If you have children and work outside the home, you are probably feeling the pinch of child care costs.
According to the most recent statistics from Child Care Aware of America, the average yearly cost of putting an infant in center-based child care is nearly $10,000 in Ohio. That’s almost as much as a year at a public college or university.
Home-based child care for an infant costs an average of nearly $7400 in Ohio, Child Care Aware of America reported.
The average yearly cost for an infant and a 4-year-old is more than $17,500 for center-based child care. Having home-based child care will set you back an average of about $14,000 each year in Ohio.
As bad as that sounds, there are 22 states where the cost of child care is actually more than the cost of a year of tuition.
The below chart shows the percent of income that goes to child care in Ohio:
A CNBC article suggested the ways to cut the high costs of child care:
- Flexible work arrangments – ask your boss to work from home
- Share the costs – hire a nanny or babysitter to watch your children and those of a family-member or friend
- Use a flexible spending account – allows you to use pre-tax wages to pay for child care
- Become a caregiver yourself – might be better option if salary is on par with child care costs
USA Today reported that the average child care worker makes $22,290 per year and wouldn’t be able to afford to send their own child to daycare without financial assistance.
