Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024
Is child care in Minnesota unaffordable for many Minnesotans?
Child care centers in Minnesota are unaffordable for many state residents.
The benchmark for child care affordability set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is 7% of annual household income.
A 2023 Child Care Aware report estimated that a “married-couple family” in Minnesota with a median income of $138,780 spends 11.2%-14.5% of their income on child care.
A 2023 report from the Minnesota House put the average percentage at 21.2% for infant care, and a 2024 study by Bankrate ranked the state as one of the most expensive for child care.
Minnesota requires a 4:1 child-to-adult ratio for child care centers, increasing costs. Minnesota also lacks an employer child care tax credit. There is a statewide Child Care Assistance Program and a tax credit per child, though both have income restrictions.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Child Care Aware, Price of Care: 2023
- Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Program, A Rule by the Children and Families Administration on 09/30/2016
- “The Cost of Child Care in Minnesota”
- Tootris: Cost Of Child Care In Minnesota
- “Study: Care for one infant costs at least 10% of a family’s yearly income in 48 states,” Bankrate
- “State Tax Credits for Child Care”
- “CHILD CARE RELATED TAX CREDITS IN STATES: October 2020 State Profile Minnesota”
- “Child Tax Credit” Minnesota Department of Revenue
- Child Care Assistance Program
- “Why child care in MN is so expensive ... if you can find it”
- “Why is childcare in Minnesota so expensive?”
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Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.
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