Child Care In Virginia Costs More Than College, Study Shows

VIRGINIA — Child care isn't cheap in Virginia, which is one of the most expensive states in the country for those seeking out this service. Virginia ranked 10th out of 50 states for the cost of infant care, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Parents in Virginia shell out $14,063 for infant care on average every year, based on the latest research from the institute. That breaks down to $1,172 each month.

D.C. topped the list of most expensive places for infant care. It costs families a whopping $24,243 on average every year there, or $2,020 monthly.

Here's where infant care is most expensive, according to the study:

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Massachusetts
3. California
4. Minnesota
5. Connecticut
6. New York
7. Maryland
8. Colorado
9. Washington
10. Virginia

While the average cost of care for an infant in Virginia is more than $14,000 annually, care for a 4-year-old is $10,867, or $906 per month, according to the institute's calculations.

Infant care is 11.3 percent more expensive than in-state tuition at a four-year public college in Virginia, which is $12,637, according to the nonprofit think tank, which analyzes workers and economic policies.

Virginians are not alone in this reality, as parents in more than half the country are paying more for child care than it costs to go to a public college in their state, the institute reported.

Child care is considered affordable if it takes up no more than 7 percent of a family's income, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

By those standards, infant care is only affordable for 11.1 percent of Virginia families.

Infant care for one child eats up 18.2 percent of a median family's income in Virginia, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Child care for an infant and a 4-year-old takes up 32.2 percent of a family's income, costing $24,929, the institute reports.

The institute suggests certain solutions for lowering the costs of child care, including capping child-care expenses at 7 percent of a family's income.

That would save a typical family in Virginia $8,315.

The state of Virginia offers a child care subsidy program to help offset the cost of child care for parents who are working or participating in training and education.

See the report on the cost of child care from the Economic Policy Institute.

— By Patch editors Feroze Dhanoa and Elizabeth Janney

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