Throughout childhood, high quality care is essential to children’s healthy development and plays a fundamental role in supporting the economic stability and mobility of working parents and caregivers. However, even costs for out of school care for school age children ( 6 -12) are burdensome and unaffordable for most families in New York City. Families with children enrolled in public school still  need to find supplemental care during afterschool and school vacation times.

CCC’s analysis examined data from the US Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey for estimates of median family incomes and, the Child Care Market Rate Survey Report from the New York State Office of Children and Families for data on out of school care. The findings show:

• A family with one child between ages 6-12 might spend between 11% and 26% of their income on child care alone.
• Among all families with school-age children citywide, only 21% of families can afford center-based care for one child age 6-12, and only 8% of single parent families can afford care for one school age child in center-based settings.
• In less expensive home-based child care settings, more families in the city can afford care, but still more than 76% of families would NOT be able to truly afford after-school and school vacation care for one child age 6-12.