Childcare: What does it really cost?
Our “What does it really cost” series sheds light on how much different women across the country spend on the big life events: having a baby, taking a sabbatical year, moving, getting a master’s degree, buying a house, etc. This week’s feature is highlighting one woman’s cost of having two children in childcare, one is almost 5 years old and the other is 11 months old.
Location: Centennial, CO
Age: 35
What were your total childcare costs for two children?
Right now, we pay $2,870.50 per month for both kids. The cost for our 11 month old is $1,750/month, and our oldest is $1,120.50/month which includes a 10% sibling discount. They are open year round, with about 6 weeks of school closures overall for holidays, teacher in service, etc. Overall, we will spend about $66,000 on childcare for our oldest before he starts public school Kindergarten, at which point school will be free but we will need to pay for summer camps and any holiday care. I anticipate that my youngest will be even more because we moved to a more expensive city before he was born.
Final Costs: $2,870.50 / month or $34,446 / year.
Was this more or less than you were expecting?
More for sure! A big reason we moved to Colorado was also to be able to send our kids to (free) public school, since it was almost certain we’d need to pay for a $25,000+ per year private school where we lived previously.
Were there other options that you considered? What are the pros and cons of this compared to other options?
I am a therapist in private practice and make my own hours, so before we had a spot at our daycare, I worked two days a week and we had a nanny and stayed home with the baby for 3 days a week.
Pros: Less exposure to sickness for the baby and more individualized care for baby.
Cons: It was hard for me. I very much admire full-time mothers but it is not something I am suited to. Another con of daycare is the commute, but we specifically picked one that is a 5-minute drive from our house to make that easier.
We also considered a nanny instead of daycare, but the cost would have been astronomically more: $20 minimum per hour, so about $3000 a month just for the baby’s care.
What do you wish you would have known?
How often your child will not be able to go to daycare due to illness – even pre-COVID – and school closures, holiday breaks, etc. When my first started, it was extremely stressful because both me and my husband were working for an employer who was not understanding at all about needing to take off for my child’s illnesses. He is working at a much more family friendly employer, and I’m now self-employed and make my own schedule, and that has made it SO much easier.
In conclusion, this woman’s total childcare costs are $34,466 / year.
We hope this gives you insights into how someone else navigated the costs of childcare and the different options she considered. Do these costs surprise you?
This post was created as part of the “What does it really cost series?” Her Personal Finance’s mission is to help high-earning women take charge of their finances. As an MBA, our founder has a particular passion for supporting this community. Here is a link to a Q&A with Harvard Business School students about finances in school. You can also learn more about our founder and our classes on our website.
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