Mom reveals daycare alone costs $35,000 for an infant — and it explains why Americans don't want children

For many families, the cost of having children has become nearly impossible to cover, especially regarding daycare. In a post shared by a mom, Paige Turner (@sheisapaigeturner), she showed a list of daycare rates for children and the numbers are staggering. For an infant, five days a week with 10 hours of care daily costs $664 (a week). That's nearly $35,000 a year for just one child. And the prices don’t drop by much when those children get older. Parents are still shelling out $521 a week for a child in pre-K, which adds up to about $28,000 annually.

To make matters worse, daycare centers don't offer much of a break when it comes to reducing the hours. As the woman pointed out, "When you go to daycare, typically you're gonna take the most hours because you have to commute to work, you have to commute back from work and you have to work eight hours a day." And if you miss the pick-up time by even a minute, you're hit with $2 per minute in late fees, making it often more cost-effective to pay for 10 hours than risk being late for the 9-hour option. She also explained how the cost of childcare doesn’t stay static.

"Daycare centers raise their tuition every single September, and typically that’s anywhere between 5 to 20%. And most people are looking at a 10% increase." So even though the price per child might decrease slightly as they get older, the annual increases mean that parents pay exponentially more over time. But it’s not just childcare that’s a burden. She further mentioned, "It’s the cost of housing and groceries, and you compound all those things." Add in the expense of healthcare, and it becomes clear why so many people are struggling to afford the basic necessities, let alone save for the future.

She shared her surprise at how quickly daycare rates have increased, saying, "I did not know looking back four or five years ago when I first started having kids that I would be paying this much money for daycare. The rates over the last 20 years have gone up like 200%. It is wild how expensive childcare is in our country." She explained, "If we had affordable childcare, it would not only benefit families and children, it would benefit the economy. It would benefit businesses, and it would benefit us as a greater society." However, despite the overwhelming evidence that affordable childcare is a need, the conversation often shifts toward personal responsibility.

As she pointed out, "People constantly are looking at adults who are married or of birthing years and saying, why aren’t you having kids? And we’re looking around saying, how could we possibly have kids when we can't even afford to buy a house?"

People online flooded the comments section echoing the same frustrations. @theycallmebeffy said, "They’re charging $55-75 per hour while probably paying their employees $15…ridiculous." @wallawallawander shared, "I paid $625 a month for infant care in 2008." @allieleigh15 expressed, "I got passed over for a promotion today and cried because it meant that our dream of a second child is put off for another year." @sheisapaigeturner sarcastically added, "Don't forget that amazing $3000 child tax credit, it totally offsets the costs." 

The U.S. fertility rate is now below the rate required to sustain the population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The fertility rate was recorded to be around 1.6 births per woman in 2023, while a fertility rate of 2.1 births per woman was required to maintain the population, reported CNBC News. 

You can follow Paige Turner (@sheisapaigeturner) on TikTok for more childcare content.