New study finds parents are paying more than ever for childcare

New study finds parents are paying more than ever for childcareNew study finds parents are paying more than ever for childcareAccording to a new study byCare.com,the cost of childcarehas risen even higher for the fifth year in a row.With the rising costcomes a rising percentage of income that needs to be used on it. This has left about 20% of US families using at least 25% of their income on childcare, along with 33 percent spending at least 20% and 71% spending at least 10%. This would mean that at least 71% of families are paying more than the 7% of household income that the Department of Health and Human Services defines asaffordable childcare.In places where child care is expensive like Washington DC ($2,982 a month) families are more likely to spend 26 percent of their annual income on child care. Families in cheaper states like Mississippi ($665 a month) mucksmuschenstill spend 12% of their income on childcare. Even more striking is the fact that when income disparity is factor ed into the equation its evident that poor families are most devastated by the rising costs.For example, the bottom fifth of DC households had just two percent of total DC income in 2016, while the top fifth had a staggering 56%.In an interview withMoneyish, Dominique Baillet, the senior editorial director forCare.com, said that many parents are still actually surprised the high cost of child care when compared to other things linked to having kids. As it turns out daycare, the place with all the learning socialization tools and a whole team of people costs an average of $211 per week compared to having a single nanny which costs $580 a week on average.The cost of raising a child is already something in the ballpark of $230,000, and whats worse is that 60% of the 1,000 respondents to theCare.comsurvey have noted that their childcare costs have increased in the last year. This has forced them to start making sacrifices in other areas of their home life. Its no small fraction of the p opulation that has to deal with the rising cost of childcare either. Almost33%of children under five-years-old are cared for by non-relatives.Ultimately childcare is just too important to not be accessible to anyone. A study by economist and Nobel laureateJames J. Heckmanfound that access to free early child care results in better outcomes for both disadvantaged mothers and their children. Beyond that, its also been found to increase a mothers salary on average. But no one will reap those benefits if the costs continue to rise.