For millions of families in the United States, childcare has become one of the most difficult expenses to face. Beyond inflation or the price of housing, paying for full-time daycare can completely throw off the family budget. A new analysis reveals that, for most households, this basic service is far from affordable. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services considers childcare affordable when it does not exceed 7% of a household's annual income. However, under that criterion, a family would need to earn approximately $403,000 a year to cover the care of two children without jeopardizing their finances, according to estimates from the lending platform LendingTree. Unfortunately, the median household income in the United States was $105,800 in 2024, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. This figure falls far short of what is needed to comfortably cover the current costs of daycare and childcare centers. The average annual expenditure for a family with a baby and a four-year-old reaches $28,000, according to the organization Child Care Aware of America. This equates to more than $2,300 per month, an amount many families simply cannot absorb without sacrificing other essential expenses. “Childcare costs are simply overwhelming for all but the wealthiest Americans,” Matt Schulz, chief consumer finance analyst at LendingTree, told CBS News. “This forces parents to make very difficult decisions, including whether or not to have children.” Data shows that families with two children spend an average of $2,252 per month on childcare. In dozens of large cities across the country, that amount exceeds the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment. LendingTree identified at least 85 metropolitan areas where childcare is more expensive than rent. Cities such as Omaha, Milwaukee, and Buffalo top the list.In Omaha, the average monthly childcare cost is $2,891, while the average rent is $1,368. In Milwaukee, the difference exceeds $1,400 per month. And in Buffalo, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,343 per month, while childcare costs an average of $2,761. Similar situations are repeated in cities like Springfield, Syracuse, Minneapolis, and Chicago. Even in large urban areas like Washington, D.C., monthly childcare costs hover around $3,854, far exceeding the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment. These differences force many families to seek informal alternatives, reduce work hours, or rely on relatives. Federal labor market data indicates that, in 2022, families spent between 8.9% and 16% of their median income on childcare for a single child. These figures far exceed the threshold considered affordable by health authorities. The high cost of childcare has become a central issue for legislators and local governments. In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced a plan to offer free childcare to two-year-olds, as part of a broader effort toward a universal system. Other states, such as Kentucky, have also promoted universal Pre-K programs, arguing that these initiatives not only benefit children but also alleviate the economic pressure on working families. A few years ago, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders criticized the United States system as an “international embarrassment,” comparing it to less economically powerful countries that offer childcare services free of charge. Expecting the government to help with childcare and protection services for our young children could be futile, so you should budget for this expense or find a more effective solution on your own, as many Hispanic families do: by relying on relatives.