The figures below belong to CCAoA’s 2025 price series, released in 2026. Its collection method covers data reported between December 2025 and March 2026; some older market-rate surveys are adjusted for inflation. These are planning benchmarks, not offers available in October 2026.
National and weekly prices give you a starting point
CCAoA reports a national average annual child care price of $13,184. That is roughly $1,099 per month when divided by twelve. The figure combines several methods, child ages and care settings, so it is a broad starting point for a budget rather than an infant-center rate.
For an age-specific weekly benchmark, Care.com’s 2026 Cost of Care Report lists $332 for one infant at a daycare center and $323 in family child care. Its toddler figures are $308 and $301. These are rates from centers listed on the platform, shown as 2025 rates within the 2026 report; they describe a different sample from CCAoA’s state data.
When budgeting a weekly quote over a year, ask how many weeks are billed. For a monthly comparison, multiplying the weekly amount by the billed weeks and dividing by twelve preserves that billing basis. Four weeks of tuition is not always the same thing as one calendar month.
Compare the same age and care setting
These five states illustrate the range in the CCAoA full-time price tables. Each line gives three annual prices in US dollars: infant in a center; four-year-old in a center; infant in a family child care home. A family home is a care setting, not a private nanny employed by one household.
- California: $23,071; $13,689; $17,301.
- Florida: $14,230; $10,052; $11,947.
- Massachusetts: $27,067; $21,364; $15,708.
- New York: $20,978; $17,800; $16,848.
- Texas: $10,894; $9,863; $10,062.
Florida and Texas are marked with an asterisk in the source because their prices come from state market-rate surveys. The report’s methodology explains the public-data and inflation adjustments. Four jurisdictions lack comparable price data in this series: Colorado, New Mexico, South Carolina and Washington, DC.
Look across a state’s row before assuming one setting will always be cheaper. In California, infant care in a family home is still more expensive than center care for a four-year-old. In Massachusetts, changing the infant-care setting produces a much larger price difference than it does in Texas. Location, age and setting work together; a single national percentage cannot describe every household’s options.
Infant rooms need more adult time
Babies need individual feeding, sleep and close supervision. The federal Office of Personnel Management’s child care handbook recommends much smaller groups per caregiver for infants than for four-year-olds. Its examples include one adult for three or four infants and one for eight to ten four-year-olds, depending on group size. Those are recommendations, not one nationwide licensing rule.
With fewer children per adult, an infant room has less scope to spread staffing costs across places. A lower preschool price may apply only after a room transition. Ask which age or transition date changes tuition before building that reduction into your budget.
Compare family homes and centers as complete arrangements. The price matters, but so do the opening hours, age mix and what happens when a caregiver is unavailable. A cheaper place that cannot cover the workday may require another paid arrangement.
Ask for the total bill and the hours it covers
OPM’s provider interview questions cover openings, weekly costs, inclusions, extra charges, hours and closures. Use those questions to turn a published benchmark into a comparable written quote:
- Confirm a place for your child’s age and the date you need it.
- Request the tuition schedule and ask which meals, diapers or supplies are included.
- List registration, recurring supply and late-pickup charges separately.
- Ask what you pay during holidays, closures, vacations and absence.
- Check opening hours against work and travel, and ask about backup arrangements.
The annual totals above compare tuition categories, not every possible fee or a family’s final payment after assistance. Request the provider’s full terms before adding a discount or support payment to your calculation. Do not treat a waiting-list application as an available place.
Hours can matter as much as the advertised price. A pickup deadline that conflicts with the commute can turn a lower fee into lost work time or additional care. Our analysis of how commuting and scattered services stretch family schedules examines that pressure in Poland.
For your own comparison, collect quotes for the same child age, start date and weekly hours. Keep tuition, additional fees, billed closures and confirmed assistance separate. Compare the annual cost only after confirming that the place and its hours fit your working week.
