ORLANDO, Fla. — According to a new database launched by the Department of Labor, families in Orange County spend an average of 15% of their income on child care.

What You Need To Know

  • The median family in Orange County spends 15% of their income on child care

  • The median yearly cost of child care for an infant in Orange County is more than $10,000

  • The median yearly cost of child care for a toddler in Orange County is close to $8,000

Spectrum News spoke with Shannon Bonardy, a mother of two in the Orlando area, about her search for child care.

“It is super hard to find affordable childcare,” said Bonardy. 

From wait lists to high costs, parents across the country are in a challenging position. The median price of putting a toddler in child care for a year in Orange County is over $8,000. To put an infant in a childcare center costs over $10,000 on average. 

“Putting both of [my children] together would be almost $500 a week,” said Bonardy. To offset the cost of child care, Bonardy’s mother helps care for one of the kids. Without that help, she said she may not have been able to afford to return to work – a dilemma experts say many mothers face in returning to work.

A 2021 expanded child tax credit afforded many families up to $3,600 to offset the cost of care, but that measure was abandoned following opposition from Republicans and Senate Democrat Joe Manchin. Now, there are a few federally available economic resources for working parents.