Childcare Burden Index

The percentage of a household's median income consumed by annual childcare costs for one child.

The Childcare Burden Index is calculated as annual center-based infant care cost divided by median household income, multiplied by 100. ChildcareCost uses this metric to summarize affordability at the county level by combining U.S. Department of Labor National Database of Childcare Prices data with Census Bureau American Community Survey median household income. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has historically defined affordable childcare as costing no more than 7% of household income, a threshold codified in the 2016 Child Care and Development Block Grant Act reauthorization as the target co-payment for subsidized families. In reality, the national average burden far exceeds this threshold: the 2023 update of the DOL database showed infant care consumes 8% to 19.3% of median family income depending on county. ChildcareCost classifies counties into burden tiers: under 10% is affordable, 10% to 15% is moderate, 15% to 20% is high, and over 20% is severe. The highest-burden counties in the U.S. are concentrated in three regions: the expensive coastal metros (San Francisco, New York, DC, Boston) where absolute prices are highest; the Upper Midwest and New England (Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut) where infant care prices are high relative to modest median incomes; and college towns where low local wages are paired with center-based care priced for dual-earner professional families. The burden is also highly unequal within counties: families earning 80% of area median income may face burdens two to three times the county average, and for families with two children in care simultaneously, total childcare cost can exceed rent or mortgage in nearly every U.S. metro. This burden is among the strongest predictors of reduced maternal labor force participation in peer-reviewed economic research.

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