Only 18% of Miami households can truly afford child care. Here are 5 takeaways

Rising child care costs in Miami-Dade are putting a huge strain on families and hurting local businesses. Many parents struggle to afford care, and that struggle is costing Miami-Dade County’s economy nearly a billion dollars a year.

FULL STORY: Lack of affordable child care is a billion-dollar problem for Miami-Dade

Here are the highlights:

• Average infant day care costs over $13,500 a year in Miami-Dade, which is more than double the annual cost of in-state college tuition and far above what many families can pay.
• Few receive public help, while eligibility for state aid leaves out families who earn too much but still can’t afford care.
• Miami-Dade’s economy loses close to $1 billion yearly because parents miss work or quit jobs due to child care issues, making it a business problem too.
• Nearly one in six working parents leaves the workforce, and many small businesses report that child care troubles hurt their operations and staffing.
• Only 18% of local households can truly afford child care, based on the federal government’s affordability guidelines.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in the Miami Herald newsroom. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by Miami Herald journalists.