Map: Cost of Child Care by State

MaPetiteFamille · July 2014

Found this to be very interesting:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2014/07/02/map-the-average-cost-for-child-care-state/LN65rSHXKNjr4eypyxT0WM/story.html

Bigboneded · July 2014

Wow! Thanks for posting :-) Glad I dont live in DC.

Tapsalteerie · July 2014

Virginia lumps Southern with Northern. Northern VA daycare costs are, on average, much higher. Probably should have been by region as I am sure other states are the same way.

MaPetiteFamille · July 2014

Yeah, I know for sure that NYC's costs are higher than Boston's, but because upstate NY is less expensive it brings down the average. Would be interesting to see something county by county.

kursem · July 2014

wow....i'm never leaving Arizona....unless it's to move to Mississippi

Seriously, I knew we wouldn't be super high but for DC to be 3x what it costs me....that is CRAZY. I hope salaries are significantly higher in the expensive areas as well, I don't know how we would do it!

Lanatir · July 2014

Tapsalteerie said:

Virginia lumps Southern with Northern. Northern VA daycare costs are, on average, much higher. Probably should have been by region as I am sure other states are the same way.

^^I totally agree with this. I'm sure places out by Virginia Tech and the counties actually in the Shenandoah Valley (where there is a lot of lower incomes or actual poverty) are much lower than places like Fred Vegas and north of there, and even Fred Vegas is probably less than child care if you live inside the beltway.

Tapsalteerie · July 2014

kursem said:

wow....i'm never leaving Arizona....unless it's to move to Mississippi Seriously, I knew we wouldn't be super high but for DC to be 3x what it costs me....that is CRAZY. I hope salaries are significantly higher in the expensive areas as well, I don't know how we would do it!

It is. Most employment in or around DC is through or associated with the government so the pay is pretty high compared to other areas of the country.

IHeartScience · July 2014

This seems pretty spot on for Massachusetts...lucky me

WhiteCorrette · July 2014

It would be more complete if they showed the costs with the various standards of living in each state. For example, California is almost $3,000 more than Texas, but standard of living is far lower in Texas, so it's probably pretty comparable when you take that into account. Still an interesting graphic though.

EllenMA · July 2014

I think you mean cost of living vs standard of living. I believe standard of living is pretty universal nation wide. The cost I child care for me right now with one in MA is only $150 per month less than my mortgage. Makes me jealous of some European country's that have government provided, quality, child care centers.

MaPetiteFamille · July 2014

I also live in Massachusetts, and we definitely don't earn twice as much as someone living in Delaware or North Carolina, where child care seems to be about half as expensive. Cost of living is high here, so salaries are slightly higher, but it's not proportionate.

lalans · July 2014

DC is insane. My sister lives there and since about her 1st trimester has been on a bunch of waiting lists. There is a subsidized day care in her husbands building that had a 2+ year long waiting list when they first put their names on.

ktkoala · July 2014

I live in DC and I can tell you it sucks. Not only is it crazy expensive ($2000/month), it is crazy hard to get! We got on wait lists at 8 weeks ($150 dollar per place just to be on the wait list) and at 8 weeks, we were told we were starting late. We might end up doing a nanny share because it will be around the same price.

Babytime1778 · July 2014

Well I wish I could find one for $9000 in Vermont but haven't yet

tkr7c9 · July 2014

Thanks for sharing!

motherboy · July 2014

On the flipside, I don't like how low Missouri ' s is because I know that in this state, there are NO standards or regulations on in - home daycares. The paper here has been doing some investigations on it recently and there is one rural county that the statistics are horrendous. Dozens of kids per caregiver and no accountability. It just makes me sad. Childcare is one area where I'm not comfortable cutting corners. I stay at home so it's not an issue yet but if we ever put the LOs in daycare, it will only be in a licensed, accredited place we trust.

ETA: I don't mean to imply all in homes cut corners at all. I know some here are registered and licensed, and those would be ones we look at, as well as stand alone daycares.

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