I don’t have a full analysis, but at least this source points at 1500 to be the high end of the expensive cities in Germany, with public care as low as 100.
So is 2000 a “normal” value in many areas, or a high end of some?
I have the feeling this is inflated and we just accept.
Berlin, for example, is one of the regions where daycare is completely free (with the exception of some minor surcharges for food etc.)
And from my knowledge daycare in Germany costs generally between 0 and about 300 Euros per month and child. The cost depends more on the local state’s and/or city’s laws than whether it’s an expensive city or rural area.
Also the differentiation in cost between public and private is often not a thing (depends on the state).
I’m not saying that there won’t exist some fancy private daycare centres for 1500 or more, but they would certainly be an extremely rare exception operating out of the “normal” system anyway…
$3000 is average in the big cities for infant care in a daycare center, and it drops down to about $2000 for toddlers.
Some places have options for home-based care where a person can get licensed to take care of children in their own home, and the prices are generally about half of that of the center-based care.
One big issue is ratios. If the wage for a child care worker is $30/hour including the cost of paid vacation, health insurance, and you need coverage for 9 hours per day, 5 days a week, while needing to maintain one teacher for every 4 kids, that’s $340/week or about $1450/month for labor alone, assuming no overtime and perfect staffing ratios. Throw in food, rent, utilities, insurance, other operational expenses, and it’s pretty much impossible to provide care for less than $2000/month per child on the costs side.
I checked for Netherlands and it seems to be easily over 2k a month for fulltime care (172-240 hours).
The thing I wasn’t aware of is the subsidies low income parents receive. Up to 96%. Seems to be a bit lower in practice, but still almost all is covered.
That doesn’t account for high cost areas, and is dependent on income. But the conclusion seems to be that it’s far cheaper than I mentioned for the end consumer.
Even the most expensive states are averaged out between cheap suburban and rural areas and the actual expensive cities where the jobs are. $2000/month would be an unbelievable bargain in cities like San Francisco or New York.
https://www.daycarefee.com/countries/germany/
I don’t have a full analysis, but at least this source points at 1500 to be the high end of the expensive cities in Germany, with public care as low as 100.
So is 2000 a “normal” value in many areas, or a high end of some?
I have the feeling this is inflated and we just accept.
Sorry, but that source is completely wrong.
Berlin, for example, is one of the regions where daycare is completely free (with the exception of some minor surcharges for food etc.)
And from my knowledge daycare in Germany costs generally between 0 and about 300 Euros per month and child. The cost depends more on the local state’s and/or city’s laws than whether it’s an expensive city or rural area.
Also the differentiation in cost between public and private is often not a thing (depends on the state).
I’m not saying that there won’t exist some fancy private daycare centres for 1500 or more, but they would certainly be an extremely rare exception operating out of the “normal” system anyway…
$3000 is average in the big cities for infant care in a daycare center, and it drops down to about $2000 for toddlers.
Some places have options for home-based care where a person can get licensed to take care of children in their own home, and the prices are generally about half of that of the center-based care.
One big issue is ratios. If the wage for a child care worker is $30/hour including the cost of paid vacation, health insurance, and you need coverage for 9 hours per day, 5 days a week, while needing to maintain one teacher for every 4 kids, that’s $340/week or about $1450/month for labor alone, assuming no overtime and perfect staffing ratios. Throw in food, rent, utilities, insurance, other operational expenses, and it’s pretty much impossible to provide care for less than $2000/month per child on the costs side.
Thanks for sharing.
I checked for Netherlands and it seems to be easily over 2k a month for fulltime care (172-240 hours).
The thing I wasn’t aware of is the subsidies low income parents receive. Up to 96%. Seems to be a bit lower in practice, but still almost all is covered.
That doesn’t account for high cost areas, and is dependent on income. But the conclusion seems to be that it’s far cheaper than I mentioned for the end consumer.
https://illumine.app/blog/how-much-childcare-costs-by-state-in-usa
So 2000 a month is greater than the max of the range in the most expensive states.
All values are crazy, don’t get me wrong. But less crazy than originally stated.
Daycare is like a fraction of actually raising a child.
Outside of daycare:
There’s diapers. There’s meals. There’s meds. There’s clothes and recreational material.
Even the most expensive states are averaged out between cheap suburban and rural areas and the actual expensive cities where the jobs are. $2000/month would be an unbelievable bargain in cities like San Francisco or New York.