Daycare Almost As Much As College In NJ, New Study Finds

Parents in New Jersey spend nearly as much on daycare for their young children as they do on college tuition for their young adult children over the course of a year, according to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute.

The study reported that the cost of infant daycare in New Jersey is $11,534, or $961 each month, while in-state college tuition annually is slightly more, at $12,266, the study showed.

Child care for an older child at the age of four is less, coming in at $9,546 annually, or $796 monthly. New Jersey is ranked 14th in the nation for most expensive infant care.

The study showed the median New Jersey family income is $88,627. With a single infant daycare cost of $11,534, the average family uses about 13-percent of its income to pay for single-child daycare.

The numbers only go up from there, as a family with an infant and a four-year-old in daycare pay a total of $21,080, which is 35-percent higher than the average rent in New Jersey.

The Economic Policy Institute, which says it's time for an "ambitious" national investment in childcare, said reform that capped families’ child care expenses at 10 percent of their income would generate $7.55 billion of new economic activity in Pennsylvania alone.

See the full report here.