Cost of Child Care

Lookbook Vol. 2

DEFINITION

The average cost for center-based infant care as a percentage of married couple’s median income.54

11.7 percent

11 percent

OKLAHOMA

Data Highlight:

NATIONAL AVERAGE Mississippi has the lowest average cost for center-based infant care as the average cost of child care was 7.6 percent of the household income, while California has the highest average cost for center-based infant care as the cost of child care was 17.5 percent of the household income.54

Why We Care:

Thanks to broad cultural shifts over the past several decades, families are now splitting household responsibilities, though many women are still the primary caregivers for children. Affordable child care is becoming less available in Oklahoma, and some families find that it makes more financial sense for one parent to leave their job and stay at home to care for children.54 When families make that decision, it is much more likely that the stay at home parent will be a woman. With the rising number of single-parent homes, there is no stay-at-home option.46 Even when the caregiving responsibility is temporary and women can return to work later, the temporary absence from the workforce still means that their lifetime earnings will be less than they would have otherwise been. For women who are able to return to work, the childcare accessible to them may be substandard. In response to the demand for more affordable care, ad hoc childcare centers run out of homes have become more common, where most of these lack the licensing and accreditation promised in commercialized facilities.54

What We Can Do:

- Support the Earned Income Tax Credit to ensure families have the financial resources to pay for child care - Expand the number of licensed childcare facilities. - Invest in quality improvements in childcare

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