April 6, 2006
Rising childcare costs continue to affect families throughout the United States. Runzheimer International took a look at the expense of full-time daycare for a two-year-old child. The daycare rates are based on a monthly expenditure for a child who utilizes daycare 5 days per week, approximately 8 hours per day. Full-time daycare rates vary depending on location. The average rate for full-time daycare in the U.S. is $611.43. Cities that are on the highest end, exceeding $1,000 monthly, are Boston and New York City. Rates for these cities are $1006.94 and $1,088.33, respectively. San Juan, PR, San Antonio, TX, and Jackson, MS are among the most affordable locations with rates of $232.41, $356.67, and $375.56, respectively.
Runzheimer International also tracks the cost of hourly babysitting rates for many locations. Babysitting rates are based on an average hourly rate for the supervision of one four-year-old child in the pre-midnight evening hours. These rates presume that a teenager will be present in the home of the child during the babysitting timeframe. The average rate in the U.S. is $6.04 per hour. The most profitable locations for babysitters are Manchester, NH and New York City, making a generous $10.00 and $11.08 per hour, respectively. By contrast, the babysitters in Portland, OR and Casper, WY make a modest $2.90 and $3.08, respectively.
Comparing full-time daycare rates from 2004 to 2005, the percentage of increase is 5.61%. Similarly, the increase for hourly babysitting rates from 2004 to 2005 was 4.68%.
* Daycare and babysitting rates are based on Runzheimer International data from September, 2005.
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For more information, contact Jennifer Ruppel at Runzheimer International, Runzheimer Park, Rochester, Wisconsin 53167, 262.971.2271, jmr@runzheimer.com, www.runzheimer.com.
