JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As some parents take their children back to school, others are sending their younger children to daycare — and it is expensive.
According to the National Database of Childcare Prices, the median childcare price range for full-day care for one child in 2022 was from $6,552 to $15,600. And it’s only gone up since then.
Unfortunately, the bigger the city the more likely the price is going up, too.
Moms have to make a tough decision after maternity leave ends. They can continue working in the office and send their child to daycare, quit working, ask for help from family, or work from home and try to balance a job and a child. And their partner may have the same choice to make.
“For us, I am blessed to actually have family that can help me during the week,” said Johanna Grant, a wife and mother of one, who works from home and was surprised by the cost of daycare.
Grant said she started looking at daycare prices when she got pregnant to see if it made sense for her family’s needs.
“At the time, I was just getting into working from home, so I wanted to see if, after my maternity leave if that was something that was worth it for us. In the long run, it was not something that we felt would meet our financial needs,” she said.
According to the Department of Labor Data, U.S. families spend between 8.9% and 16.0% of their median income on full-day care for just one child.
Daycare in Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida is expensive, too.
In St. Johns County, it’s about $16,147 to put one infant in daycare for a year, taking up 12.2% of family income, while in Baker County, it is about $8,074, or 8.9%.
And more parents may need daycare soon, as more companies are requiring parents to come back into the office.
Grant may be one of those parents forced to use daycare in the future.
“I think that daycare prices are quite extreme and that is something that unfortunately is affecting us right now because I am possibly looking to go that way later down the road in the event that our family doesn’t have the capability to continue to help us but it is pretty outrageous the pricing for childcare right now,” said Grant.
One way to cut down on costs, consider taking your child to daycare part-time.
According to the data, daycare prices are going up by about a thousand dollars for one child per year.
To see what the average price is for daycare in your county based on 2022 data, click here.