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tool22482 t1_j8warhh wrote

Depending on where exactly, you can probably expect to pay like $450-$500 a week if you need 5 days of care.

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jkjeeper06 t1_j8wav8s wrote

Its about 1600-2300 for an infant in metrowest. Cheaper for toddler

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Illustrious-Mix9904 t1_j8wbsse wrote

Some of my coworkers told me it was around 4K a month. It sounds like a lot.

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mrmackster t1_j8wefs7 wrote

It can be a big range. Places like bright horizon can be like 3700 a month, while a smaller independent center will be around 2000.

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Brighteyed77 t1_j8wexhz wrote

Worcester is about 1400-1900 for a toddler

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WoodlandPounding t1_j8wfiz8 wrote

I’m on the southcoast. $270 a week for three days for a toddler.

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higgy87 t1_j8whamp wrote

I think we were paying 650/wk for infants in metrowest. We were on the waitlist for about a year.

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novolog t1_j8whmcw wrote

$650 a month for 2 days a week. Basically $80 per day. This is in Billerica/Tewksbury/Wilmington

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qoreilly t1_j8wi8le wrote

If you're out near Haverhill my friend has an affordable child care

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lucascorso21 t1_j8wjmtc wrote

At a Goddard School on the north shore, infant at 4 days is around $2k

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tool22482 t1_j8wjnjt wrote

Replying to [deleted] (#1,842,352)

It’s awful. Boomers complain a lot about how millennials and gen z aren’t spending like their generation- meanwhile I’m living paycheck to paycheck because of day care until my son is in kindergarten. And we only have 1 kid!!!

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Rattlingjoint t1_j8wkg21 wrote

Feel a lil bit better after reading some of these posts;

I pay 1,100 a month for my 4 year. 5 days a week.

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coolhandslucas t1_j8wl9jj wrote

We're looking around the tewksbury area its $1,900 to $2,100 a month. It's almost at the point where it might be cheaper for my wife to stop working. My friend pays over $3,000 a month for his 4 year old and 2 year old in chelmsford, and that's only 3 days a week.

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noldog0550 t1_j8wm6br wrote

Closer to Boston going to be about $600-1000 a week

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HorrorBusiness1234 t1_j8wmkgg wrote

When I had an infant a few years ago it was around $700 for 5 days a week in Quincy

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jkjeeper06 t1_j8wmqg0 wrote

Replying to tapakip (#1,842,820)

2300/mo = $27,600/yr post tax. Its about $42,000/yr pre-tax. $20.50/hr full time.

At the low end of daycare its $13.75/hr, below our minimum wage

McDonalds is paying $19/hr near me so only a little more than that. If there is career growth potential you may miss out on that by becoming a caregiver

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incan17 t1_j8wnvd8 wrote

Pioneer valley

Infant care full time is $370 week. Which is around $1,500 a month

Toddler program is $325 a week equals to $1,300 a month

Then the wait list was another story.

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tapakip t1_j8wp5ay wrote

Replying to jkjeeper06 (#1,843,117)

I said $30 an hour because I would not work for a wage that equals what I'd be paying for childcare, it would need to be substantially more to be worthwhile. I'd rather be with my child for those years than working 40 hours a week just to pay someone else to watch them.

Career growth potential is the only factor, and I won't judge anyone either way. People should make their own decisions as to what's more important to them. Some will value their overall careers more, and some will value that time with their child.

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SangriaSipper t1_j8wpjio wrote

$500 a week for infants up to 15 months, $450 for toddler up to 2 years 9 months, $400 for preschool. Prices are slightly higher per day of you do part time. These numbers vary based on the income level of the area your looking in.

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Alacri-Tea t1_j8wpyal wrote

Licensed & insured in-home daycare weekly rate:

  • Infant: $300 full week, or $210 part time
  • Toddler, Preschool, School Age: $250 full week, or $180 part time
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JSchecter11 t1_j8wr3wr wrote

Out in the burbs, most places were 1600-2200/mo in an actual daycare facility. I did not check pricing for home daycares or nanny shares.

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Alacri-Tea t1_j8wrgvo wrote

Replying to coolhandslucas (#1,842,971)

Kind reminder that daycare is temporary and being out of the workforce can cost you or your wife both retirement savings and career growth. Just something to keep in mind even if you're breaking even right now.

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test_test_no t1_j8wrpfm wrote

Infant 575/wk, preschool 425/wk.

All others in between with $25 decrements.

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tenderooskies t1_j8wxuub wrote

they're insane. if you don't need full day, its somewhat better. but if you need to be able to drop your kid off early and pick them up after 5 you are looking at 2K+ per kid if you are anywhere near the Boston area.

​

It also depends on the kids age. infant to 2, way more expensive because its harder. the older they get, it gets less expensive. last year in daycare for our second (more-pre-K) and we'll be paying $2200 / month

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swlhb t1_j8wygj4 wrote

3 quotes I received in the city (back bay / south end) ranges from $650-950 per week for an infant

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Shnikes t1_j8x3skj wrote

It’s $76/day for our toddler and $97/day for our infant just northeast of Boston. It ends up being $3000-$3600 a month for the 2 of them depending upon the month. We send them 5 days a week.

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saywhat1206 t1_j8x57zr wrote

I used to work for a daycare center in Burlington in 2018. At that time, infants were $2,000 a month for full care (5 days per week).

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sharpe_af t1_j8x6wrq wrote

Seriously daycare is the ultimate hustle. It’s fucked up.

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ZDMW t1_j8x825z wrote

Yeah getting pricing is awful.

Greater Boston area, we pay 2500/mo for our 1year old at a home day care (5day/week). I think the cheapest we found around us was 1950/mo for an infant, and it can be much higher than we are paying.

But don't worry Massachusetts helps by allowing you to pay up to 5k a year with pre tax money...

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LowkeyPony t1_j8x977r wrote

Replying to user72230 (#1,842,123)

It's why I left my job when my kid was born 20 years ago. Also another reason why I only have an only.

And I'm pretty sure my sister and BIL have 3 kids because our mother retired early and took care of all three kids free of charge. If they had had to actually pay for child care, they would have stopped at one.

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MechanicalBirbs t1_j8x9fc5 wrote

$4400 a month for me for two kids, in the outter suburbs/exurbs.

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Usual_Knowledge2138 t1_j8xew5v wrote

I live in the South Shore. I had a toddler and infant in daycare. We pay about $3000 a month. The toddler is in 5 days a week while infant goes in 3 days.

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natureswoodwork t1_j8xkhxr wrote

Toddler goes 3 days a week 7:30-3 and it’s 9000 a year but they follow public school schedule so closed for summer. This is in central mass

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jkjeeper06 t1_j8xtul9 wrote

Replying to Victor_Korchnoi (#1,846,096)

Depends on the daycare. Some are discounted. If you have 2, they likely arent both infants unless they are twins so its a bit cheaper for one of them anyway.

But yes, 2, 3, 4, or 5 kids definitely changes the math

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verucaNaCI t1_j8xydjx wrote

Replying to jkjeeper06 (#1,842,130)

Not necessarily. I was working full time as a lead teacher at the daycare my son attended, and even with my employee discount, I was only bringing home about $100/week. So when I had my daughter, it was considerably cheaper for me to stay home. To be fair, though, that was nearly eight years ago, and I was making less than the current minimum wage. But daycare prices have increased in those eight years as well.

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kdall7 t1_j8y0uw4 wrote

About $350/week in western mass

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poprof t1_j8y11cp wrote

I pay 330 a week for a center based program in the Springfield area

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Bouix t1_j8y4ofu wrote

OP, where are you located? Give me approximate area if you want to remain anonymous.

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briskx t1_j8y5ikw wrote

I’m a teacher and the two districts I have worked for in Metrowest offer daycare programs for teachers. It’s around $2000 a month for full time infant day care (no discounts for teachers of course LOL).

My child was also briefly at a private daycare in Metrowest while we were on a waitlist for my current daycare- it was about $2000 as well. I feel like $2000 is the average rate for most daycares we checked out except some really scummy home daycares we visited.

One benefit though to a daycare for the children of teachers is that we don’t have to pay for the summer months! I found that most private daycares will require you to keep paying summer tuition even if you won’t need it to remain in their program.

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TiredPistachio t1_j8y5kbp wrote

At my facility, 5 days 10 hours in metrowest for infant is gonna be just over 600

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ZebraAthletics t1_j8y5uvs wrote

Replying to icebeat (#1,843,808)

Yeah, because daycare has to be a highly regulated industry and the liability is just enormous. It's really hard to see how it can actually be made more affordable. And subsidizing daycare isn't even necessarily a good idea because the economic benefit of another parent working often isn't more than the cost of the subsidy.

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Heythere2018 t1_j8y8pml wrote

$1350 a month, for 3 days a week, (in a daycare center about 15-20 minutes north of Boston.)

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oyvey1982 t1_j8ydayw wrote

Full time (M-F, 7:30-5:30) for my 3-year old is $2300 a month. This is in Middlesex county.

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thisbusisempty t1_j8ydhsx wrote

Western Mass here. My 3 month old is starting at a day care center full time in two weeks. $280 a week.

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UncleCustard t1_j8yfnkw wrote

Where in MA are you located? Western ma is about 60-75 a day. Boston is about 100-150 a day.

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DAMN-IT-FLAMINGO t1_j8yg5h3 wrote

You can’t find them online but you can always ask for the rate sheet to be emailed or given to you.

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The_Duchess_of_Dork t1_j8yikby wrote

In the residential neighborhoods of Boston, quotes for infant care were between $2750-$2900 a month. $2616 for 4 days a week. This is in the West Roxbury/Roslindale/JP vicinity plus immediately outside of the city in Dedham.

Edit to add: for in home daycare in the area I found one spot and the quote was around $1500 a month.

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jpk195 t1_j8yiu5d wrote

Replying to ZebraAthletics (#1,847,692)

> And subsidizing daycare isn't even necessarily a good idea because the economic benefit of another parent working often isn't more than the cost of the subsidy

Disagree. The benefit/pay over an entire career of just about any full time job will far exceed the price of childcare.

The problem is when the paycheck doesn’t cover childcare in the short term, and (generally women) are forced to drop out of the labor market.

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OnlyNormalPersonHere t1_j8yjqfx wrote

Replying to icebeat (#1,843,808)

This is not true. Their are only two costs that matter to a daycare center: labor (plus related taxes and benefits) and facilities (rent + cleaning and maintenance).

The labor is by far the largest cost area. When you factor in administrators and different shifts to cover the full-day, the effective ratio of adults to children is just so low. Then you factor in Boston rents and all the cleaning, etc and there’s not much left. Insurance is <$10k/year for a large-ish center, so a pretty small cost. (It’s not like these policies have to pay out almost ever. Tragedies are few and far between, thankfully.)

As for licenses, it’s a couple hundred bucks a year. Regulation is a bureaucratic pain and has some material admin cost in terms of man hours per month to log/track various things, but do you really want daycare to be unregulated? I don’t.

Source: I’m in the business

Edit: I should add, when I said “this is not true” I meant that about the license and insurance cost. It is absolutely is true that the workers are not paid enough, but that’s because there are no economies of scale in daycare so there just isn’t enough money to go around for workers. The industry needs to be permanently subsidized.

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Rick_Sanchez1214 t1_j8yow2j wrote

I haven’t looked into it yet for my 3 month old, however my buddy did and his son is 10 days older. For 5 days a week he got quoted $3800 a month at one place. After continuing to look he found I think $2700 at another. It’s brutal.

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Matty_Cakez t1_j8yq70p wrote

We pay 1600 for my 2.9 yr old to go 3 days a week

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buttseason t1_j8ytd35 wrote

It was hard, but I was able to find $1400 a month when I lived in Belmont and $1000-$1200 a month out in the Harvard/Bolton/Stow area. That’s going to be a home daycare, which has its pros/cons. Be ready to be waitlisted so get on this early if you can. It also requires some persistence with following up on emails, calls, etc.

Childcare costs are insane and incredibly prohibitive. And people wonder why millennials/Gen Z aren’t having kids…

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ipalush89 t1_j8zfexx wrote

I feel for the eastern part of MA they pay so much but make much more out in western MA I pay 200 a week food included and 120 a week for after school care for my oldest and I still struggle to pay that as I don’t make a a ton of money

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Tronk101 t1_j8zgomu wrote

Cambridge/Somerville etc it’s like $2500-3000 FT. We did part time for a bit and it was like $120-150 per day.

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RazMaTazNation t1_j8zkmk0 wrote

$550-650 / week for an infant based on 4 quotes I got

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Humble-Koala-5853 t1_j8zopp8 wrote

Replying to SpyCats (#1,842,214)

Fwiw, pricing isn’t linear. The more they go, the cheaper it is per hour. At our daycare in Sudbury, a toddler for 10 hours a day, 5 days per week is 594, 4 days 580, 3 days is 472, 2 days is 344.

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murfbard t1_j8zrqoz wrote

Whatever you do, do not go to Kindercare.

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Additional-Cheetah88 t1_j902cs7 wrote

260/week for full day preschool/preK in Merrimack Valley. Completely lucked out and found a wonderful nonprofit preschool that has been amazing.

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MechanicalBirbs t1_j916g92 wrote

Replying to passionfruit0 (#1,855,929)

My wife and I make a lot of money, six figures each. Thats literally it, thats the secret. My salary basically pays for daycare for the kids. Its crazy. I could literally buy a second home on the cape for the amount the daycare is.

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passionfruit0 t1_j91fgu5 wrote

Replying to MechanicalBirbs (#1,856,090)

I know it’s ridiculous the cost of daycare. Me and my husband are the working poor. To broke to afford things but to “rich” to get help. Doesn’t matter that we pay over $1000 a month for childcare that my son hardly goes to because he is sick all the time.

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EndTimesImFine t1_j91gera wrote

Replying to coolhandslucas (#1,842,971)

I did stop working because of this. We have two kids in for two days a week for $1600/month just for socializing, housework time for me, etc. I made a good salary and I could not justify the price of full time care. We previously had family watching our kids full time which was huge.

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Leominster84 t1_j92q7lx wrote

I pay 1580 per month for my 5month old. My daycare is in sterling ma.

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Bostontparty85 t1_j93hf6u wrote

We are in Needham - $600 per week for toddler (17 months) - daycare open 7:30-3:30

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GezinhaDM t1_j93tpg9 wrote

Replying to user72230 (#1,842,123)

Yup. That's why a huge portion of people I know personally use Brazilian/Hispanic sitters because they charge a fraction of that and they'll take great care of the babies.

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notgoodwithmoney t1_j93ybkd wrote

Replying to Dry-Stop2000 (#1,857,647)

Diapers, boogers, accidents out of diapers, parents, other kids, sick kids, what if the child chokes? Or worse? Allergies? Lunches meals and snacks for how many? Gotta clean up? Disinfect, organize. Oh yea, shit ton of paperwork and red tape. Rightfully so, things need to be tracked for safety.

Yea, it's stressful. My partner is in the business and I can see from the sidelines. Parents are happy to pay for what she offers and her waiting list is extensive. It's not an easy job basically being a mother figure to multiple children.

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Spidermanfinger t1_j95u5at wrote

In 2021, South Shore 5 days/week 7am-6pm $2,780 per month for 1 child. $100 per day for toddler 8:30am- 12:30pm.

10% discount for sibling. 3% annual increase. Does not include annual fee or registration fee.

With 2+ kids, hiring a nanny is cheaper both on/off the books than daycare.

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GezinhaDM t1_j9c8x15 wrote

Replying to PinkLemonadeJam (#1,890,297)

These ladies watch 3-5 kids at a time, so...and, btw, I'm an undocumented immigrant, so I don't make all the money in the world and I must find care for my son, so thank God for other Brazilian and Hispanic sitters.

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ZDMW t1_j9fu0cd wrote

Replying to ipalush89 (#1,851,510)

I had it wrong in how it works, and TheSkiGeek is right. It's an federal program that my wife employer has opted in. Works like an FSA. It's at least worth checking if its available, and if not ask for it to be.

Sarcasm aside, ever little bit does help, and I'll take anything I can find.

https://dpath.com/dependent-care-account-is-it-right-for-you/#:~:text=Annual%20contribution%20limits,of%20your%20paycheck%20before%20taxes.

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