Average price of daycare where you are?

bergas · February 2015

What is the average price of daycare per week where you are? Center based versus home based? I'm curious to know as I was kind of shocked as a first time mom.

kbbtah · February 2015

Midwest: $325/week for centers. (In home care providers here require 2 weeks paid vacation and 1 week paid sick time. While they may be cheaper per week, I can't justify losing 3 weeks pay. Center is way to go for us.)

Cuij · February 2015

Most home daycares in my neighbourhood in Toronto are $60 per day. They get paid for stat days, but no paid sick days or vacation days. I drive him with me out of the city a bit to go to a home daycare for $45/day.

bergas · February 2015

Minneapolis area $420 center based and homes $150-200 per week

Katerina&Baby · February 2015

Boston (infant room for full-day care) - approx $2400/month - $120/day.

melycoop · February 2015

I live in small town.. $100/week is the higher side

sschwege · February 2015

We live in Chicago and centers average about $430 a week for infant care. Home day cares really vary, I watch another LO in our home full time and charge $390 a week, I have a friend who does it and charges $325. As I said I think home daycare would vary quite a bit though depending on how many children were involved, location, experience/education of provider, etc.

thepalindromicone · February 2015

Seattle - were paying 1650/month for 5 day infant care at a center (this is on the lower end too... closer to 2000/month)

btm013 · February 2015

I live in the Scranton, PA area and it's between $185-$212/week for infant care. I can't believe the city costs! Eek!!

HoosOnFirst · February 2015

Boston suburbs is about $1300/month for full-week in-home day care, $1600/month for center-based. But in the city itself it's at least $2000/month. I'm panicking, but not much we can do about it at this stage!

Frogger5 · February 2015

thepalindromicone said:
Seattle - were paying 1650/month for 5 day infant care at a center (this is on the lower end too... closer to 2000/month)

We also found one that's going to run us about $1600/mo. Some others we looked at were much more, up to $2150. I will drive to the north side of the city before heading to work for a more reasonable rate even though it will add 20 min or so to my commute! Now fingers crossed a spot opens up when we need it.

ETA we're in Seattle, too.

thepalindromicone · February 2015

Frogger5 said:

thepalindromicone said:
Seattle - were paying 1650/month for 5 day infant care at a center (this is on the lower end too... closer to 2000/month)
We also found one that's going to run us about $1600/mo. Some others we looked at were much more, up to $2150. I will drive to the north side of the city before heading to work for a more reasonable rate even though it will add 20 min or so to my commute! Now fingers crossed a spot opens up when we need it.

ETA we're in Seattle, too.

Nice! We're northsiders ourselves but still Seattle proper, but I work downtown. We were lucky they gave us their June spot even though we won't need them until September (without having to pay for those months!) Next available was February! It's crazy! Good luck!

kbradley108 · February 2015

In St. Louis the going rate is $350 a week. We've managed to get a discount with my husband's work so we'll be paying $928 a month. I couldn't imagine paying as much as you girls do in Seattle. It's so crazy how expensive it is. But. ..I'm sure it's one of those things where you get what you pay for. I love the place we're sending or little one. Good luck ladies

Frogger5 · February 2015

thepalindromicone said:

Frogger5 said:

thepalindromicone said:
Seattle - were paying 1650/month for 5 day infant care at a center (this is on the lower end too... closer to 2000/month)
We also found one that's going to run us about $1600/mo. Some others we looked at were much more, up to $2150. I will drive to the north side of the city before heading to work for a more reasonable rate even though it will add 20 min or so to my commute! Now fingers crossed a spot opens up when we need it.

ETA we're in Seattle, too.
Nice! We're northsiders ourselves but still Seattle proper, but I work downtown. We were lucky they gave us their June spot even though we won't need them until September (without having to pay for those months!) Next available was February! It's crazy! Good luck!

We live in Capitol Hill, and I work in Ballard, so it's just a bit of a detour . . . and we're hoping to get in starting Feb which is their next opening! Could be the same place! I'm just glad we went out looking when we did, otherwise we could be screwed. That is awesome they are willing to hold your spot - that's a few thousand they're losing out on!

mclanin28 · February 2015

I live outside of St Louis and daycare center is $235/ week and our in home is $125/week. It is very hard to find a good in home one and I feel like we are getting a heck of a deal.

delujm0 · February 2015

Charlotte and full time infant care in a center is between $250-300/week. We live a bit outside the city and have found a few near home more in the $200-250 range. Not sure where we'll wind up.

rklinge0 · February 2015

In ky it varies from 150 to 200 a week. I had one picked out at the school I worked at for 130 but they may he closed next year which makes me sad. In home centers are around 125 a week. I worked as a nanny and made about 400 a week, but it was more than one kid.

dancegurl1118 · February 2015

Smallish town in CT, $1200 a month for infant care in a center. Yikes. Thankfully will only be doing 1-2 days a week as I work 3 12-hour nights a week and my husband plans on working from home 1-2 days a week. It is absolutely crazy..makes me wish I had family closer!

MamaBish · February 2015

Best center price here is 175 a week - lower end. Higher end is 300. In home is 125 a week.

apeschka · February 2015

$27 a day in idaho

queequeg09256 · February 2015

I live in south seattle I found 300 a week here. Super excited to not have the crazy north seattle rates.

bossybluejay · February 2015

Frogger5 said:

thepalindromicone said:
Seattle - were paying 1650/month for 5 day infant care at a center (this is on the lower end too... closer to 2000/month)
We also found one that's going to run us about $1600/mo. Some others we looked at were much more, up to $2150. I will drive to the north side of the city before heading to work for a more reasonable rate even though it will add 20 min or so to my commute! Now fingers crossed a spot opens up when we need it.

ETA we're in Seattle, too.

Wow! We live in Spokane (with thoughts of moving to the west side in the next few years) and it always amazes me how large the difference in cost of living is. I think it typically runs about $1000 per month here.

allicat300 · February 2015

Tucson.... About $200/wk for full time care i cannot believe how pricey some cities are!!!!

Initialsls · February 2015

I'm from Quebec and daycare here is subsidised and on a sliding scale, based on family income. The scale being 7$ a day up to $20. We're very lucky and hopefully more provinces and states will look to Quebec as an example. Childcare should not be so inaccessible for people of lower or middle incomes.

beautifulzphib · February 2015

I live in Memphis, TN and the going rate is $150-$200 a week in a daycare and $100 for home day care.

Cateash77 · February 2015

Brisbane, Australia: we paid $65 a day including meals but for 2 years old. I'll be taking leave until this one is two as well so we will go back to the same centre, which is now around $75-80 per day for the youngest room I think, average price for babies around here is $100 per day, but the government gives you 50% of that back. Some of you guys the rates are so cheap! $200 bucks a week that is awesome.

devyns2nd · February 2015

rklinge0 said:
In ky it varies from 150 to 200 a week. I had one picked out at the school I worked at for 130 but they may he closed next year which makes me sad. In home centers are around 125 a week. I worked as a nanny and made about 400 a week, but it was more than one kid.

Southern ky here!!!

It's 120 a week and I paid a baby sitter 75 a week. I live in a small town though.

KaLikeAWind · February 2015

I overheard just tonight someone at my work discussing this and they said $125 a week. Small town Wisconsin here.

milgainey · February 2015

I also can't believe the price of all these cities, for those prices i could have a nanny live in or just on hand. Here in the Suburbs of Atlanta for a good center the prices are under $120.00/week for an infant, the price will go down as the child gets older. Home based starts at $85.00/week for a good home daycare center.

houstonhokie04 · February 2015

I'm in Houston, TX. Depending on the quality of care, cleanliness, and security of the center you could be paying anywhere from $700-$1400 a month. If I could, I would just stay home until kiddo is in school, but I'm the health care provider for the family, so it looks like $1200-$1400 a month is our option...we're being very picky about where our little one will spend her time.

AmyCee · February 2015

milgainey said:
I also can't believe the price of all these cities, for those prices i could have a nanny live in or just on hand. Here in the Suburbs of Atlanta for a good center the prices are under $120.00/week for an infant, the price will go down as the child gets older. Home based starts at $85.00/week for a good home daycare center.

That's not what I found in my area - 900-1400/month depending on the hours needed. With my original commute I had to pay $1400/month - which is why I quit my job (teacher)

lmcryer1990 · February 2015

Military installation, $129/week for full-time daycare, it's based on pay and doesn't matter what the child's age is.

Frogger5 · February 2015

If high day care costs in cities are shocking some of you, you'd die if you knew what we're paying for rent/mortgage! In some ways it sucks, but high cost of living areas (IME) are high for a reason, and I really don't mind. Salaries are higher, too; it's all a balancing act.

GirlsRuleThisFamily · February 2015

I live in Atlanta, Ga. I paid 100$ a week for my oldest in the center (5years ago). Now I'm looking at about 130$ a week. Same area.

thepalindromicone · February 2015

I know I'm one of the city people paying an ungodly amount of money for child care.... but some of these low prices (<$500-600/month!) make me feel nervous. Are you being nickled and dimed elsewhere, for example do you have to bring food for children eating solids and do they have a learning curriculum that they teach?

lilitaliangirl · February 2015

mclanin28 said:
I live outside of St Louis and daycare center is $235/ week and our in home is $125/week. It is very hard to find a good in home one and I feel like we are getting a heck of a deal.

I'm just outside of St. Louis as well and I think we have it pretty good as far as child care rates go in this area. I pay $28 a day for DS. Since my husband works construction it's really the best option for us since the weather determines if DH works or not (like this week he hasn't worked at all). She totally understands and we made a verbal agreement to 3 days a week to bring DS, BUT on occasion it's less and she's is cool with it.

KaLikeAWind · February 2015

@thepalindromicone‌ I can say for mine (which was said to be $125 a week in my area) it was something that other people were talking about in this area, not something I actually looked into myself and so have no idea what is included there. But I did look up a daycare thru the YMCA last night after reading your post and even tho we aren't planning on daycare, I figured I should have a basic idea at least in this small town (I honestly thought we didn't have any, hubby and I only recently learned about this place). There its weekly (5 days) $183 for a 6 week to 2 year old. Or daily $51 for 1-3 days a week. They say they have certified staff that work on developing "motor, cognitive, language, and social skills", provide healthy meals in a "family style" setting (or formula, cereal, or infant foods), and include 15 minutes of physical play activity for every hour. It all sounds good to me, but I hadn't even thought about it until you made that point, so thank you. It remains to be seen if it makes more financial sense to be a SAHM than work to pay off that daycare (there are few jobs here, and the pay is not good, so it will probably end up being SAHM), but I'm glad you kicked off my curiosity about it. One of the reasons I joined this board - to be enlightened into things I had no idea I should know about.

brandyann15 · February 2015

Monterey, CA- still in sticker shock. I'm sure there are more reasonable prices out there and I'm still looking, but for daycare centers that take children young and still in diapers, I felt like I was looking at apartment or house rent. With my second I will have to go back to work after my 6 weeks home with baby, and am now looking to have to place two young children....my rent is literally less then some of the places I've found....scary

brandyann15 · February 2015

Initialsls said:
I'm from Quebec and daycare here is subsidised and on a sliding scale, based on family income. The scale being 7$ a day up to $20. We're very lucky and hopefully more provinces and states will look to Quebec as an example. Childcare should not be so inaccessible for people of lower or middle incomes.

Wish they did that here. I have no choice but to go back to work, and in order to do so I have to find child care. I feel like financially we'll be no better off because any extra money I would have had by going back to work will just be spent on day care.

MysteryCat · February 2015

$32/day for in home toddler care just a bit north of Seattle. Infant will be closer to 40.

porklump30 · February 2015

I pay $200/week for an in-home in Metro Detroit. Centers are around $250/week here. You can find some in-homes for cheaper ($150-175) but usually pay for meals and they offer no curriculum.

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