Price the childcare before you decide

You want to know whether you can afford a child, and the question is too big to answer, so it sits in your head as a fog: kids are expensive. One part of that fog can be turned into a number you can look up, and childcare is a good part to start with.

If money is what makes you hesitate about having a child, look up what childcare costs where you live and what help exists, and put that number in your budget now, before you decide.

This page is about the money, not about whether you want a child. If you are already pregnant or already have a baby and money is tight, the section on help applies to you now. If you are in the UK, there is a short section at the end.

Why childcare is the line to price first

Many people say the cost of childcare is set so high against wages that it is the main thing between them and having a child. Some put it as costing about as much as a full-time salary. Some people also say not to underestimate it, and to research it early and budget for it. One person says to research the expensive childcare options early.

Whether that matches your own place is something only your own place can say. Some people note that childcare costs vary a great deal by location and by type, with a home setting and a center priced differently, and that $1,400 a month is cheap in some areas and expensive in others. That is the reason to look up your own number and not borrow someone else’s.

How to find the number

The US Department of Labor keeps a National Database of Childcare Prices. It describes itself as the most comprehensive federal source of childcare prices at the county level, split by the child’s age and by type of care, and it shows the price as a share of a median family’s income. Its figures run up to 2022, so treat them as a starting point and then ask a local provider what they charge now.

Ask about waiting lists in the same call. One person describes waiting lists of eight to twelve months where they live. Where a place is scarce, the wait can matter as much as the price, and it is the kind of thing a database cannot show you.

Put the number in your budget now

One person suggests a practice run: work out the monthly cost, then set that amount aside every month from now, and adjust your spending to make it fit. The point is that you find out what bends and what does not while nothing depends on it. You can do the same with the childcare line alone: divide the yearly price by 12 and set it beside your monthly take-home pay. That is arithmetic and it takes ten minutes.

What help exists, and what it does not promise

One person describes a situation where Medicaid, WIC and free daycare together left them living without financial stress and with savings intact. That is one person’s situation, and it may not hold in every region or at every income. Here is what the official sources say.

WIC. The US Department of Agriculture says WIC serves pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5. You must meet an income limit, which is gross income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, and you are automatically counted as meeting it if you or certain family members get SNAP, Medicaid or TANF. A health professional also checks for nutritional risk, and that check is free.

Health coverage. HealthCare.gov says Medicaid and CHIP offer free or low-cost coverage to eligible pregnant women, depending on household income, household size and immigration status, and that you can apply at any time of year. It says every Marketplace and Medicaid plan covers pregnancy and childbirth. Being pregnant does not open a special enrollment period for a Marketplace plan, but the birth of a child does, for 60 days. If you have Medicaid when you give birth, your newborn is enrolled automatically and stays eligible for at least a year.

Help paying for childcare. The federal Child Care and Development Fund helps low-income families with a child under 13 pay for care. The parent must be working, in training or in school, and each state sets its own income limit, no higher than 85 percent of the state’s median income. You apply through your state, and Child Care Aware can point you to your local referral agency. The limit is that a right to apply is not a place: the Department of Health and Human Services estimated that in 2021, 15 percent of children eligible under the federal rules received a subsidy.

Who this page is not for

If your real question is whether you want a child at all, whether your partner is the right person, or whether you would regret it, this page does not weigh that. People who write about those questions disagree strongly, and money is one input among several. If you are counting on family to look after the child for free, the childcare line may be small, though one person cautions against making that the baseline of a plan.

In the UK, the government’s page on help with childcare costs lists Tax-Free Childcare, free childcare in England for working parents of children aged 9 months to 4 years (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own schemes), and help with childcare costs through Universal Credit. Its childcare calculator at gov.uk/childcare-calculator shows what you could get. Health care there works differently from the US, and some people point out that health costs and insurance rules differ a lot by country, so the US points on health coverage above do not carry over. Elsewhere, your local government or health service is the place to ask.