Daycare Cost Survey

[Anonymous]

I’m SAHM thinking of going back to work. I’m trying to figure out how much salary I need to make it financially worth it to work. I have a toddler (17 months) and preschooler (age 4) and no idea how much I should be expecting to pay. I would appreciate it if some of you would post your location and daycare costs for these ages. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Bowie, MD 1200 a month for two kids ages 3 and 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bowie, MD 1200 a month for two kids ages 3 and 4

For both kids? Or 1200 each?

[Anonymous]

1900, NE DC, infant

[Anonymous]

It's not about your salary- it's also about retirement, career progress, etc. Unless you earn minimum wage, it's always beneficial to go back to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not about your salary- it's also about retirement, career progress, etc. Unless you earn minimum wage, it's always beneficial to go back to work.

It’s not always beneficial to put your little children in poor quality care. You sound insane. See “The Hell of American Daycare”.

[Anonymous]

4 year old we paid $1200 but with after care it was $1400-1500. I'd plan $2k for the toddler. You are probably better off waiting till the 4 year old goes to K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie, MD 1200 a month for two kids ages 3 and 4

For both kids? Or 1200 each?

Yes, for both kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bowie, MD 1200 a month for two kids ages 3 and 4

For both kids? Or 1200 each?

Yes, for both kids.

Holy cow. We are close to 4x that in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not about your salary- it's also about retirement, career progress, etc. Unless you earn minimum wage, it's always beneficial to go back to work.

OP here. Unless I find situation like PP in Bowie, it sounds like most arrangements are going to cost $20-25 an hour. The other PP advised 2k for toddler and 1400 for preschooler. That’s $40,800 a year, hardly minimum wage. It’s a tough decision to go back when a significant fraction of your salary will be eaten up by daycare, taxes, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about your salary- it's also about retirement, career progress, etc. Unless you earn minimum wage, it's always beneficial to go back to work.

It’s not always beneficial to put your little children in poor quality care. You sound insane. See “The Hell of American Daycare”.

DP. The insane one might be the person who always posts about the “horrors” on any thread where daycare comes up.

[Anonymous]

PreK is 1120/month and infant care inhome is 1070. Silver spring.

Aftercare at elementary is about 500-month.

[Anonymous]

Our in home daycare/Preschool in silver spring is $1750 a month. They take 18 months and up and provide all meals (hot breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks, all home cooked).
It's a steal compared to my nanny who is $900 a week for the baby.

[Anonymous]

Hi op I agree it’s a hard decision, but I would encourage you to take the approach of combining your potential salary and your partners and then looking at it from that wholistic perspective determine if you can afford child care as a family on that combined salary and if that makes sense. Your partner is just as responsible for child care costs so combining and looking at it as a whole is often really helpful in considering this instead of expecting one persons salary to cover it. This approach also makes sense since going back to work is often for a multitude of reasons - retirement, future earning potential, your own feelings, etc so it helps take that pressure off that it’s all on you.

As for daycare costs our in home in falls church is about $1200 a month - that was for infant and stayed the same until now at 2. I would say that is on the more affordable end we found. Close in suburbs in homes can be more like $1500 or 1600 - farther our suburbs it can be much more affordable. We are looking at full day daycare/preschools for 2.5 and up and they range between $1300-$1600.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about your salary- it's also about retirement, career progress, etc. Unless you earn minimum wage, it's always beneficial to go back to work.

OP here. Unless I find situation like PP in Bowie, it sounds like most arrangements are going to cost $20-25 an hour. The other PP advised 2k for toddler and 1400 for preschooler. That’s $40,800 a year, hardly minimum wage. It’s a tough decision to go back when a significant fraction of your salary will be eaten up by daycare, taxes, etc.

Where are you OP? Costs vary widely by area- even within DC in different neighborhoods. Guessing you’re not in DC since the four year old isn’t in prek. I think if you gave location you’d get more useful answers. I pay double in DC than my brother does in Crofton.