Cost of childcare in Florida is unaffordable for most families. Here are some ways to save

Lianna Norman, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read

As inflation soars in Florida, the state with the highest inflation in the country, so are the costs for in-home childcare, preschool and daycares across the state.

According to Winnie, a marketplace for child care that helps parents find daycare and preschools, childcare is too expensive for many families in Florida.

Childcare is considered unaffordable by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) if it costs more than 7% of a household’s total income.

The cost of raising children in Florida isn’t as shocking when compared to states like Massachusetts or New York, where parents pay well over $10,000 each year for childcare. But by the HHS’s definition, Florida’s early education costs are considered unaffordable.

On average, the cost of sending a 4-year-old to a full-time center-based care center in Florida takes a 24% share of a household’s income, according to 2022 data from U.S. News and World Report.

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How much does childcare cost in Florida?

In-home childcare in Florida rings in around $700 each month. Parents with infants to care for pay even more than that: an average monthly cost of about $740 per month, or around $9,000 each year.

Parents of children in pre-K pay a little less: an average of $650 each month. Toddlers and preschoolers that go to daycare pay anywhere between an average of $650 to $740 each month, depending on how many hours they attend and the type of childcare center they attend.

There are some cities in Florida that are hundreds of dollars more expensive than even these figures, like Sarasota, where the average monthly price for full-time childcare is over $1,000 monthly.

Can you get free childcare in Florida?

Although the cost of high-quality early education is out of reach for a lot of Florida families, there is subsidized help available for low-income households. You can get childcare at a discount, depending on your needs, from a variety of options available to help qualifying families defer the cost of tuition: from county-issued subsidies, to free pre-K programs.

One of the options available for Florida families is the Florida Department of Education's School Readiness Program, which offers assistance to low-income families for childcare.

According to Winnie, you can find eligibility requirements and apply for the program by visiting your county’s early learning coalition website.

Florida also has a free, voluntary pre-K program and was one of the first states to offer it. To qualify, children must be 4 years old on or before Sept. 1 of the upcoming school year. Applications to Florida’s VPK Education Program are accessible on the state’s Division of Early Learning website.

There are also federally funded programs that qualifying low-income families can use to sign up for free childcare: Head Start and Early Head Start. Depending on where you live and how many programs are available, there may be a waitlist.

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Other ways to save money on childcare in Florida

Here are some other ways to save on childcare, as suggested by Winnie:

  • Sibling discounts: Some programs offer discounts if a family has more than one child enrolled in the program.

  • Military discounts: Military families are typically eligible for discounts and subsidies and sometimes have access to programs made specifically for serving the children of military families.

  • Paying in full, instead of month-to-month: Some childcare providers offer discounts if tuition is paid up-front, in full.

  • Working for the program your child attends: Many childcare providers offer discounted tuition for the children of employees. If you’re an educator looking for a job and childcare for your kids, working at the same program your children attend could help you save.

Lianna Norman covers trending news in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at lnorman@pbpost.com. You can follow her reporting on social media @LiannaNorman on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida's childcare costs are unaffordable for most: Ways to save