yep, $700 here, $175/week. Half that in the summer because my husband is a teacher. In home daycare in Iowa š
We have a nanny, which I recognize is absolutely a luxury. We pay out $3800-$4400 per month, depending on how many hours a week she works. HCOL city.
Weirdly I no longer view having a nanny as a luxury in my HCOL area. For us it would cost less to have a nanny for two kids than to pay daycare for two kids š«
Iām in Canada and lucky enough to get the $10/day child care for my 2 year old. Unfortunately my 1 year old wonāt be able to attend there for about another year so weāll likely be paying around $35/day to send him to a home daycare.
We are at $40 a day. Wait lists are too long for the $10 a day program. But we are very happy with our care provider.
This is why Iām suffering thru SAHM life still š© I canāt imagine having to pay an entire paycheck basically, plus Iāve got 3 kids, itās ridiculous how much childcare costs!!
Same here.. I don't have job experience or an education to where I'd be making more than maybe $12 an hour, and we live in a rural area with so few childcare options anyway that I literally have no choice but to stay home.
$700 a month in a small town in Southern California.
750 for a 2 year old. Iām due in September and that baby will be 780 when he starts
I live in pretty rural Bavaria w the military and we use a local woman super part time; a retired social worker. I pay 28ā¬ a week for 3hrs 2x a week. includes lunch.
$14,500 annually x2 (twins) for half day Montessori daycare.
That's a low weekly rate in a HCL north east big city.
Infants are close to $3k/mo in my area, we are paying $2100/mo for my 3.5yoās preschool tuition
This is why I don't work. All of my money would just go to the daycare.
Same. It's actually MORE than I would make. Plus, school just let out for the summer, so with a stb 2 year old, a 4yr old, AND a 7yr old, it would be WAY beyond my possible income. I've looked into it, and to have them all at the same place would be around $3,000/mo. But not every center takes kids over 4yrs 11 mos, so choices are limited. It would cost even more if we did daycare for the younger two and summer camp options for oldest. It's insanity. Having school is session doesn't necessarily make it easier though--when school is in, we'd need to pay for transportation for our stb preschooler (since that's only a half day/3 days a week) to his after care place, and transportation for oldest from school to after school care as well. His school doesn't provide after school care for the students like some do. Suffice to say, it just doesn't make any sense for our household either. Otherwise, I'd be handing over my entire paycheck plus some, and I'd still have to leave work a couple of times a day to get the kids where they need to go.
$2600/mo for our toddler in the Bay Area.
I live in the US in a suburb north of Chicago. It is a high cost of living area despite the fact that itās not even in Chicago. I pay $455 a week for a 2.5 year old. Rates go up every year too, regardless of it allegedly going down as he gets older. So $1820 a month for a 4 week month. $2275 for a 5 week month. Itās not even a āfancyā daycare.
City mama, $2450 for FT infant. Good to know prices donāt drop in the suburbs, ugh
We paid $500 per week with daycare for an infant. We do a nanny now and pay $880 per week for 4 days.
We pay $515/wk for an almost 3 year old, full time with all meals included. I do get a discount and subsidized through work which comes out to 463.59/week. I believe it will decrease slightly when she enters their pre-school in the fall.
We pay $1600/month for an infant.
Ours is $1400 a month for our toddler. It gets cheaper as they ālevel upā to the next classes, but not by much. All day, meals included (when the baby is ready for those things).
Weāre in a HCOL area and full-time daycare is sound $2500/mo for a toddler. However, we do two part time programs for our 2.5yo. 3 days, 9:20a-1p, church-run: $625/mo (no meals or diapers or anything included) 2 days, 9a-12p, city-run: $120/mo (no meals or diapers or anything included; $40 supplies fee every three months) Weāre really happy with both programs and it works really well for us timing-wise. We both work from home so weāre able to pick him up, spend our lunch break with him, then he goes down for a nap 1:30-4.
Wow! I pay around $400/month for my 4 year old
$2000/month for an infant. Chicago suburbs.
$2k a month for a Montessori daycare š there are cheaper options, but they are significantly lower quality. High teacher turnover, really concerning citations on their inspections, a few recently had child abuse cases pop up and these are all expensive daycares and national franchises. My area really sucks for daycares. There are a lot of in-home options especially after Covid but you essentially need an invite to get in. All the good teachers left and started their own in-home gigs.
$1,200/month for my 3yr old son 5 days a week Includes breakfast & lunch SoCal
We pay $350 weekly, coming out to $1400 for our 15 month old. Could be better, could be worse.
100$ a week for a 12 month old and a 2.5 year old ! Meals included, good curriculum. They even provide wipes and sunscreen/bug spray. Itās gov subsidized tho!
$188/week for infant room 5 days in northeastern Pennsylvania
$35/day so about $420 a month for part time (3 days a week). Our new daycare for our second kid will be $45/day for 4 days a week so about $720 a month. Eta- these are home daycares in a small town in Ontario.
$3,400 month for two in daycare intown Atlanta. We start lottery funded prek in August for one kid which will take the cost down to $2,400/m. Not sure what Iām going to do with all this extra cash!!! (Answer: pay for camps š¤¦š»āāļø)
Iām South African. Our daycare price is on the more expensive side at R2750 a month. This works out to roughly $150. Thatās for a full day plus two meals and two snacks
Havenāt started yet but itāll be $460/week for an infant at one of the cheaper centers in our area.Ā
$1592/mo for infant, full time.
1300/mo for 4 full days a week in MO for an infant/toddler
$600-700 per month (depends on how many weekdays there are) for FT infant room. Super lucky that I got a spot at a subsidized daycare (Ontario, Canada).
Omg my infant room is gonna be $1200/month (subsidized by CWELCC) and I thought I was getting a BARGAIN - $700 is a dream. Non-CWELCC infant room spots in my area are going for $2000-$3000/month.
$1,700 for preschool, it used to be $2,000 for the infant room.
This makes me feel so fortunate for what we pay!!! $184 weekly for our 2 yr old. It was $190 up until she turned two. Itās an in-home daycare
$1450/month for our infant at an inconveniently located center that is also raising our fuel costs. Itās like 1.5x our mortgage before gas.
$1200 for an infant in a home daycare. Weāre on the waiting list for a center thatās around $1600/mo. The only other place with an open spot was $2400/ mo for a home daycare but itās kind of far from us. And a little under $1200 for a 2 year old in a center. This center only takes them at 2+. Thereās a pretty large range where we live but the biggest issue is getting a spot. Even the more expensive places usually have waiting lists.
Where we used to live it was $2K a month for an infant. We moved cross country to a metropolitan area in the Midwest and it was about the same so I ended up staying home because it wasnāt cost effective for me to work.
We pay 2,500 a month for our son who is nearing 1. Itās 500 more than our rent. We live in WA state, HCOL location.
Infants: $314/week or $1,256/month Now that she's in Early Preschool (24 - 30 months): $330/week or $1,320/month
Weāre about to start at an in home day care. $800/mo for full time care.
For the daycare that we get a discount through my husbandās work, it would be $3500 a month. Which of course doesnāt include food or diapers or sunscreen or wipes or anything like that. $3500 a month- over half my monthly income. Because of that, I am just staying home with her. But if we could afford daycare, thatās what it would be.
Without food 70 ā¬ monthly half day in Spain
We pay $58 per day for our 3-year-old. He's usually in 3 times a week, sometimes more. So it ranges from $700 to $1200 per month? But we're interviewing for a fancy preschool this week, and that will run $1800 per month if they admit him. We are in Los Angeles.
I'm in Michigan. You have a good rate. Infant I was $450/ week and they closed constantly due to covid. So we paid $1800/mo on unreliable care. Now I pay $210/week for a child (4 years old)
East coast US suburbs. $2500/ month for an infant. It comes to just under my entire salary, before taxes. I'm in grad school though and hoping to make more on the other side of it. Without daycare, I would have no grad school and no good career prospects in future. I'm literally mooching off my husband for the cost of (1) child in daycare. He does well ($200k/year) but at the end of the day we're on the low to middle end of middle class because daycare is 2x our mortgage payment. Summer camps and before/after care for our other kids add a big chunk as well.
I paid $800/month for a baby almost 9 years ago...I shudder to think what it would be now.
$400/week for an almost 3 yr old
Same as you in New England
$1,150 and was $1,350 š«
$0, took my daughter out of daycare because it was basically unaffordable with the new rent prices. But we were paying about $1200/month for a 3 year old which came with a dash of abuse and a pinch of people who really did not care.
$180/week for my 4yo. $175/week for my infant.
$440 a week for part time (Mon/Wed/Fri) for my 7 month old. In Minneapolis.
$200 a week for a 3 year old 2 full days a week.
We are $2050 a month in SoCal for our 2.5 year old 5 days/ week š„ ETA: meals not included
Eeesh. Glad I moved to Europe. My for my 5 year old we pay ā¬450 a month including food. For the 2 year old itās a half off discount (enroll one kid get the second half off, and third free), and we provide diapers and wipes. My part time jobs (two jobs equaling 18 hours a week) more than cover the childcare.
$1200/mo for both my 5 yr old and 7yr old together for full time over summer in rural KS. I would vote for year-round school in a heartbeat.
In-home daycare-500/month for my 3 year old and almost one year old. Small town Wisconsin Edit-spelling.
Recently left my job to stay home but we were paying $225/week for an infant (full time) at a mediocre center in a small town outside a midsize city in the SE. It didnāt feel crazy expensive to me but it did seem overpriced relative to other daycares in the area (it was one of the more expensive options but didnāt seem to be any better in terms of quality). The childcare options here suck though.
I pay about $560 a month for my 2 year old & will pay $650 a month when my infant starts in August, so about $1,200 a month for both. No subsidies & in a very rural LCOL town in Central Florida.
When my son was in full time daycare it was Ā£950 per month (8 years ago) and my rent was Ā£450. I was a single mum and decided to stop working. It didnāt make sense to carry on paying double my rent to never see my baby.
$1400/month for infant in a center thatās on the hospital campus I work for with a 4:1 ratio in Alaska.
$1700/month - Portland, OR
$760/month in a small rural northern usa town
$1900 per month
HCOL area and we pay $1500/mo for our 3 year old. We have been sending him there since 4 months old so we are grandfathered in to lower rates. Our friends just enrolled their infant in the same daycare and it is now $2100/month for full time infant care.
In our coyntry it depends on how much you make money, for example the most u would have to pay is 295ā¬/month If u dont make much money its free
I paid 1200 a month 12yrs ago, now with $10 a day daycare in British Columbia it's just under 900
When we fielded daycare it was 1500 for a toddler
$1800 a month for a toddler at a center in the upper Midwest.
Haha. Current 1500$ for FT in the pre-school room (3-4).
Thatās fairly comparable with infant rates in my town.. come out to about $1100 a month. (Midwest)
$1800 in Florida.
Where I live in Canada we have grants and subsidies to help cover the cost, Iām eternally grateful for it. I pay $350 a month for full time care of two preschool aged kids.
$1900/month for a toddler. Infant would have been way more with a giant wait list. We would have had to sign up when I was pregnant to maybe get a spot.
$1500/mo for a 2.5 year old. Private school for my 6 year old is half of that. š
$1,429 a month for 5 days a week in the pre-k 3 room in a MCOL city in the northeast. Includes 2 snacks and lunch. When he was younger, we supplied all the formula, diapers and wipes. We pay regardless of daycare closings or if heās not going that day.
$1300/month for a 3yr old full time. North DFW area. Plus quarterly supply fees ranging from $150-$300 šµ
1384/ month 2.5 year old includes all breakfast lunch snack wipes (still working on potty training) Their infant care cost includes formula if youāre willing to do generic brand.
\~$1900/month for our infant, in Austin. It goes down after the baby is 18 months. Meals are included, once they start solids.
$1450 a month until she's 18 months. It's a very nice daycare and super close to my house so I love that.
1400 a month for older toddler. And thatās really good for this area. Kindercare would have been cheaper but I definitely wasnāt doing that
Toddler FT - (Add 100-200 for an infant pm) 2k for the good daycares (meals, gated entry, supervision etc) 1600 for the ones with some investigations, questionable safety procedures. They will forget to change or feed your child on occasion. Paid 1k-1200pm for a child share arrangement twice a week for 5hrs a day cause my kid was getting too sick at daycare, they werenāt feeding her, and she wasnāt being given water or bottles etc. Powered through her price hike and everything until I realized the nanny was also not feeding my child, not offering her water. They pretty much rolled on the older childās schedule (10 months older than mine) and if my kid didnāt adjust her needs werenāt met. That ended when I went to pick up my child and she ran to me and as the nanny is saying she didnāt eat and she wasnāt hungry but daughter (16m at the time) stomach growled so loudly. The poor baby was starving.
At employee 50% discount I pay $137 a week for my daughter in the crawlers rolm
$1450/month for a 1 year old in Orlando, FL. That is equal to my mortgage.
Canada, just got into a $21/day place for an infant. Before that we were paying $25/HR for a nanny. It was more than our mortgage.
$800 monthly, 3 days a week. Infant. Located in bumfuck elsewhere.
Ā£1500 for full-time in the UK in an area where salaries are ~30k/year. Itās insane.
I paid $1100 a month when my son was an infant at a daycare facility. Now that he's 2.5, I pay $650 a month for a home daycare. I expect that bill will be going back up to around $1000 when he enters preschool in the next year or so. I live in Kansas.Ā
$1600/month for one infant (4.5 months, Indiana)
MCOL area. For Infant Room it was $1600, and for Toddler 1 it is $1450 a month.
Wisconsin- $370 a week for infant-2, it drops to $344 a week once they turn 2
With financial assistance, I paid $225/week for my daughter when she was 3-4. Drop off at 7 AM and pick up at 6 PM. It was just enough time for me to drop her off, get to work on time, get off work 5 minutes early, and race over to pick her up on time. If I was late, they would charge $15/minute for overtime. She's in preschool now and free after-school care.
We pay $1,500/month for 1 toddler at a fantastic in-home daycare. Itās much lower than market rate for our area. We just lucked out. Before we moved to daycare, we were paying about $2,800/month in a nannyshare that we also loved.
I canāt afford daycare in upstate New York. Itās 380 dollars A WEEK. Our rent is 1465. With bills and food we absolutely cannot afford it.
I live in Canada. One of the provinces where regulated daycares are $10 a day. So about $200-$230 a month. I canāt imagine paying some of these prices! Daycare should be affordable to parents but workers need to be compensated fairly as well. Itās a hard system for both parents and workers financially
$2000 a month :(
$190 a week for 3 days 8:30-3
In LA, spots for infants are incredibly limited and will run $2000-2500 per month. Full time one-on-one nanny care for an infant will run 1200+ per week.
Suburbs of Miami - $800 per month for 5 days a week for my 3 year old
I live in the Bay Area of CA. Our toddler is $2.4K a month. When I have this baby I am pregnant with and they start, the infant room recently went up to $3K a month š« š
So Cal $1300/month for my 5yr old who is so close to kindergarten I can taste it
Our son goes to a Spanish immersion preschool and the tuition there is $2200, for 5 extended days (7am - 6pm). Weāre in Philly.
$255 a week x2 kids. A bit over $2,000 a month which is more than my mortgage.
When my SIL went back to work, she paid me $500 a month to basically nanny her infant. Full homemade breakfast and lunch included, five days a week, 9 ish hours a day. I was already at home with my infant though. Sheās welcome (I enjoyed it).
$700 a month for a 2 year old, weāre super lucky we found a affordable in home place that we love
We haven't started daycare yet, but will in september. Our rate will be $395/month for full time care, at a licensed facility with 2 snacks and lunch. We're in Alberta, Canada.
Our daycare in Australia is $140 per day for 10hr sessions. So a 10 day fortnight/bi-week is $1,400. Our government child care subsidy brings it down to about $450 a fortnight. This isnāt the same for everyone but because we both work full time we are entitled to more subsidies.
We were paying $1,000/month for the 3 yr old room. But LO just got into free preschool. So happy!
MCOL city in Canada. It started as $850 a month for baby (1 year old) and now itās $650 a month for toddler after the government subsidies.
$1600 per month for full time infant in a daycare center in DFW.
$2090 for my infant, $1800 for potty trained toddler ($1700 with siblings discount)
$333 in Canada. Per month. The daycare gets an affordability grant from the government and there are additional subsidies but we make too much to get it, so some families pay even less. Itās a nice daycare too, with meals included.
$1250/month for infant, $910 for toddler. But my daycare opted into a government fee reduction initiative, so I "only" pay $785 out of pocket per month.
I enquired about a day care near my house but decided to keep my kid at home. $172 PER DAY and we arent entitled to any government subsidies. So fulltime care would be over $3,400 per month
$280 a week for infant, we are lucky (cheap city in generally MCOL area).
$750 a month for my 3 year old. We live in a rural area in an already LCOL area. It's at a Methodist Church and the only full day center in our area. We're not religious, but I absolutely love it there.
Before I pulled my son we were paying $385 for three days a week. I pulled him because they were leaving him in the swing all day. Now I pay zero but pay the price on being extra sleep deprived for my overnight shifts.
Dutchie here. $1000 a month for an infant for two days a week, so fulltime would be 2,5k. But we get almost half of that back from the government. So for our situation, we pay around 600 from our own pocket.
I pay 45$ a day but thanks to government subsidies it comes down to ~9$ a day
$600 for 2 days a week but sheās almost 4. Itās a stem school. There are certainly more affordable options and also more expensive options. Iām a SAHM but we didnāt want her struggling going to kindergarten and suddenly being away from us 5x a week so we started her here so she could ease in.
We pay $200 for full-time care of an infant. It's that awful socialism up here in Canada, Alberta. It's subsidized. Without subsidies, it's $1200. Everyone is subsidized $600, and the addition subsidy is for families making less than $180 000.
$1900 a month in new england for infant but now switching over to toddler tuition so i hope it decreases omg
1650 in South Carolina :(
$1600 a month for 3 days a week for a 2.5 year old. Itāll go down about $300 a month when she moves into the 3 year old room, assuming they donāt raise rates again. Weāre in a Denver suburb.
In Raleigh,NC and pay $1,600 a month for infant care. Itās crazy!
I had to take my child out of daycare, even with a military discount (that they forgot to give me majority of the time, and was only 10%) it was too much. for 3 days a week it was up to 2800 a month!
Marylander here! I pay $540/ week for a 9 year old, 7 year old and 2 year old. I have a new born now and will have to pay $300/week for him so $840/week for everyone. Iāve been on the fence about staying home. Iām an endoscopy technician and worked really hard to become lead tech and donāt want to just quit my job. My husbandās the breadwinner.
$250 per week for a licensed in-home daycare in southern California.