Childcare around Kansas City has become as expensive as rent. Here’s what could help parents.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Having children is forcing more parents to step back from their careers largely because the price of daycare is outpacing their budgets. The Kansas City metro is no exception with average monthly daycare costs for toddlers and infants almost as expensive as the average rent.
Daycares like Happy Hearts Learning Center have only had to raise their rates once since they opened in January 2021. Still, the center’s owners are concerned for the future of the whole childcare industry as higher prices push more parents to stay home with their kids all day.
After giving birth to her third son, Alex Kitchen returned to work for just a month. It didn’t take long to realize she and her husband couldn’t afford to have all three kids in daycare.
“It was getting close to about $40,000 a year,” Kitchen said, “for all three of them to be at the facility my older two went to daycare at.”
Alex’s situation is not unique.
According to the National Database of Childcare Prices, in Jackson County monthly fees for infant daycares average $1,074.75. In Clay County, it’s $1,182.33 a month. Wyandotte County averages $773.25 monthly.
Toddler daycares in Jackson County charge on average $795.33 a month. While in Clay County it’s $902.83 monthly. Wyandotte County sees an average price of $719.16 monthly to care for toddlers. The prices are almost as much as the average rent in those areas according to Realtor, leaving parents with little to pay for anything else.
“Some months we actually come out ahead (of where we were having our kids in daycare,” Kitchen explained of her family’s finances. “Which is interesting.”
Family-owned daycares say the economy isn’t helpful and there are reasons for the higher costs.
“It really is the payroll because we need to make sure we keep our good quality staff,” Stephanie Vogel, owner of Happy Hearts Learning Center, explained. “And make sure we them physically, mentally and financially.”
Inflation and having enough food for the kids are also pinching budgets tighter.
“We’re on a food program so we do make sure your kids are eating nutritional food,” Vogel added. “When you have to start ordering outside the stores, the prices jump up even more.”
Vogel believes things could get better if the federal government brought back programs that helped families make ends meet during the pandemic.
“The stability grants, you could have used them for payroll, you could use them for financial assistance with families,” Vogel recalled. “And we were able to help families out.”
Bringing back the Child Tax Credit during the pandemic could also go a long way in reducing the stress of affording childcare. Which provided parents who qualified up to $3600 a year per child.
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