How Much Does Daycare Cost?

The short answer, worked on real numbers

Child care in the United States costs about $13,184 a year per child, across all ages and all types of care, according to Child Care Aware of America's 2025 Price and Supply analysis, released in May 2026. That is $1,099 a month and $254 a week. The 2024 figure was $13,128 a year, or $1,094 a month, so the national average rose $56 in a year, which is 0.4 percent, though the price of care has risen 29 percent over five years, against 22 percent for overall inflation, which is the longer trend and the one that matters. The national average is a blend, and the blend hides the shape of the bill, which is that infants cost the most and the price falls at every age milestone, and that a center costs more than a home, and that a nanny costs more than either by a margin that changes the question entirely.

Full-time center care averages about $1,301 a month for an infant, $1,181 for a toddler, and $1,048 for a 4-year-old, when you average the state figures in Child Care Aware's 2024 Affordability Analysis, which is $15,612 a year for the infant, $14,172 for the toddler, and $12,576 for the 4-year-old. Licensed home daycare, which is care in a caregiver's home under a state license, averages about $954 a month for an infant, $893 for a toddler, and $867 for a 4-year-old, which is $11,448, $10,716, and $10,404 a year. The calculator on this site uses the weekly figures behind those monthly ones, $300, $273, and $242 a week at a center and $220, $206, and $200 at home, so its annual figures are $15,600, $14,196, and $12,584 at a center and $11,440, $10,712, and $10,400 at home, which differ from the monthly figures by a few dollars of rounding, because a week is not exactly a twelfth of a year. The infant is the most expensive child at every setting, and the home is cheaper than the center at every age, and the gap between them is widest at the infant stage, $4,160 a year, and narrowest at preschool, $2,184.

Two surveys, two numbers, and why both are right

Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Report puts posted daycare rates higher than Child Care Aware's state averages: $332 a week for an infant and $308 for a toddler, which is $17,264 and $16,016 a year, against $300 and $273 a week, or $15,600 and $14,196 a year, from the state averages. The gap is $1,664 a year for the infant, which is 10.7 percent, and it is not a disagreement. It is two different measurements. Child Care Aware averages the prices that state Child Care Resource and Referral networks report across every program in the state, including small towns and subsidized programs. Care.com averages the rates that providers post on its marketplace, which skew toward cities and toward providers who advertise, and which are the rates a parent actually sees when shopping. The state average is the better planning benchmark, and the posted rate is the better shopping benchmark, and a parent who budgets the state average and shops the posted rate will find the bill $1,664 higher than the plan, which is why the calculator on this site lets you enter the quote in front of you instead of the benchmark.

The same pattern holds for the nanny, where the gap between the surveys is wider still, because a nanny is a person and not a program. Care.com's 2026 posted rates put a nanny at $870 a week for one infant and $936 for a toddler, on a 40-hour week, which is $45,240 and $48,672 a year, and which is the rate a family pays for one adult caring for one child in the family's own home. There is no Child Care Aware nanny benchmark to compare it with, because the state surveys measure programs, not household employees, and the nanny's price is set by the local labor market for household help, which is why it tracks the wage for a nanny rather than the price of a daycare slot. The nanny is $29,640 a year more than the center for one infant, which is the largest gap on this page, and it is the gap that makes the nanny a different purchase, not a more expensive version of the same purchase: the center buys a slot, and the nanny buys a person, and the person costs nearly three times the slot.

The age ladder, and what it costs to wait

The ladder falls at every step, because the staff-to-child ratio rises as the child grows. An infant needs one adult for every three or four children under most state licensing rules, and a toddler needs one for every four to eight, and a 4-year-old needs one for every ten or more, and the price of the slot is the price of the adult's time divided by the children in the room. The center infant at $15,600 falls $1,404 to the toddler at $14,196, and $1,612 more to the preschooler at $12,584, which is $3,016 a year between the infant and the 4-year-old, or $251 a month. The home infant at $11,440 falls $728 to the toddler and $312 more to the preschooler, which is $1,040 a year, and which is smaller because the home's ratio is already looser and its price already lower. The bill falls as the child grows, and it falls fastest at the center, which is why the families who feel the bill most are the families with the youngest children, and why the waiting list for an infant room is the longest list in the building.

There is a second way to read the ladder, which is as the price of the years before school. A child in full-time center care from birth to kindergarten costs $15,600 in the infant year, $14,196 in the toddler year, and $12,584 a year for two preschool years, which is $54,964 over four years before a single fee, and $78,000 over five years at the infant rate, which is the figure the calculator returns for the five-year total. The same four years at a licensed home daycare cost $11,440, $10,712, and $10,400 twice, which is $42,952, and the gap between the center and the home over four years is $12,012, which is the price of the facility, the curriculum, and the backup when a teacher is sick. The five-year figure is the one that should be compared with the alternatives, because the bill is not a monthly expense, it is a multi-year commitment, and the family that prices it by the week is pricing a tenth of the commitment.

What the national average leaves out

The national average leaves out the state, which is the largest single driver of the price, and which is the subject of the next article in this series: the same infant in a center costs $640 a month in Mississippi and $2,195 in Massachusetts, a spread of $18,660 a year, which is more than the whole Mississippi bill twice over. It leaves out the city, because a center in a major metro costs 15 to 40 percent more than the state average, and a center in a small town costs 10 to 25 percent less, which is a rule of thumb from the shopping guides and not a published figure, but which is the reason two families in the same state can pay different prices for the same care. It leaves out the fees, because registration, supplies, meals, and activities commonly add $500 a year, which is $16,100 instead of $15,600, and which is the line that turns a quote into a bill. And it leaves out the tax saving, because the 2026 rules are the most generous in forty years: a Dependent Care FSA lets a household set aside up to $7,500 of pay before tax, saving $1,650 at a 22 percent marginal rate plus $574 in payroll tax, and the Child and Dependent Care Credit pays up to 50 percent of up to $3,000 of expenses for one child, for a maximum credit of $1,500. The net bill on the defaults is $13,950 after the FSA saving, which is 16.0 percent of the median income instead of 17.8 percent, and which is still $7,828 over the 7 percent line.

Sources

Child Care Aware of America, Child Care in America: 2024 Affordability Analysis, Tables I and II (center care $300 a week for an infant, $273 for a toddler, $242 for a 4-year-old; licensed home daycare $220, $206, and $200 a week; national average $13,128 a year). Child Care Aware of America, 2025 Price and Supply analysis (released May 2026; national average $13,184 a year, $1,099 a month, $254 a week; infant center $15,636 a year). Care.com 2026 Cost of Care Report (2025 posted rates: daycare $332 a week for an infant, $308 for a toddler; nanny $870 a week for an infant, $936 for a toddler; parents spend an average of 20 percent of household income on child care, 78 percent spend 10 percent or more). U.S. Census Bureau, Income in the United States: 2025 (median household income $87,460 in 2025, $85,210 in 2024). All calculator figures were computed by this site's calculator under the stated model.

How Much Does Daycare Cost? questions

How much does daycare cost per week?

Across all ages and care types, about $254 a week, or $13,184 a year, per Child Care Aware of America's 2025 Price and Supply analysis. Full-time center care averages about $300 a week for an infant, $273 for a toddler, and $242 for a 4-year-old.

How much does daycare cost per month?

About $1,099 a month across all ages and care types, or $1,301 a month for an infant in full-time center care. Care.com's 2026 posted rates run higher, at $1,439 a month for an infant, which is the difference between a state average and a marketplace rate.

How much does daycare cost for an infant?

About $15,600 a year in a center at the $300-a-week benchmark, or $11,440 in a licensed home daycare at $220 a week. Care.com's posted rate is $17,264 a year, and a nanny is $45,240 a year at $870 a week.

Does daycare get cheaper as a child grows?

Yes, at every age milestone. Center care falls from $15,600 a year for an infant to $14,196 for a toddler and $12,584 for a 4-year-old, a saving of $3,016 a year, because the staff-to-child ratio rises as the child grows.

Keep reading

• Daycare Cost by StateThe $18,660 spread between the cheapest and dearest states.
• Is Child Care Worth It for a Second Income?What a second paycheck keeps after care, tax, and the commute.
• How to Pay Less for DaycareThe 2026 tax rules, and five levers ranked by dollars.
• Nanny vs Daycare CostThe $29,640 gap, and the two children that close it.
• The Child Care Burden Study10,000 simulated families: who pays more than 7% of income, and by how much.
• Child Care Cost CalculatorPrice your own quote, check it against 7% of your income, and count the 2026 tax saving.