Child Care Cost Higher Than Rent In Dozens Of U.S. Cities

In a startling shift for working families, child care expenses now top the cost of rent in many major U.S. cities — putting extra strain on household budgets, according to a new analysis.

LendingTree’s recent study compared the average cost of full-time, center-based child care with local rent prices across the country’s 100 largest metro areas. The results: in 85 of those cities, parents pay more to care for two young children than they pay for a two-bedroom apartment.

On average, parents shell out $1,218 per month for infant care — a figure that’s actually 22% below the national average for two-bedroom rent. But when caring for two children — typically an infant and a 4-year-old — average child care costs jump to $2,182, which is nearly 40% higher than the average rent of $1,566.

Some cities are being hit especially hard. In Springfield, Massachusetts, for instance, families can pay more than double their rent on child care: $3,241 for two kids versus $1,375 for a two-bedroom apartment. Similar disparities appear in Syracuse, New York and Buffalo, New York, where care costs are more than 125% above typical rent.

Real estate data from Redfin backs up the trend. In metro areas like Denver and Seattle, daycare for two kids can cost well more than double the average rent.

Economists and family advocates say the imbalance is driven by a shortage of daycare slots, an underpaid early education workforce, and growing demand from working parents.

“That kind of squeeze forces families into impossible trade-offs,” said one LendingTree analyst, warning that high child care costs could discourage parents from returning to work, delaying saving for retirement, or even scaling back on family size.

As the dual pressures of housing and child care mount, calls are growing for policies to ease the burden — from expanded subsidies to investments in early childhood education infrastructure.

Here is a full list of notable cities from the report: