Organization: Penn State University
Date: Monday, 13 Apr 1992 16:37:35 EDT
From: <CXF12@psuvm.psu.edu> (Carol Fischer)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Cost of Day Care (SUMMARY -- LONG)

I have finally had a chance to summarize the day care costs from around the
U.S.A. (and one data point from Canada).  I have tried my best to summarize
by geographic regions.  In some cases, I had to make an educated guess as to
the city, as the respondent did not explicitly indicate what city (s)he was
from.  All of the individual replies (edited to include only pertinent
comments & the poster's name & e-mail address) are appended to this summary.

General comments:

Not surprisingly, the highest costs are concentrated in big cities (NYC,
Boston, LA, Toronto) & day-care centers are generally more expensive than
in-home providers (when the in-home provider cares for several children).  An
in-home provider for a single child seemed to be the most expensive option in
many areas.  Unless otherwise indicated, the costs below are for day care
centers.  Cities in the same region with similar costs were combined.

Most people did not provide costs for different age groups, but where possible,
this is indicated.  When respondents gave monthly costs, they were converted to
weekly figures (for comparative purposes) by multiplying the monthly cost by 12
and then dividing the resulting annual cost by 52.  Also, note that this are
costs for "full-time", but full-time may vary from about 40 to 55 hours per
week depending on location.

Toronto, Canada
- $140 to $200/week (young toddler)

Northeast USA
- NYC and Boston
    $200 - $350 infants
    $100 - $150 pre-schoolers
    $300 - $400 live-out nanny
- Philadelphia
    $140  infants
    $125  toddlers
    $110  pre-schoolers
- State College (PA), Rome (NY) & Pittsburgh
    $100 - $130 infants
    $65 - $100  toddlers
    $65 - $90   pre-schoolers

Southeast USA
- Washington, DC
    $140  infants
    $85  infants (in-home day care)
- Research Triangle (NC)
    $60 to $80  infants (in-home day care)
    $170  young toddlers
- Atlanta
    $150 to age 1
    $130 toddlers
    $125 pre-schoolers

Mid-West USA
- St. Louis
    $125 infants
    $110 toddlers
    $250 - $400 live-out nanny
- Cincinnati
    $90 young toddlers
- Naperville (IL)
    $125 - $140
- Aurora (IL?)
    $75

Northwest USA
- Seattle
    $140 infants
    $120 toddlers
    $100 grade schoolers (full-time when school is out)
    $60   "        "     (before & after school)
    $82.50 for babysitters

West USA
- Colorado (sorry no city given)
    $50 - $75 infants in-home caregiver
    $75 - $100 infants in center
- San Diego
    $90 - $120 infants
- West LA
    $125 toddlers
    $100 pre-schoolers
- Santa Clara
    $175 infants
    $150 pre-schoolers

Southwest USA
-Dallas/Ft. Worth
    $200 + rm/bd + agency fee for live-in nanny
    $275 ($5/hr) for in daily in-home care
    $100 for Au Pair
    $90 to $95 for day care
    $75 to $85 for home-based care


  I don't know about the prices of daycare in your area, but it
  seems that for about $200/wk per child, the cost of day care
  can really add up so that if you have 3 kids, that's $600/wk
  in take-home pay.  Most Dependant Care Accounts only allow
  $5000/year before taxes.  So the rest has to come from after
  tax income.  There must be a cost benefit curve where if daycare
  costs almost your whole paycheck, and it doesn't benefit the
  kids to go, then maybe having one parent stay home for a couple
  of years until the kids go to school becomes better for the
  whole family.  I only have one son right now and he goes to
  grandmother.  However I can see how some of my friends with
  2+ kids have decided to stay at home.  It doesn't seem worth
  the hassle of scheduling, getting everyone up in the morning,
  rushing around when you only net $100 week (which you use up
  in gasoline and work clothes).  Not to mention the intangibles
  that money can't buy.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clare Chu, Ph.D.             Data & Information Services
NYNEX Science & Technology   clare@nynexst.com
White Plains, NY 10462       AMIGA RULES!!!
=========================================================================
From: WELACK@MIAMIU.BITNET

In Cincinnati, we have our one yr. old in a day care center. They recently
raised their rates for the first time in two years (that's what they told
us) and we are paying $90.00 per week. They give meals and snacks, but we
bring in juice for him.

 We don't have to pay for weeks he's not there, providing we have given 2
weeks notice. If he's sick though, that price for the week still stands.

Bill and Linda, better known as Corey's dad and mom
=========================================================================
From:   celia@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Celia H Modell)

We're in a suburb of Seattle. Beth is a first grader.

We pay $60 a week for before/after school care and $100 a week when
there is no school.

celia modell
========================================================================
From: mcg@osf.org

In the Boston/ Cambridge area day care is about $850-997 per month,
between 7:30 AM and 5:30 PM, 5 days/week (12 holidays/year).
======================================================================

I live in a mostly rural part of NY state.  Specifically, I work in Rome,
NY at Griffiss AFB.  James goes to in-home day care and it costs $75/week.

I think this is very inexpensive because I once posted to misc.taxes to
ask about claiming child care deductions and many people said I was getting
off easy!  If you think about it, $75 is less than $2/hour.

_____________________________________________________________________________
Debbie Harden                  It's easy to love a sleeping baby.
Rome Laboratory
hardend@lonex.rl.af.mil
========================================================================
From: co2@prism.gatech.edu (OLIVE,CAROLYN C)
Status: R

  We pay 125 a week for our 3.5yo and 130 a week for our 14mo. it was 150
a week until he moved to the older infant room at the age of 1. This is
high for our area. It is a hospital based center, primarily for employees
(who receive a subsidy of 50/week/child). They accept members of the
general public (us) as space is available. ratios in the infant
room are 1adult/4children. the ratio goes up (down?) to 1 adult/9 children
for preschool (3yo).  All classes consist of 2 teachers and N children,
N depending on the age group. Price includes breakfast, lunch and snack.
Dinner is $2 extra. The base price covers 10 hours per day. anything over
that costs $2/hour. We looked into cheaper places. They all had higher ratios,
less adequatemeals, and most had larger classes (3-4 teachers and N children)
all of which we considered detrimental. Carolyn
=======================================================================
From: aharvey@hpmail1.fwrdc.rtsg.mot.com (Anne Harvey)

I live in a small middle/upper middle class suburb between Dallas and
Fort Worth, Texas.  When I began my search fall `91 these were the
approximate costs (per week) for infant day-care around my home.

  Live-in nanny       $200
                       + room and board + agency fee

  Daily In-home       $275  ($5/hour)

  These are the starting costs, obviously they can be higher.  Or these
  costs could be less if you don't go through agency, get non-English
  speaking person, or an illegal alien.

  It's my understanding that when the service is regularly provided in
  your home, you are responsible for paying SS taxes.  It's also
  recommended that you provide some sort of medical insurance - the
  agencies can get you group rate on this.  (Au pairs are handled
  differently because they are temporary and have some special visa.)

  Au Pair             $100 (starting)
                        + room and board + agency fee (starting at $1K)

  Commercial Day-Care $95

  Home-Care           $75-85
                      (you could go cheaper, but these homes sounded
		      pretty bad.  There were some more expensive when
		      the caregiver was a teacher and only taking in
		      one child.)

Remember these prices were from last fall.  I think most places raised
prices around the first of the year.  My day-care provider increased
her fees from $80 to $90/week.  Note this is "infant" care.  Some
places charge less for older children; others, those which provide
formal education or activities (schools), charge more.

anne
=======================================================================
From: jbd@cs.duke.edu (Joanne Bechta Dugan)

I pay $750 per month for my 14 month old
son at a day care center where the caregiver/child
ratio is 1/3 (in North Carolina).
========================================================================
From: "Shirl G. Grant" <sb3t+@andrew.cmu.edu>

Well, I have a VERY cheap (cost, not quailty) in-home daycare giver.  I
pay $65 a week.  The infant daycare affiliated with my job (for which
the company pays 25%) costs around $550 a month (total cost).  Some
in-home caregivers (read daytime babysitters because they usually only
have 1 or 2 kids daily) sometimes charge $3 -4 an hour.

Yes, the range is infinite.

-Shirl
=========================================================================
From: las@ai.mit.edu (Lynn Stein)

In the Boston area, day care is *much* more expensive.  I'm sure
elsewhere it's much cheaper.  For comparison:

Center-based care:
    Infants $250-$350/week
    Preschoolers $100-$150/week (I think -- we don't have one yet)
    Toddlers somewhere in between

Family-based care:
    $4-5 hour (ish)

Live-out Nanny:
    $300-$400 or more/week; probably $7 or $8/hour
    [This is on a per household basis, not per kid, so the range
     covers more than the other categories.]

I'm most certain of the live-out range as it's what we've been using,
but I've used/investigated the others at times.  Also, I think live-in
runs $150+ (maybe as high as $250) a week, but I'm not sure.

                                          Lynn
                                          las@ai.mit.edu
========================================================================
From: gauchj@hatteras.cs.unc.edu (John M. Gauch)

I'm amazed and jealous of the daycare costs bosted from other parts
of the country.  Here in Boston live-out care runs $6-8 per hour
Yes, that's $300-400 per week for someone to come to your home
10 hours a day, 5 days a week.  We use a live-in nanny which runs
$175-$250 per week (we pay $185 for a newborn and a 3 y.o.).
Daycare centers run about $250 per week (Wellesley Colleges
was at least that for a newborn)  Family daycare in the Newton
area anyway (nice suburb for non-Bostonians) run $5/hour or
$250 per week.  So, the cheapest alternative is a nanny, which
has the reputation of being the most extravagant.  We have the
extra room, don't mind the company, and get errands run and some
minor housekeeping on top.

Next year Laura starts pre-school 4 days a week for 2.5 hours a day.
Cost - $2300.  Ouch!  This is a good pre-school, with a middle of the
road cost.  The cheapest around is run by our church and is $1250
for 3 mornings.  At the other end is the Chestnut Hill Academy
at $5500 (I'm not kidding).

Consider yourself lucky if you live elsewhere.

Susan Gauch

P.S.
Don't just "r" reply to this posting - I'm borrowing someone else's account.
Instead, to respond to this message, send mail to
sgauch@damon.ccs.northeastern.edu
=======================================================================
Well, here in St Louis, I pay $125/week for Jennica. It goes down to about
$110 when she turns two. We looked at a couple of other day-care centers,
one was about $90 and the other was $185. For $185 you actually didn't get
a whole lot - we actually prefer the place where Jennica is, and in fact a
couple of her classmates left the $185 place as "it was dirty" (!)

We also looked into home-based daycare, and that ran about $80/week, plus
extra for food (a dollar or so per meal, 50c a snack or thereabouts). I
recently called a nanny agency (I'm expecting my second, so I thought that
may work out cheaper, but no such luck) and according to the agency, nannies
ususally run $250-$400/week. Perhaps a live-in (not feasible for us) would
be cheaper.

I know this varies a lot: a friend in Champaign-Urbana (pop ~100,000 without
the students) used to pay about $70/week for daycare.

Charlene
=======================================================================
From: denised@zeb ( Denise Durgee #350  x5444 )

Prior to returning to work, I did quite a bit of investigation into day
care for my son.  I felt the adult-to-child ratio to be too high at the
normal day care facilities and opted to go with a family day care
provider.  In Colorado they are normally given licenses for the care of
2 infants (under 2) and 4 children over 2.

My provider charges $95.00 per week.  I found this to be the average
cost in the area I reside.  I was given dollar figures from $85 to $110.
The $95 includes all of my son's food (formula/baby food/table food).  I
supply the diapers and wipes.  I have a written agreement with my
provider (a contract actually).  She gets paid vacation days just like I
do and her hours are 7:20 am to 5:00 pm.

I obtained her name from a friend and I was also given her name when I
called the community information for child care.  If you would like any
more info on my experiences, please let me know.  I have been extremely
pleased with the care my son has received.  He has been there since he
was 9 weeks old -- he is now 11 months.

Denise Durgee
U S WEST Advanced Technologies
========================================================================

From: goolsby@milton.u.washington.edu (Rebecca Goolsby)

A neighbor around here babysits for 2.50 an hour, which works out to 82.50
a week or 330.00/month.

Infants are more expensive, and it is more difficult to find the right
match.  At the daycare center where my daughter went from eight months
to one and a half, I paid 620/month until she graduated to the toddler
room, where I paid 520/month (and then moved her to her present center).

In contrast, in the more rural suburbs of Dallas, Texas, my younger sister
pays about $150/month for a halfday program, and says that reasonably
quality daycare is available in Dallas for as little as 350/month for
fulltime.  My sister-in-law, in the Washington DC suburbs in Virginia,
pays 85 dollars a week for an in-home caregiver/neighbor, who takes the
infant (4 months) for twelve hours a day, five days a week (6 am to 6 pm).
Daycare centers which take infants in that part of the country go as
high as 800/month, with 600/month being "about average" she says.  This
goes down when the child reaches toddler age, to about 480/month.

"Fulltime" also means a range of times. In Seattle, I have found it hard
to find a daycare center that starts before 7 am, while in DC, many do.
There are different closing times, too. Some stay open as late as 6:30,
others close at 5:00 or 5:30 (mine, at 5:45). Most programs in Seattle
charge a flat monthly fee for "fulltime" care, some have a limited number
of halftime enrollments available, which means the child goes three days
a week, not half a day, every day, unless you can find someone to go in
with you to "share" a spot, and there is limited flexibility in what is
and is not possible in terms of reducing your bill. Or in terms of when
your child can attend.

In-home care givers seem to be preferred in Seattle because they offer more
flexibility than the centers, as well as more personal attention. Rates
for these caregivers make them  a bit more competitive because they often
do it on an hourly basis.

Becky Goolsby

Internet: goolsby@washington.edu

Mail: Dept of Anthropology, Mailstop DH-05
      Seattle, Wa. 98195
========================================================================
The following is based on full-time (usually 40+ hrs per week) care
for centers in the Central Pennsylvania area (Penn State University):

Infants: $105 to $130 per week
Toddlers: $70 to $110 per week
Pre-schoolers: $65 to $90 per week

For a home-based provider, we currently pay $92/week (for a 3 yr old).

Carol Fischer (CXF12@psuvm.psu.edu)
========================================================================
Reply-To: susan.davis@ColoSpgs.NCR.COM  (Susan Davis)
We live in Colorado Springs and when I was looking around, I found the following

Infants/home care : $50-$75/week (licensed homes are $75/week)
Infants/Center    : $75-$100/week

Our first center was $320/month and then we got a 10% discount because of my
husbands work locations so we paid $288/month (This was the low end for
daycare centers).  We were generally pleased although they had 10 infants
and 2 care-givers (this is state ratio requirement 5:1 for infants).  Then
my husband started working at The Colorado College which has onsite daycare.
We got on the waiting list and got in within a month.  They charge $405/month
for infant care.  They only have 5 infants and they often have 2 caregivers
because they employ students to help out in the afternoons and the two women
who work in the infant room overlap their hours over lunch.  We really feel
that he gets more personal attention in his new center.  He will probably
be in the infant room until he is 18months because there are already 2 older
babies waiting to move from the infant room to the toddler room.  (We like
the idea of him staying in the infant room!)  The toddler fees are 370/month
but then you pay 30/month if you want hot lunch so it comes to about the
same amount.  It seems the rates go up every year so I assume that I will
always be paying about what I pay now even when he moves to the "cheaper"
room.

-- Susan Davis (Mommy to Ryan -- 11 months)
======================================================================

From: statar@cbnewse.cb.att.com (sherry.l.tatar)

When Jessica first went to home daycare at age 3 months (8/90) I was
charged $2/hour, and I supplied all formula, baby food, diapers and wipes.
On 1/1 the provider changed her rate to $2.25/hour.  She quit doing home
daycare at the end of March, she wasn't making enough money.  Our new
provider, who we've used for almost a year now, charges $3/hour for any
age.  I provide diapers and wipes, she provides breakfast, lunch, 2
snacks, and lots of crafts.  This seems pretty consistent with
other providers in my area (Naperville, IL).  Daycare centers around
here charge around $125-$140/week for full time care, or $3/hour for
part time.  Daycare centers charge the full amount every week.
My home daycare provider does not get paid during holidays, her vacation,
or our vaction.  I usually pay $120 for a four day week.

My sister-in-law lives in Aurora, a few miles west where daycare is much
cheaper.  She pays about $75 for 2 kids (age 2 and 3) full time.  She
provides their food and diapers.


Sherry
=====================================================================
From: sg@tredysvr.Tredydev.Unisys.COM (Susanne Gilliam)
  In the suburbs of Philly, my center charges the following:
 	6 weeks-18 months	$140/week full time
	18 months-36 months	$125/week full time
	36 months-kindergarten	$110/week full time

  The fees are very comparable to the zillion other centers I've looked at;
licenced home based care is very difficult to find, and seems to be only
about $20 a week cheaper (but then I didn't find very many, so it was
hard to compare).  Our center is excellent, and holds the class sizes
mostly below the state requirements, with far more space
per child than is required.  We pay whether we are there or not, but we
do get a discount for having two kids there (15% off the cheaper child's
rate).
  I know that further out in the suburbs, where many of my co-workers live,
there is far more home based care available, and it is less expensive.
However, I don't know enough to quote figures.

					Susanne Gilliam
======================================================================

From: gregory@csri.toronto.edu (Kate Gregory)

In Toronto, we paid:

$50/day takehome (cost us $60) for 2 days a week "mother's helper"
   who did housework too. Plus food for her and Beth.

$200/week for 5 days a week at a for-profit chain. This was far cheaper than
   their infant rates, and was scheduled to drop again at 18 months.
   Included Beth's food. Plus gas back and forth to the centre, 20
   minutes each way, twice a day (I work at home).

$600/month for 5 days a week at a nonprofit centre within walking distance of
   home. Includes Beth's food, and they used my cloth diapers.

At both these centres you pay whether your child is there or not, even if
you're away all week and you give them 6 months notice (eg vacation). There
are government regulations (and inspections) covering ratios,
presence of an ECE in every room, discipline techniques (no hitting,
no depriving of sleep, food, clothing, or the utensils necessary
for food or sleep -- eg "you peed your pants, you are a baby,
you can't have a big kid cup at lunch" would not be allowed) nap
or quiet time, and so on.

Then we moved quite a way out of town. The nearest non profit centre
is 20 minutes to half hour away, depending on the weather. In
really bad weather we stay home. They welcome "ad hoc" kids, where
you pay only for the times your child is there. It's $24/day
or $110 a week for full days; $17 for a half day with one snack
and hot lunch (at the start or end of the half day) and $11 for
a half day with no lunch. There are 10 kids in Beth's class but
usually two or three in at one time. If it gets up to 4 a helper
is brought in. They follow all the same rules as the other centres.

This place is so small it has three rooms: 18 months to
toilet trained, toilet trained to school, and after school.
At 4pm the toddlers go into the "big room" with the preschoolers. It's
just the sort of place I really wanted back when I was paying the mother's
helper. And I hope soon I'll be working less; Beth goes there 4 or 5 days
a week lately so it's not important at the moment that they
are flexible about what days I pay for, but by the summer I hope
to be taking advantage of it.

Kate
========================================================================

From: annette@systech.bjorn.COM (Annette Jackson)

I've found that the cost for in-home daycare providers here in San Diego
ranges from $90 to $120/week for infants.  Many of the providers are on this
"Nutrition Program" which means they follow some specified (by the
city/county/state??) diet plan and provide meals (the cost is reimbursed by
the city/county/state).  Most of the providers I interviewed also had
clauses for vacations (if you're on paid vacation, they're on paid vacation).
At first I thought this was kind of strange, but I guess it makes sense.

Annette
=======================================================================

From: gazit%antigone.usc.edu@usc.edu (Salit)

In this area (West Los Angeles) the average cost for a
preschool for a 3+ year old is around $400. My son's preschool (of which I
am very pleased) goes for $435 full time (5 days 10+ hours each day, but
he attends about 8 hours a day). I am not sure what prices for other age
groups in this area are, but I am sure higher.

Since my son was 1 month old and until age 3 we lived in North Carolina
Research Triangle. My son attended a home based daycare for a cost that
went from $60 to $80 per week (full time).
Last summer I spent 3 months in Los Angeles, trying to advance my Ph.D
thesis to near the finish line. My son attended the (wonderful!) university
daycare, for a cost of (I think) ~$600 for the first month, and $50-100 less
for subsequent months (the first month he was still under two). After we
returned to North Carolina, the university my husband was employed at (Duke)
opened a new daycare facility, and we managed to get in it, but only for
the evening program (3pm - 12am, later to be cut to half time: 3pm - 8pm).
The (subsidised) cost was $380 per month. The daycare was quite good, but
a bit crumped, and the evening program was problematic, because of the
problem housing the evening shift when the day shift has not yet left.
The transition at 3 was also difficult (he would go to sleep
there and we would pick him up asleep, of course he did not stay up till 12!).

Hope this helps,
Salit
=======================================================================
From: jackm@ucsco.UCSC.EDU (50325000)

Our daycare here in Santa Cruz, CA operates on a sliding scale, pegged
to something around 15% of family income.
Jack Mallory
=========================================================================
From: Kathie Nichols <nichols@apple.com>

Ho, ho, ho.  Here in the expensive Santa Clara Valley, I started out
paying $750/mo for 8:30-5:30 Infant Care at a privately owned center.
We provided diapers, blankets, and food.  We switched to a non-profit
when our son was 1.  It cost $850 for 7:30-5:45, all meals provided,
disposable diapers provided, but would take our own cloth.  (The
first place we used had gone up to $950 for under-1's and $825 for
over-ones.)  When our son turns 3, he will go to a preschool with
7:30-6 hours which presently costs $660 and provides all meals. No
diapers allowed.  I use my employer's pretax "dependent care account"
for $5000 a year and just pay the rest.

Reading the postings I see here, I think we are quite high in this area.
But, I know that family home day care is a bit cheaper.

From: gita@hprnd.rose.hp.com (Gita Iyer)
Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1992 17:39:07 GMT
Subject: Re: When did you know? (was: Woman's figure")
Organization: HP Roseville Networks Division