Three takeaways from a report on Colorado child care costs and supply

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In some Colorado counties, the cost of child care is equivalent to more than half a week’s salary at a minimum wage job, which leaves little money to pay for other expenses.

That’s one of the findings in a new report on licensed child care from the Common Sense Institute, a Colorado research organization. Overall, the report reiterates what many parents know intuitively: Child care is expensive and hard to find. But it also digs into county-by-county differences that highlight how the child care landscape differs by community.

One thing the report doesn’t account for is family, friend, and neighbor care, which is informal child care provided by a child’s relatives or others. The state doesn’t license such providers or track their prevalence, but they are the ones who often fill the gap when state-licensed care is in short supply or out of reach financially.

Here are three takeaways from the report:

Child care takes a big bite out of family income

In Colorado’s 10 largest counties, families are spending 18% to 25% of their monthly income on child care — far above the 7% affordability benchmark set by the federal government. It’s the worst in Weld County, where child care costs consume about $1,400 a month on average. That’s 25% of $5,600, the average monthly household income.

Families have it a bit better in Denver. There, child care costs nearly $1,600 a month per child on average, 18% of the monthly household income of nearly $8,600. Households in Arapahoe and Pueblo counties spend a similar share of their income on child care as those in Denver.

In populous counties, child care supply is best in Boulder, worst in Pueblo

Boulder County has 0.63 child care seats per child under 6 — more seats relative to the number of young children than Colorado’s other nine most populous counties. Jefferson and Douglas counties are close behind.

Lowest on the 10-county list is Pueblo, which has 0.29 seats per child under 6. Child care supply is even worse in some of Colorado’s least populous counties, including Elbert, Huerfano, Lake and Las Animas.

Four Colorado counties have enough slots for young children — technically

Four Colorado counties in the southwestern corner of the state have enough licensed child care seats to serve every child under 6 within their borders. The largest of them is La Plata, where Durango is the county seat. The county has about 400 children under age 6 and about 1,200 child care slots — though the report doesn’t account for children who may come to La Plata from nearby counties for child care.

The other three counties with the best child care supply relative to their child populations are all sparsely populated. They include San Juan, Mineral, and Hinsdale counties.

Ann Schimke is a senior reporter at Chalkbeat, covering early childhood issues and early literacy. Contact Ann at aschimke@chalkbeat.org.