Georgia’s childcare sector is under pressure, and so are working families. Many families now pay more for infant child care than they do for groceries or health insurance, even as the programs caring for their children struggle to keep their own doors open.

Financial Strain on Childcare Providers

Child care providers are facing financial strain of their own. New insights from Quality Care for Children’s 2026 provider survey indicate that nearly half of providers raised tuition within the last year to keep their businesses open, and just under half plan to increase fees within the next year.

The survey also shows that access to affordable care remains a top challenge for families, particularly for infants and toddlers. One-third of providers report growing waitlists, while 40 percent cite ongoing staffing shortages that limit how many children they can serve.

Impact on Working Families

Families are finding that full-time center-based infant care can top $13,000 per year in some regions of the state. This equates to a year of in-state college tuition, or more than what most families spend on groceries or health insurance in a year.

Two-parent families in Georgia spend nearly 10 percent of their income on center-based infant care, compared to 31.7 percent for single parents. Increasingly, the cost of child care is simply unsustainable and out of reach for working families — the very workforce Georgia’s economy depends on.

Original reporting: SaportaReport — read the source article.