A new report says American families that pay for child care spend nearly one-fifth of their income on the service, and costs are rising.
The average household with child care bills spends $325 a week, or 18.6% of its weekly income, according to an analysis by LendingTree, a personal finance site.
In Nevada, the costliest child care state, families spend 32.3% of their income, an average of $493 a week, for others to tend their children, the report says.
LendingTree released the analysis last month, drawing on census data.
Child care expenses eat up more than one-fifth of parental income in eight other states, including Illinois, Louisiana and Texas, the report found.
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‘It felt like a necessity’
Child care costs pushed Morgan Frey out of her Sparks, Nevada, home.
Frey, 31, was paying $245 a week on child care for her son, who is now 5. That was half of her take-home pay, from her job as a caregiver to seniors. In February 2023, poverty forced her and her son into a homeless shelter.
“It was really hard,” she said. “And, honestly, the decision to keep him in school came down to knowing it was best for him. It felt like a necessity.”
Relief arrived the next month. The Children’s Cabinet, a Nevada nonprofit, swept in to pick up Frey’s child care costs. In June 2023, she and her son moved into a new home.
“I have enough money to put gas in the car, food on the table,” she said.
Only now does Frey realize how stressed out she had become over child care…
