Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), announced in a press release today the results of the 2024 Market Rate Survey, which found a larger-than-predicted increase in child care provider prices between 2022 and 2023, resulting in a drop in affordable child care slots by nearly 25%.
The Market Rate Survey is a federally required collection and analysis that helps the state determine what prices child care providers are charging and the buying power of its Wisconsin Shares subsidy program. According to the 2024 report, Wisconsin families with an infant in center-based care are seeing an average 11% increase in monthly tuition prices, while Wisconsin families with an infant in family-based care are seeing an average 14% increase. These prices also outpaced Wisconsin’s overall 4.9% 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% of slots considered affordable compared to 74% 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% benchmark outlined in state statute and recommended by the federal government.
The rise in child care tuition prices comes as payments from the Child Care Counts Program were cut in half in May 2023 due to an end of federal funding and a lack of additional state investment, despite the governor’s efforts to secure long-term state funding. Without additional state investment, the program is expected to end June 30, 2025.
