Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 96
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
8
Tuition Priced at the Estimated True Cost of Care Makes Child
Care Unattainable for Families
A Single Parent with Two Children Earning the County Median Income
($51,792) Would Face Costs Equivalent to 143% of Their Annual Income at the
True Cost of High-Quality Care
If child care centers charged tuition that reflected the estimated true cost of high-quality
care, the resulting prices would be unattainable for most families. In greater Davidson
County, high-quality child care for one infant and one toddler, priced at the estimated true
cost of care, would represent roughly 143 percent of the median household income for a
one-parent household (see Table 2).
The Federal government has previously defined affordable child care as costing no more than
7 percent of household income.15 By this standard, child care in greater Davidson County is
considered affordable only if total costs are capped at approximately $302 per month for a
median-income single-parent household. This considerable gap between the estimated true
cost of high-quality care and what is affordable for families underscores why child care
centers cannot set tuition equal to the estimated cost of high-quality care as a strategy for
increasing educator pay to ensure a living wage and benefits.
Table 2: Percent of Median Household Income Required to Cover High-Quality Child Care Costs
Household Type
One-Parent
Household
Number of
Children
Davidson County
Median Income
Annual (Monthly)
Estimated Cost of
High-Quality Care
Annual (Monthly)
Percent of
Household
Income Needed to
Cover Child Care
1 Infant
$51,792 ($4,316)
$41,484 ($3,457)
80%
1 Infant & 1 Toddler
$51,792 ($4,316)
$74,232 ($6,186)
143%
Source: 2025 Davidson County Child Care Cost Estimation Model. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, 2025. American
Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates. Note: Calculations assume that families do not use a child care certificate (subsidy).
Child care is considered
affordable when it
costs no more than
7%
of household income
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2026
www.pn3policy.org
