What Child Care Costs In Arizona As Birth Rate Hits 30-Year Low

The CDC reported in May that the U.S birth rate dipped to a 30-year in 2017 overall and for nearly all age groups of women under the age of 40. And it turns out a big reason adults are having fewer children is high child care costs, according to a new survey by Morning Consult conducted for The New York Times.

High child care costs was the top reason adults expected to have fewer kids than they considered ideal. It was also among the top reasons why adults didn’t want to have children or weren’t sure that they wanted to have kids.

The Consult survey did not include child care costs, but they are significant and can vary dramatically depending on the area. CNBC pointed to data from The Economic Policy Institute, that shows Arizona families spend $9,437 a year for cre for an infant, or 17.6 percent of a median income of $53,470.

Here are some more findings about the Grand Canyon State:

• Savings to typical families with an infant from capping child care expenditures at 10% of income:$4,090
• Share of (post–child care) median income freed up by capping infant care expenditures at 10% of income:9.3%
• Share of families able to afford infant care (i.e., costs are 10% or less of income):27.9%
• Full-time minimum wage salary:$16,744
• Infant care costs as a share of minimum-wage earnings:56.4%
• Median child care worker salary:$19,020
• Infant care costs as a share of child care worker earnings:49.6%
• In-state tuition for 4-year public college:$9,906
• Infant care costs as a share of public college tuition:95.3%
• Annual rent:$10,885
• Infant care as a share of rent:86.7%
• Increase in state’s economy from capping families’ child care expenditures at 10% of income:1.3% ($3.85 billion)

Those costs are just a fraction on how much a parent will spend on a child overall. According to CNBC, as of 2015, American parents spent an average of $233,610 per child from birth until the age of 17. High-income families spent more while lower-income families spent less on a child, according to CNBC.

The Times survey asked respondents who expected to have fewer children than they considered ideal to choose from a number of reasons why they expected that outcome.

According to the survey, 64 percent of those respondents cited the cost of child care, making it the top-cited reason. Other top reasons included wanting more time for the children they have, “worried about the economy,” not being able to afford more children and “waited because of financial instability.”

The young adults who said they didn’t want to have children or weren’t sure cited wanting more leisure time and the fact that they haven’t found a partner yet as their top two reasons. Not being able to afford child care was the third most cited reason by this group.

Respondents in the survey were 1,858 men and women between the age of 20 and 45.

Read the full The New York Times/Morning Consult poll here.

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