Oregon Babies

Daycare costs for portland area

For those of you that have your little ones in daycare, any idea what the average cost is for full time daycare for infants and toddlers?  any specific recs in Portland or NE/SE/NoPo? 

We are toying with the idea of TTC later this year or early next and want to start budgeting some money now for childcare.  

image

Re: Daycare costs for portland area

  • Judi! Aaaahhhh!!  How exciting!!

    Well there's several different kinds of daycares... nanny, nanny share, daycare center (like kindercare) and in-home daycare(which is my preference).

    I never looked at full time infant care (because I only worked part time) but the center we started DD in was $600 per month for 3 days a week.  We were unhappy with the center and pulled her out after a few weeks and started using an in-home daycare, and we paid $25/day (so at 4 days/week it was $500 ish a month).

    The most expensive center I've found is $1800 a month for full time, and they don't offer a part time discount.  But they do baby yoga and all kinds of other yuppie shiit that I wasn't interested in paying that much for, lol!

    I would assume $750-$1000+ per month and factor that into your budget.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • It's definitely not always as expensive as the above commenter listed.  I worked as a toddler/preschool teacher for years working my way through undergrad and graduate school.  You can find good full-time daycare for $600/month for toddlers, a little more for infants (usually).  It all depends on what type of care you're looking for (daycare is FAR different from child development centers), where in the area you live, and discussing options with the center you're interested in, some are more flexible in their pricing than you would think.
  • Loading the player...
  • imagejellybeancoconut:
    It's definitely not always as expensive as the above commenter listed.  I worked as a toddler/preschool teacher for years working my way through undergrad and graduate school.  You can find good full-time daycare for $600/month for toddlers, a little more for infants (usually).  It all depends on what type of care you're looking for (daycare is FAR different from child development centers), where in the area you live, and discussing options with the center you're interested in, some are more flexible in their pricing than you would think.

    Okaaayyyyy...so, you joined yesterday and you're an expert on chikdcare prices because you used to work in a daycare?  Do you have a kid?  Do you currently have an infant in full time daycare?  What do you pay?

    And for what it's worth, I talked to about 10 different centers about infant care, and none of them were flexible in their pricing.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • My daughter will be starting at the Children's Garden downtown in a few weeks. We'll be paying $1275/mo. Not cheap. We also looked at St. James Development Center which was $1100/mo. Because I wanted DD close to my office we didnt have much flexibility to shop around. These were the only two places that had vacancies in November when we reserved a spot. I imagine Downtown prices will be a little higher than other places.
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • My son is in FT daycare at a center. We pay $170 a week.
  • I think the answer is exactly just what The_Jen said, there will be a  huge range based on what type of place you want to take your LO to.  DD goes just two days a week to an in-home center and we pay $42/day.  A little on the pricey side but totally worth it for the one-on-one interaction and attention she gets.  It is kind of like a mini preschool.
  • We also go to an in-home daycare two days per week and pay $64 a day ($8 an hour).  She charges less ($6.50 an hour) for full time kids.  The overall range is huge depending on what you are looking for.  I have friends who take their toddlers to a Ukranian family and I think they pay like $4 an hour and are happy with it.  
  • Judi, how exciting! I agree with Jen in that there is a huge range. We checked out Kindercare in our area and it was $1100 a month or something like that. We didn't like how the people in the infant room were just sitting around and didn't seem engaged with the babies.

    We then ended up with a lady who runs an in-home daycare (but with a professional daycare space) called Bee Bop's Little House. She charges us $750 a month for full-time care and now that Katie eats regular food, the food is included.

    I know OHSU offers daycare to its employees and they charge around $1300 a month.

    Check out childcareratingz.com for reviews on any center.  

     

  • HI, We are at Helen Gorden Center, with the student discount it's $840 a month, they are fantastic, BUT we were on the wait list for 2 years! I would suggest getting on waitlist as soon as you can if you are planning on a development center in the inner city.

     ChildRoots is great, around $1200 a month, I also really liked Growing Seeds around $1300 a month.

    Good luck.We went on a lot of tours and really liked the centers we went to. A little spendy, but to me, it's been worth it.

    You can also reference Urban Mommas and Child Resource center (not recommendations, but more a listing of folks that have licenses etc.)

     

  • Well gee look at that.  Looks like I was SPOT ON for rates.  Where's the random expert now to prove me wrong?  Huh?  Huh.

    Ugh.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • Thanks ladies! 

    How exactly do you find in-home daycare providers?  most of what I see come up in searches are centers

    and Jen - you know everything. Stick out tongue

    image
  • imageMrsJRD23:

    Thanks ladies! 

    How exactly do you find in-home daycare providers?  most of what I see come up in searches are centers

    and Jen - you know everything. Stick out tongue

    lol

    I found my provider on craigslist.  I read about a million ads, and immediately eliminated anyone that had spelling or grammar issues.  That made the list VERY small, lol...Then I called and talked to about 10 people, and from a basic phone conversation I was able to get my list down to 3.  The first one I met I loved, and the other 2 were just ok.  So I was thinking about it for a few days, and randomly it turned out that my DH's coworker was friends with the daycare lady's husband!  So we chose them, and they are a great family, and we've been really happy with them for over 2 years!  Now that I'm SAHM, I still send her to daycare 1-2 days a week so she can see her friends and play.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • Try the following webstite for folks licensed. Note: These are not recommendations, just a listing of caregivers licensed etc.. It will inlclude both in home and centers and you can search by location. This is a good starting point to at least get a list going. Good luck.

    https://ccrr-mc.org/referral.html

  • We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   
  • imagePortland First:
    We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   

    Being licensed matters if you want to take the tax credits for child care.. Keep that in mind :) You can't take the credit if your provider isn't licensed.  

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
  • imagejoleine:

    imagePortland First:
    We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   

    Being licensed matters if you want to take the tax credits for child care.. Keep that in mind :) You can't take the credit if your provider isn't licensed.  

    Not true!  My DCP isn't licensed to do daycare (she was licensed for 7 years and just let it lapse right after she started watching DD), all you need to claim it on your taxes is their ss# or tax ID #.  And they have to report it as income.

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • imageThe_Jen626:
    imagejoleine:

    imagePortland First:
    We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   

    Being licensed matters if you want to take the tax credits for child care.. Keep that in mind :) You can't take the credit if your provider isn't licensed.  

    Not true!  My DCP isn't licensed to do daycare (she was licensed for 7 years and just let it lapse right after she started watching DD), all you need to claim it on your taxes is their ss# or tax ID #.  And they have to report it as income.

    Good to know. :) I'm finding though that people that aren't licensed, aren't claiming it as income :(   

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
  • imagejoleine:
    imageThe_Jen626:
    imagejoleine:

    imagePortland First:
    We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   

    Being licensed matters if you want to take the tax credits for child care.. Keep that in mind :) You can't take the credit if your provider isn't licensed.  

    Not true!  My DCP isn't licensed to do daycare (she was licensed for 7 years and just let it lapse right after she started watching DD), all you need to claim it on your taxes is their ss# or tax ID #.  And they have to report it as income.

    Good to know. :) I'm finding though that people that aren't licensed, aren't claiming it as income :(   

    Lame!  I almost got burned by my first DCP that wouldn't give me their tax ID # after the center was closed down, so that is the first question I tell people to ask now!

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers
  • imageThe_Jen626:
    imagejoleine:
    imageThe_Jen626:
    imagejoleine:

    imagePortland First:
    We found ours on Craigslist and she is wonderful and caring and flexible.  She is not licensed, but I came to the conclusion that being licensed doesn't really mean much.  Lots of in home situations are spread by word of mouth.  Ask anyone and everyone if they have any great recommendations and you might find something perfect.   

    Being licensed matters if you want to take the tax credits for child care.. Keep that in mind :) You can't take the credit if your provider isn't licensed.  

    Not true!  My DCP isn't licensed to do daycare (she was licensed for 7 years and just let it lapse right after she started watching DD), all you need to claim it on your taxes is their ss# or tax ID #.  And they have to report it as income.

    Good to know. :) I'm finding though that people that aren't licensed, aren't claiming it as income :(   

    Lame!  I almost got burned by my first DCP that wouldn't give me their tax ID # after the center was closed down, so that is the first question I tell people to ask now!

    That's the first question I do ask! :) It's hard finding part time care in my neighborhood :( Well, I did find one place, but it's $65 a day.. um, no thanks. :( 

    Lilypie First Birthday tickers Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers
  • We have a dependent care spending account and are just asked to provide our daycare lady's name and SSN.  At least for that, licensing doesn't seem to matter. 
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"