“This is a crisis that calls for bold action,” an advocate said after a study showed childcare is too expensive for most city families.

By Matt Troutman

NEW YORK CITY — Four out of every five of New York City families simply can’t afford childcare, a sobering new study found.

Childcare costs are a full-fledged crisis in the city, advocates declared after the Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York dropped a study Friday.

More than 80 percent of families with kids under 5 cannot afford childcare in the city, while roughly the same percentage of parents and guardians can’t for their school-age children, the study found.

“Alarmingly, our research shows that the vast majority of low-to middle-income households in New York City cannot afford any form of care,” said Jennifer March, the group’s executive director, in a statement. “This isn’t just a family issue – this is a key part of a larger socio-economic crisis.”

New York City families have long known that childcare is ridiculously expensive in the city.

Infant daycare costs hovered about $23,000 in 2022 across the five boroughs, according to federal data.

The new study found families in Brooklyn and The Bronx pay up to 63 percent of their annual income on childcare or out-of-school care, which is the highest cost burden in the city.

Most of those communities are disproportionately Black and Brown, said Raysa S. Rodriguez, chief program and policy officer at FPWA, an anti-poverty policy and advocacy organization.

“This is a crisis that calls for bold action, not only to address the disparities in cost burden and access, but to also accurately measure the true cost of living and better align wages and supports to what we know are real costs for New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.

Read the full study here.