Gov. Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) on Tuesday announced the results of the 2025 Market Rate Survey, which found a steep increase in child care provider prices for working families. According to the 2025 report, Wisconsin families with an infant in center-based care are seeing an average 11% increase in monthly tuition prices, while families with an infant in family-based care are seeing an average 10% increase.
This is the second consecutive annual Market Rate Survey report showing significant back-to-back increases in child care tuition prices, as providers contend with reduced Child Care Counts Program payments due to a lack of federal funding and additional state investment. The program is set to end on June 30.
In his 2025-27 Executive Budget, Evers proposed over $480 million to continue the Child Care Counts Program to help lower the cost of child care for working families, fill available child care slots and cut child care wait lists. The new report comes as the state’s Republican-controlled state budget committee in recent weeks voted to remove over 600 proposals from that budget, including the funds to continue the Child Care Counts Program.
Launched in 2020 using federal relief dollars, the Child Care Counts Program has delivered over $850 million in upstream support to child care providers to increase wages, provide benefits, expand access and more. To date, Child Care Counts has helped more than 5,600 child care providers remain open, employing more than 72,000 child care professionals and allowing providers to continue care for more than 417,000 children.
