L.A. families pay 20% of income for child care

Child care in Los Angeles County consumes nearly 20% of a median household income, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. For many local families, this cost exceeds the price of rent and forces them to borrow money just to keep their children in school.

Data from the Federal Reserve shows the median weekly cost for parents paying for 20 or more hours of care rose from $1,100 in 2023 to $1,517 in 2025. That represents a 38% increase over two years. Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled by the Economic Security Project indicates that child care prices have risen 31.3% since December 2019, outpacing the general rate of inflation.

Genny Richard, a nonprofit employee in Irvine, says her family pays $2,020 a month for her 5-year-old son to attend a full-time Montessori school. She notes that this expense is higher than their rent. Richard and her husband, a postdoctoral fellow, have accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt over the last several years.

“The stress level has been immense,” Richard said. “Because childcare is our largest expense, that's been a big part of the reason.” Her family currently lives in a two-bedroom apartment provided by UC Irvine. She is expecting a baby next month. “We’re probably in a smaller apartment than we actually need, especially with a baby on the way,” Richard said.

Pamela Arciaga, a mother in Glendale, relies on her credit cards to pay for household bills like water and electricity. She accrued about $20,000 in debt to pay for her 4-year-old son’s preschool, which costs $1,000 a month for three days of care. Her parents drive from Riverside to watch her son on other days. “It was an investment for me to actually enroll him in preschool,” Arciaga said. She has now used up her emergency savings and pays about $300 a month for after-school care.

Chloe Gibbs, a policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, says it is difficult for researchers to track exactly how much consumer debt is tied to child care. Families often shift spending and finance other household costs to pay for care and housing. “We can't really observe that in data because we just see the consumer debt, and we don't know the reason,” Gibbs said. She argues that state and federal subsidies are often tied to income, leaving families who earn too much to qualify without support.

Providers cite shrinking workforces and rising costs for food, insurance, and facilities as reasons for higher tuition. A national survey found that early educators are grappling with these increasing costs in an industry that operates on thin margins. Most providers have passed these costs along to families. Gibbs describes a fundamental mismatch in the market, noting that many families well up the income distribution still face difficulties affording care.