In news that should come as no surprise to any of California’s working parents, the state has among the highest annual childcare costs in the country, according to a new survey from Haven Life. It found the average cost of infant care at a child care center statewide was $16,542, second only to the Massachusetts total of $20,415.
The insurance company looked not only at overall costs, but also the percentage of a typical family’s income that goes towards child care. Here also, California was at the top of the pack. The amount was 16.4 percent of the $101,026 earned by the average married couple in the state, 34.7 percent of a single-father’s income and over 50 percent of a single mother’s income. For minimum wage workers in the state, the cost of childcare could eat up nearly two-thirds of their annual salary. (Salary figures came from the 2017 U.S. Census American Community Survey and the U.S. Department of Labor.)
The problem of affordable child care may be extreme in California, but it is a problem seen by parents nationwide. The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that childcare cost no more than 7 percent of a household’s income. By that measure, only two states (Mississippi and Alabama) could be considered to have affordable care, and then only for married-couple families. Even in these most affordable states, child care costs were still unaffordable for single parents of both genders, but particularly single mothers. Nationwide, single mothers paid over 40 percent of their salaries for childcare, according to the report.
The outlook was particularly grim for millennials, reported Child Care Aware of America, which provided the child-care cost data for the Haven Life survey. In 17 states, paying for an infant’s child care required more than 50 percent of the average millennials income. “This group is unique as they are entering the work force during a time of high unemployment and stagnant wages,” according to the report from the affordable child care advocacy group. “For these reasons, many millennials go back to acquire higher education degrees to secure a better paying job. In fact, 1 in 4 students pursuing an undergraduate degree are also raising a child. So, millennials not only deal with the high cost of education, but also the high cost of child care.”
Emily Landes has an eight-year-old, a three-year-old and a pretty severe sleep deficit.
