Baltimore, MD – Putting an infant in daycare costs more than sending a child to a public college in Maryland. Making a major public investment in early childhood care and education would help families make ends meet while providing a major boost to the state’s economy, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute.

In a paper released today, EPI details the high cost of child care in every state and outlines the benefits of public investment in early childhood care and education, to children, families, society, and the economy. The authors of “It’s time for an ambitious national investment in America’s children” propose investments such as subsidies to allow more parents to afford high-quality child care and the public provision of early childhood education, including high-quality pre-kindergarten education.

Annual child care costs in Maryland are $13,932 for a family with an infant and $9,100 for a family with a 4-year-old. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services currently defines child care as affordable if it costs 10 percent or less of a family’s income (and has recently proposed an even more ambitious measure of 7 percent). By the current 10 percent metric, less than 28 percent of Maryland families are able to afford infant care, and less than half of Maryland families are able to afford care for a four-year-old.

“Investing in high-quality child care and early childhood education will have substantive, longlasting benefits for children, working parents, and for Maryland’s economy,” said Benjamin Orr, Executive Director of the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. “Kids that have these opportunities early in life go on to do better in school and eventually have better success as working adults.”

Child care is one of the biggest expenses Maryland families face. Infant care in Maryland costs $5,612 more per year than in-state tuition for 4-year public college.

Making public investments that cap child care costs at 10 percent of family income would save the median family with an infant in Maryland $5,249 a year. The median family with an infant and a four-year-old, meanwhile, would save $14,349 a year. Because a cap would be income-based, the savings would be even greater for lower-income families.

Investing in quality child care and early childhood education would have significant benefits for Maryland’s economy, as well. The report’s authors estimate that Maryland’s gross state product would increase by $4.4 billion if these investments were made. Nationally, these gains to gross domestic product would also boost federal tax revenue by roughly $70 billion annually, providing a very large base of economic support to finance this ambitious investment in America’s children.

“Economists, like Nobel winner James Heckman agree, investments in a child’s early years are the best way to reduce inequality, improve the American workforce, and strengthen our economy,” Margaret Williams of Maryland Family Network said. “We know the way to change things. The question is—are we willing?”

The EPI paper reviews the patchwork of policies intended to make child care more affordable, including the child and dependent care tax credit, the employer-provided child care tax exclusion, and subsidies, such as the Child Care Development Fund. Unfortunately, the benefits of nonrefundable tax credits go mostly to well-off families, and subsidies for low-income families are inadequate and too-narrowly targeted. An ambitious, comprehensive national investment is essential to solving the child care crisis in America. The paper and additional Maryland-specific date is available at – http://www.epi.org/publication/itstime-for-an-ambitious-national-investment-in-americas-children.


Media contacts

  • Maryland Center on Economic Policy – Kali Schumitz, kschumitz@mdeconomy.org, 410-412-9105, ext. 701
  • Maryland Family Network – Douglas Lent, dlent@marylandfamilynetwork.org, 410-736-0430
  • Economic Policy Institute – Dan Crawford, dcrawford@epi.org, 202-775-8810

Maryland Center on Economic Policy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advances innovative policy ideas to foster broad prosperity and help our state be the standard-bearer for responsible public policy. Learn more at mdeconomy.org.


Maryland Family Network ensures children have strong families, quality early learning environments, and a champion for their interests. Learn more at marylandfamilynetwork.org or Twitter @MDFamilyNetwork.