Recent 2024 Market Rate Survey Finds Larger Increase in Child Care Provider Prices

Friday, August 2nd, 2024 -- 10:01 AM

(WBAY) Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), announced Wednesday the results of the 2024 Market Rate Survey, which found a larger-than-predicted increase in child care provider prices between 2022 and 2023.

The increase in prices resulted in a drop in affordable child care slots by nearly 25 percent, the governor’s office said in a news release. Citing the 2024 report, the governor’s office said Wisconsin families with an infant in center-based care are seeing an average 11 percent increase in monthly tuition prices, while Wisconsin families with an infant in family-based care are seeing an average 14 percent increase.

These prices also outpaced Wisconsin’s overall 4.9 percent inflation rate between the two years. For families participating in Wisconsin Shares, the state’s child care subsidy program, the rise in prices has led to a steep decline in child care affordability, with only 50 percent of slots considered affordable compared to 74 percent in 2022.

A slot is considered affordable when the maximum subsidy rate is at or above the price of the slot type. The last subsidy rate increase occurred in January 2022, which put the state the closest it has been to the 75 percent benchmark outlined in state statute and recommended by the federal government.

Without additional state investment, the governor said the program is expected to end June 30, 2025. Child Care Counts launched in 2020 using federal relief dollars and has delivered over $750 million in support to child care providers to increase staff compensation, keep the price of care stable, expand access to care, and more.

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