The cost of child care increased up to eight times the rate of increases in family income from 2011 to 2012 and eclipsed every other household expense in the Northeast, Midwest, and South for families with two children attending a center-based program full time, says a report released last week by the advocacy group Child Care Aware of America.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that families pay no more than 10 percent of their income for child care, but in 38 states and the District of Columbia child-care costs exceed that recommendation by “much, much more,” the report says.
Family income rose 0.6 percent, and the cost-of-living increased 1.6 percent from 2011 to 2012, according to the study. Meanwhile, child care for infants placed in a center full time rose 2.7 percent; the cost of those enrolled full time in home-based day care jumped 3.7 percent.
