Child Care Costs Rise In Missouri As Birth Rate Declines

MISSOURI — The CDC reported in May that the United States birth rate dipped to a 30-year low 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 Missouri is one of the more expensive states for child care in the United States. 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.

In Missouri, child care costs $8,632 annually — that's more than $700 a month. What's more, child care is one of the biggest expenses for Missouri families. Caring for an infant in the state costs more than in-state college tuition and almost as much as a monthly mortgage or rent payment.

Someone working for minimum wage would need to work more than six months just to pay to care for one child, according to the report, and child care workers are often paid less than other workers. In Missouri, they are twice as likely to live in poverty.

Caring for just one child takes about 15 percent of the typical Missouri family's income. That's unaffordable, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which says child care should cost no more than 10 percent of a family's income.

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.

Image via Shutterstock