According to Center for American Progress analysis, families in 10 states could save between $440 and $15,000 per year on child care costs, but a recent regulatory proposal from the Trump administration would put those savings out of reach.
In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notice entitled “Restoring Flexibility in the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF)” that, if enacted as written, would rescind a 2024 rule capping child care copayments for low-income families at 7 percent of household income—the federally recognized affordability benchmark. HHS did not propose an alternative affordability standard to reduce child care costs for working families, meaning families would be left with no path toward relief.
As shown in Figure 1, 10 states have yet to meet the 7 percent affordability benchmark, with monthly copayments ranging from 7.8 percent of income in Wisconsin to as high as 27 percent of income in Ohio. While families in these states have not yet benefited from the copayment cap, the 2024 rule required states to move toward that threshold, with waivers available for those that needed more time to implement the rule. In December of 2024, Maine and Wisconsin had waivers in place, and Minnesota, North Carolina, and Ohio had waiver requests pending. If the copayment cap were rolled back, however, states would no longer be obligated to reduce copayments, leaving many families without a clear path to savings.
In public comments submitted to HHS, CAP opposed the rollback, arguing that the 2024 rule has helped stabilize child care providers and has provided support to boost access to the child care that is hardest to find, including care for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities.
The Trump administration’s decision to rescind commonsense policies that cap the cost of child care at a reasonable income threshold would deprive families of thousands of dollars in potential savings and worsen the child care affordability crisis. The Child Care and Development Block Grant, which provides discretionary grants to states for child care subsidies, reaches only 13 percent of eligible families. What families need is a large, robust investment in this program and a plan to significantly bring down the cost of care, not the rollback of the few affordability protections they currently have.
Methodology
The data on state copayment schedules was gathered from each state agency’s 2025 child care assistance web pages. The maximum monthly copayment was calculated based on a family of three earning the highest qualifying income and utilizing full-time care. For states with nonmonthly schedules (e.g., daily, weekly, biweekly, or half-day), a conversion factor was applied. The authors then calculated the percentage of a family’s monthly income that the maximum monthly copayment represents. To estimate the copayment under a 7 percent cap, the family’s monthly income was multiplied by 0.07. The possible savings were then found by subtracting this 7 percent estimate from the calculated maximum monthly copayment. Annual estimates are based on a 12-month period. It is important to note that the actual amount a family pays will vary based on factors such as family size, number of children enrolled, age of the child, and whether care is utilized full- or part-time, and full- or part-year. Full methods and maximum monthly copayments for all 50 states and the District of Columbia are on file with the authors.
The authors would like to thank Maria Spinetti and Alyssa Rafa of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center for their review of data included in this article. The authors would also like to thank Sara Estep for her feedback and support in the development of this article. We are grateful for their partnership.