Sometimes rent is higher in a certain location, so then the daycare is more expensive there.

No, I dont believe so.

To some extent there is a correlation. We toured four places for my toddler a on. One was like $50 a day, but was super small, a basement living room, clearly didn’t go outside much. I think they were just getting started and trying to get people in. The husband creeped us out on our tour/visit.

Two other in homes were middle of the road pricing about $75 a day and were both totally fine, one just didn’t have an opening when we needed it, another was too far out of the way.

The third was a small center that happened to be spanish immersion. The building was old (they have since moved to a beautiful new space) but we liked the staff that we met on the tour. And it was in a super convenient location, but the new spot is ten minutes farther away. We pay about $90 a day.

For us it was worth the longer drive and higher expense because he loves the teachers and staff and the spanish immersion was really important. I’m not sure he’s getting any better care than at the cheaper in home, it’s just different.

Anonymous wrote:Don’t go off daycare reviews and do a trial day before you pick a center.

i couldn't agree more! Smartest thing i've read on here so far lol!

Big centers have big overheads. That is not to say that they charge high for poor quality but their basic costs will be higher and they need to turn a profit.
The best daycare we had was a family daycare two blocks from my house in Silver Spring where the provider charged $250 per week in 2019 for everyone including infants. Lovely, caring people who loved my kid like their own. We are now at a center run by a non-profit that is affordable and amazing. We toured Bambini and Children in the Shoe and were impressed but they cost a lot more.

I agree it depends. I personally don’t think you’re getting better quality with chains like bright horizons where you pay a premium, but it depends on what quality means to you honestly. We did pay a premium for preschool and quality was definitely better than another place I’ve sent my other child for a time. But the higher cost was for a smaller private preschool program where most teachers have their masters and it is more like a school vs daycare. That was worth it for us. But we actually preferred home daycares for the infant stage for a variety of reasons. We are still close with one of our son’s home daycare providers today.

For the older kids - maybe age 2 and up - there are some other things besides location that raises the price I think. For example, some places may have a lower price because you provide lunch and snack whereas other locations may provide that. Some preschools/toddler dayscares do small field trips and if the parents drive that is cheaper than the centers that use a bus or van.

It depends on where the money is going. At my first visit to our center I learned that all staff (teachers and admin) have full benefits (health, dental, vision, 401K matching, training and professional development, etc) fully paid for by the school. Tuition also goes to supporting financial aid for families who need it. Those are items I felt worth the cost for the school, which we truly love.