Affordability of child care refers to the extent to which families can reasonably pay for child care services without experiencing financial hardship.

There is no consensus around what is affordable for parents and how to measure affordability. Many sources cite 7% of family income as an index of affordability, based on the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) rule that limits co-pays for families receiving federal child care subsidies to 7% of family income. However, others have noted that this 7% benchmark was designed solely as a recommendation for how much a family receiving child care subsidies should pay as a co-payment, not as an affordability metric for all families. Further, experts have argued that 7% of income could be a large burden for some families, particularly those with low incomes. 

Availability refers to how easy or difficult it is for families to find appropriate child care that meets their needs.

Availability includes factors such as the number of child care providers, the number of children they can accommodate and their proximity to a family’s home or work. 

Click on a state to first explore their child care affordability data then dive deeper with availability data.