![]() Unlike so many industries, child care cannot be automated, and while there may be room for efficiencies at the administrative level, an early childhood classroom will always need teachers. Children need well-trained teachers to care for them and engage them in age-appropriate play and activities. The cost of child care is driven primarily by salary and benefitsĬhild care is a labor-intensive business. ![]() The tool can help answer the question of why child care costs so much, and it can be used to advocate for a public investment in child care that fully supports our nation’s youngest learners and their families. The interactive provides important information about the current state of the child care market. 10Ĭlick the image below to view the interactive: Full details of the assumptions and data sources used in the interactive are available in the accompanying methodology. As users design their classroom, the tool calculates the monthly cost per child of providing care at the chosen level of quality. Each of these elements is tied to the quality of the program and has an associated cost. 9 Within the tool, users can modify seven elements of the child care program, including salaries, benefits, teacher-child ratios, and classroom materials. The interactive is informed by national averages and integrates local data to provide state-specific estimates for the cost of care. 8 The results can help users understand where their monthly tuition goes, how expenses change as quality increases, and why there is such a critical need for a new public investment in early childhood education. 7 For the first time, this interactive offers a simplified way for parents and policymakers to estimate the true cost of providing high-quality child care in every state. While several states have done studies to estimate the cost of providing child care that meets state quality standards, these studies are time- and resource-intensive, and the results are often not widely accessible beyond a core policy audience. 6 In addition to calculating the monthly cost per child in a center-based program, the tool includes a breakdown of the main expenses that contribute to that cost. To answer this question, the Center for American Progress has developed an interactive tool that estimates the cost of high-quality child care in each state.
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