Eastern Mass. has some of the highest child care costs in the country – Boston Globe
By Christina Prignano and Ryan Huddle
As Governor Maura Healey takes the helm of Massachusetts state government, a new report is detailing an uphill battle for one of her key priorities: The high cost of child care.
The new data from the Department of Labor show parents in two Massachusetts counties pay the third-highest child care prices in the nation. The annual cost of infant center-based child care in Middlesex and Norfolk counties was more than $26,000, according to the data, eating up nearly 20 percent of median family budgets. Only parents in Arlington County in Virginia and San Francisco County in California paid higher sums.
Though Middlesex and Norfolk topped the list, Suffolk and Essex counties also ranked in the top 20 for infant child care costs, and all 14 Mass. counties appeared in the top 100 among more than 2,800 counties nationwide for which data were available.
In Suffolk County, families paid nearly 30 percent of combined income on child care.
In her inaugural speech earlier this month, Healey called the state of child care in Massachusetts a “crisis” and called on the state to be the first in the nation to fix it. In a statement to the Globe last week, a spokeswoman said Healey would work with the Legislature on a solution.