Increasing Millennial Families’ Access to High Quality Child Care

The United States has the third-highest child care costs as a percentage of family income compared to other developed countries, and current child care subsidy programs are simply not enough.

Part of a Series

Idea of the Day

Idea of the Day

Members of the Millennial generation—which roughly includes those born from 1980 to 2000, who are currently around 15 to 35 years old—face unique challenges to financial stability as they start their families. Across the United States, high-quality, affordable child care is a crucial part of daily life as parents try to balance work and caregiving responsibilities. Sixty-five percent of children under age 6 have all of their available parents in the workforce.

Unfortunately, as Millennials begin to raise children, they are feeling the brunt of growing child care costs. From 2000 to 2012, child care costs increased $2,300 for a typical middle-class family, and they show no signs of slowing down. This brief details the unique challenges faced by Millennial families, as well as how those families would benefit from the new High-Quality Child Care Tax Credit proposed by the Center for American Progress.

For more on this idea, please see:

How a High-Quality Child Care Tax Credit Would Benefit Millennial Families by Sunny Frothingham, Katie Hamm, and Jessica Troe

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