Most families in the US do not earn enough to comfortably afford child care, according to a new analysis by LendingTree.
The analysis, published Monday, notes that the US Department of Health and Human Services defines child care as affordable when families spend no more than 7% of their annual income on such services.
Based on that benchmark, a household would need nearly $403,000 in annual income to afford care for two children, according to estimates by LendingTree, an online loan marketplace.
By comparison, the median annual family income in the US stood at $105,800 as of 2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
The average annual cost of full-time child care for a family with an infant and a four-year-old amounts to $28,000, according to figures from Child Care Aware of America.
"Child care costs are just incredibly daunting for all but the wealthiest Americans," Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, told CBS News.
"It forces parents into some really tough choices, including whether to have kids or not," he said.
Families with two children spend an average of $2,252 per month on child care, according to LendingTree data -- a figure that exceeds the cost of rent in dozens of major US cities.
Federal labor data shows that families spent between 8.9% and 16% of their median income on full-time care for one child in 2022, the most recent year available.
The rising cost of child care has become a focus for policymakers amid public concern over affordability.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced a plan earlier this month to provide free child care for two-year-olds as part of broader efforts toward universal child care.
Other states, including Kentucky, have also moved to expand access to universal pre-kindergarten programs, with officials citing benefits for both families and education systems.
