In Mill Valley, California, Christina Parker, who earns a six-figure income as a real estate developer, should be enjoying a comfortable lifestyle. Instead, she finds herself watching her bank account dwindle to almost nothing each month.

“I’m putting in so much effort at work and I barely have $100 left,” said Parker, 42.

The increasing costs of rent, utilities, groceries, and car insurance have stretched her finances thin, but it’s the $3,000 per month she spends on her 2-year-old son’s day care that truly breaks her budget. This expense is now comparable to her rent and continues to rise.

Next year, she plans to enroll her son in a more expensive preschool and will also need to pay for additional child care in the mornings and evenings to accommodate her work commute.

“I have a solid job,” Parker explained, “yet I’m just getting by.”

For families with young children, child care costs are significantly impacted by inflation, representing a sizable fixed expense that has grown more burdensome as federal spending related to the pandemic lessens.

Due to a nationwide shortage of workers and available facilities, the price of day care and preschool is escalating at nearly double the inflation rate, deeply affecting the budgets of middle and lower-income families.

A report from the nonprofit Child Care Aware of America shows that the average expenses associated with caring for two children exceed the average rent in every state and surpass the average mortgage payment in 45 states.

These skyrocketing costs are influencing how parents of young kids, especially mothers, intend to vote in the upcoming November elections.

Parker is one of those parents. She even signed a petition advocating for child care to be a discussion point at the first presidential debate in June. During the debate, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate and former President, did not address child care and instead criticized his opponent Joe Biden.

Biden, who has since been replaced on the Democratic ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, pushed for an expanded child care tax credit but mostly focused his arguments against Trump.

“I felt so disheartened that I stopped watching,” Parker shared. “Why isn’t this an important issue?”

Rising child care costs and inflation are depleting savings

The COVID-19 pandemic worsened an already struggling industry, but even before the crisis, finding child care was a challenge for many parents.

In 2018, about half of Americans lived in “child care deserts,” areas with insufficient licensed child care providers. When families do manage to find care, the costs are often exorbitant.

On average, parents allocate 24% of their household income to child care, with nearly half spending over $18,000 in 2023, as stated in an annual survey from Care.com.

To manage these rising costs, parents often juggle multiple jobs, reduce their work hours, or relocate closer to family. Many have also resorted to accumulating debt or leaving the workforce altogether, with over one-third reporting that they exhausted 42% of their savings to cover child care expenses last year, according to Care.com.

In Austin, Texas, Barbara Grant Boneta spends $1,300 a month on child care for her daughter. While this amount is less than what she paid in Washington, D.C., she still finds it challenging to manage.

“It’s astonishing that child care costs more than in-state college tuition,” remarked Boneta, 36, director of United Way’s Success by 6 coalition. “It feels excessively high.”

For Christine O’Hare Barringer, day care expenses reach nearly $1,800 a month, which is more than her mortgage payment and constitutes 20% of her family’s net income.

These high costs have reshaped her views and aspirations for the future.

“We’d love to expand our family and have a second child, but it’s just not feasible at this moment,” shared Barringer, a 32-year-old mother from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, who works in higher education fundraising.

According to a poll conducted by the nonprofit health research and polling organization KFF, more than half of women voters with children under 18 expressed that they worry a lot or somewhat about their ability to afford child care.

Brenda Shields, a Republican state representative from Missouri, noted the lack of discussion around this critical issue during the election, given its significance for both families and businesses. She is sponsoring a bill for a child care tax credit and advocates for more accessible and affordable child care options.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the child care system failures cost states billions in economic loss.

“Infrastructure isn’t just about roads and bridges,” Shields stated, emphasizing that child care should also be seen as vital infrastructure.

Voters Expect Trump and Harris to Tackle Child Care Issues

Lisa Gray, 43, a mother of three from Kansas City, Kansas, and a full-time worker at a nonprofit, expressed her desire to hear both presidential candidates discuss solutions to the financial burdens families face.

The lack of affordable child care primarily affects women’s ability to fully engage in the workforce, as research indicates that women largely assume the majority of child care responsibilities.

For Gray, the child care cost for her youngest son amounts to $22,000 annually, which is nearly 20% of her family’s income and their second-largest expense after rent. This financial burden prevents them from affording after-school care for her two older children or extensive summer camps, leaving Gray to manage those responsibilities.

“Child care is a key economic issue,” Gray stated. “It directly impacts family budgets.”

A recent poll by the First Five Years Fund, which advocates for affordable child care, revealed that 89% of voters want candidates to present a clear plan to tackle the child care crisis. This concern is widespread across party lines, with 80% of Republicans, 88% of independents, and 99% of Democrats supporting it.

Unfortunately, many voters feel they lack sufficient information about the positions of either presidential candidate regarding child care, as stated by Javaid E. Siddiqi, CEO of the educational nonprofit Hunt Institute.

“At this moment, neither candidate has provided a comprehensive plan,” Siddiqi remarked. “Honestly, there hasn’t been enough clarity on what to expect from a Harris or Trump administration concerning early education and care.”

The Biden administration attempted to allocate billions in taxpayer funds to enhance the affordability of child care, stressing that the “care economy” is an essential component of Harris’ campaign.

Harris has pledged to permanently increase the child tax credit and provide a one-time credit of $6,000 for newborns, mentioning several times during her debate with Trump the importance of child care.

“No working family should be required to spend more than 7% of their income on child care,” Harris declared last month, although she did not reveal specific strategies or funding sources to achieve this goal.

Tim Walz, her running mate, has also been a strong supporter of the care economy, having implemented paid family leave and a child tax credit during his term as Minnesota’s governor.

While in office, Trump increased the child tax credit and established paid leave for federal employees. He has suggested he might be open to expanding the child tax credit but has not detailed any formal proposals.

When asked recently about his plans for assisting parents with child care, Trump acknowledged it as an “important issue,” but then veered off-topic, discussing tariffs and taxation of foreign nations instead.

His running mate, J.D. Vance, has also been vocal about wanting to enhance the child tax credit.

According to Vance, having a family member at home can greatly benefit children, and he encourages parents to seek support from grandparents and other relatives for childcare.

Parents divided on childcare solutions: Tax credits vs. tax cuts

“The rising costs of daycare are worrying voters, yet it seems to be overlooked,” noted Reshma Saujani, a board member of the Economic Club of New York, who posed a childcare question to Trump.

Her group, Moms First, has successfully mobilized thousands of mothers nationwide to share their childcare experiences, bringing significant attention to the issue.

Recently, the Moms First initiative saw a success when vice presidential candidates spent nearly eight minutes discussing solutions to the childcare crisis.

“Many politicians haven’t devoted enough thought to how to remedy our flawed childcare system,” Saujani commented.

Gemma Hartley, a 36-year-old author and mother of three from Reno, Nevada, understands this problem personally.

Hartley launched an in-home childcare service when her eldest child was an infant because she couldn’t afford traditional childcare. However, after a year and a half of long days and low pay, she had to shut down the service.

To manage childcare, Hartley opted for flexible work and received financial help from both sets of grandparents for preschool costs. She mentioned that her oldest two attended an academy with fees as high as college tuition, while her youngest attended a church-run school.

A 2023 report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation revealed that married couples with children in Nevada spend a higher percentage of their income on childcare than in any other state.

For Hartley, childcare is a pivotal issue, and she supports Vice President Harris’ plans to restore a larger child tax credit.

However, not all parents share this view. Some are concerned that increased government involvement might narrow their options, favoring particular types of childcare.

“While childcare is important, for me, it’s more about being able to keep more of my income to cover its costs,” stated Patrice Onwuka, 42, economic policy director at the Independent Women’s Forum and a mother of three from Bowie, Maryland.

Onwuka desires that families have broader choices and the freedom to determine what suits them best. “When I vote, I consider not just childcare, but the overall options available: What are you doing to expand them? How will my family choose what’s best for us rather than being told what’s ideal for everyone?”

The importance of choice is also emphasized by Kelsey Bolar, who is expecting twins.

Bolar, 35, associated with the Independent Women’s Forum, explained that subsidizing daycare would not aid families that don’t utilize daycare but still find childcare expensive.

“Finding a solution for childcare is complicated,” she remarked.

Bolar found that hiring an au pair—a young person brought to the U.S. to live with families and look after children under a State Department program—is more cost-effective for her than traditional daycare for her three children.

She expressed concern regarding a proposal from the Biden administration to alter how host families would compensate au pairs, including revising hourly pay and introducing overtime, which she believes would make this option too costly for families like hers. The proposal faced bipartisan criticism, and Bolar worries that if Harris is elected, the costs associated with the au pair program will increase.

“It’s frustrating to hear Vice President Kamala Harris promising to make childcare more affordable for working families while her administration proposed changes that would do the opposite,” she stated.