The Costs of Childcare: Results From the 2016 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey

In 2016, among children ages 5 and younger in at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement, 25 percent received only relative care, 12 percent received only nonrelative care, 42 percent received only center-based care, and 20 percent received multiple types of care. The National Center for Education Statistics released new web tables today, June 26, entitled The Costs of Childcare: Results From the 2016 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey (ECPP-NHES:2016). This publication uses data from the 2016 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey (ECPP) of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) to provide data about the importance of a variety of factors, including cost to parents when choosing childcare, the types of assistance received for childcare, and the mean out-of-pocket costs for relative, nonrelative, and center-based childcare arrangements. Among children in at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement whose parents reported difficulty finding care, 29 percent rated cost as the primary reason for difficulty in finding care. Among children whose parents reported difficulty finding care, 45 percent of parents of children in only relative care, 33 percent of parents of children in only nonrelative care, 23 percent of parents of children in only center-base care, and 27 percent of parents of children in multiple types of care reported cost as the primary difficulty. Among families with any out-of-pocket costs for a primary weekly nonparental care arrangement, the weighted mean per child hourly out-of-pocket expense paid by families was $8.55 in the Northeast, $6.21 in the South, $5.64 in the Midwest, and $8.17 in the West. Among families with out-of-pocket expenses for childcare, the weighted mean per child hourly out-of-pocket expense paid by families who had assistance was $5.78. The weighted mean per child hourly out-of-pocket expense paid by families who did not receive assistance was $7.15.