For millions of working parents, the biggest bill of the month is not the rent or the car payment. It is child care. The newest national figures show full-time care averaging more than $13,000 a year, licensed centers shrinking for the first time in years, and mothers of young children slipping out of the workforce, even as some states and employers test new ways to close the gap.
Here is where the child care crunch stands as 2026 heads toward the holidays, what parents say it feels like, and where families are finding real help.
The numbers right now
- $13,184 a year: the national average price of child care in 2025, according to Child Care Aware of America’s latest price and supply report, released in May. NPR, citing the group, reported the average rose more than 20% from 2022 to 2025.
- 10% and 33%: the share of median income that average price takes from a married couple and from a single parent, respectively.
- More than rent: in every state with data, center care for two children costs more than median rent, Child Care Aware found. Infant center care now costs more than in-state public college tuition in 32 states, according to an analysis republished by Fortune on Oct. 30.
- Fewer centers: licensed child care centers fell about 1% from 2024 to 2025, the first decrease after several years of growth, while family child care homes rose about 1.4%.
- 68.0%: the labor force participation rate of mothers with children under 6 in 2025, down from 68.3% in 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. For fathers of young children, it rose to 95.3%.
- 15%: the share of children eligible under federal rules who actually receive child care subsidies, according to Child Care Aware’s June report on state systems.
The bigger swing came early in 2025. A University of Kansas analysis of BLS data, reported by CBS News, found mothers of young children saw their steepest workforce decline in more than 40 years in the first half of that year. The 2025 annual BLS averages exclude October because data were not collected during last year’s federal shutdown.
Why care keeps getting harder to find
Providers say they are squeezed from both sides. Federal pandemic relief, nearly $40 billion aimed at child care in 2021, ran out by 2023, and many states used it to lift teacher pay. In North Carolina, child care teachers averaged $14.20 an hour in 2024, and the state lost a net 262 licensed programs since 2023, according to Gov. Josh Stein’s office as reported by EdNC and The 74. Subsidy waitlists there topped 8,000 children in February.
Most states also pay subsidy rates below what care actually costs, especially for infants and toddlers, Child Care Aware found. An Oklahoma center operator told NPR it costs her more to operate than she receives in reimbursement.
What families are telling us
In Care.com’s 2026 Cost of Care survey of 3,000 parents who pay for care, conducted in late 2025, parents reported spending an average of 20% of household income on child care. Nearly nine in 10 said they feel burned out, and 59% said they had thought about leaving a job. A June 2025 AP-NORC poll, cited by the Associated Press in October, found about three-quarters of U.S. adults call child care costs a major problem.
Parents interviewed by NPR described leaving jobs because care cost nearly as much as they earned. If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).
What’s helping
- Bigger tax breaks this year: under the 2025 federal tax law, the dependent care FSA limit rose from $5,000 to $7,500 starting in 2026, and the child and dependent care tax credit rate rose for many low- and moderate-income families, the Tax Policy Center notes. The employer child care credit was also expanded.
- State experiments: New Mexico began offering free child care to working families regardless of income in November 2025 and estimates savings of about $12,000 a year per family. Vermont, funded partly by a small payroll tax, expanded the number of families covered by 55% from 2022 to 2025. Kentucky passed a bipartisan package in April 2026 that includes free care for children of child care workers.
- Shared-cost models: Michigan and Kentucky use “tri-share” programs that split the cost among the state, the employer and the family, and Iowa matches private and state dollars to build new slots, NPR reported.
What you can do
- Check your state’s child care assistance program through ChildCare.gov; income limits are often higher than families expect.
- During open enrollment, ask HR about the new $7,500 dependent care FSA limit and any employer child care benefits.
- Ask your local child care resource and referral agency about family child care homes, which grew in number last year.
- Look into Head Start, Early Head Start and state pre-K, which are free for eligible families.
Why it matters for families
Child care decides whether many parents can work, how much they can earn and how many children families feel they can afford. It also matters to employers short on workers and to the wider economy.
The two parties see the fix differently. Republicans have favored tax-based approaches, such as the expanded credits and employer incentives in last year’s tax law, and Vice President JD Vance has floated turning subsidies into cash for married couples when one parent stays home. Democrats have generally pushed for more public funding, universal pre-K and caps on what families pay, such as 7% of household income.
What to watch next
Watch for results from New Mexico’s and Kentucky’s programs, state budget fights over subsidy rates, how many families use the bigger FSA and tax credit when they file next spring, and Child Care Aware’s next price report. Upstormed News will keep following the story.
How is your family handling child care costs this year? Tell us in the comments.
This story is part of America Right Now, Upstormed News’ series on the changes American families are living through. Read the full series.
Related coverage: Why everything feels expensive: The family budget squeeze heading into winter · Later weddings, fewer births, fewer divorces: How the American family is changing
Read more: Thanksgiving 2026 meal deals compared: What $30-$40 buys at Walmart, Aldi, Target
Sources: Child Care Aware of America, “Child Care Prices Rival Major Household Expenses; Supply Fails to Keep Pace with Demand” (May 13, 2026); Fortune / The Conversation, “Infant care now costs more than in-state college in 32 states” (Oct. 30, 2026); Fortune / The Associated Press, “The parenthood tax: voters pay $13,000-a-year for childcare” (Oct. 21, 2026); NPR via WHRO, “From Oklahoma to Washington, daycare costs are soaring. Everyone’s feeling the pinch” (Aug. 8, 2026); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor force participation rate was 73.9 percent for mothers and 93.7 percent for fathers in 2025” (May 1, 2026); CBS News, “U.S. sees steepest decline of mothers of young children in the workforce in 40 years, study finds” (Sept. 8, 2025); First Five Years Fund, “New Child Care Aware of America Report Highlights Underfunding in State Child Care Systems” (July 14, 2026); The 74 / EdNC, “Childcare Advocates Ask for Funds to ‘Sustain What we Have’ Amid Closures, Waitlists” (May 24, 2026); Care.com via Business Wire, “Parents Face Widespread Burnout and Identity Loss under Caregiving Pressures, New Care.com Report Finds” (Feb. 3, 2026); Tax Policy Center, “2025 reconciliation law makes some modest changes to child care tax benefits” (2025)
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