# U.S. Child Care Estimate Reached $13,184 in 2025 as Tax Rules Apply

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/37461
Published: 2026-10-22T04:33:21.000Z
Updated: 2026-10-22T04:33:21.000Z
Section: Regulation

> For tax year 2026, eligible taxpayers can claim up to 50% of qualifying expenses, subject to $3,000 or $6,000 expense caps.

A national estimate put annual child care prices at $13,184 in 2025, while federal tax credit rules for 2026 limit qualifying expenses as voters approach Pennsylvania’s 7th District election.

The estimate averages three methods using price data from 47 states. It covers center-based and family child care for infants and 4-year-olds; school-age care was excluded because comparable data was unavailable. The figure is a national price estimate, not what every family pays.

Child care prices rose 23% from 2021 to 2025, while overall prices rose 24% over the same period. For tax year 2026, eligible taxpayers can claim a credit of up to 50% of qualifying expenses, up from 35%. Qualifying expenses are capped at $3,000 for one qualifying person or $6,000 for two or more. The credit is nonrefundable, so it can reduce federal income tax owed but cannot exceed a taxpayer’s tax liability.

Jenny Escolastico, an Air Force veteran and mother of two outside Allentown, said returning to work full time would require after-school care for her son and full-time care for her daughter. Her son attends state-funded prekindergarten. She said she expects the added care costs to exceed what she would earn by returning to work full time. “Childcare is another rent, another car note,” she said.

Escolastico voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 and is weighing her choice in the district this November. A Sept. 9–20, 2026, survey of 357 registered voters in the district found Democrat Bob Brooks at 45%, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie at 40% and 16% undecided. The figures total 101% because of rounding; the margin of sampling error was 5.8 percentage points.

Brooks supports expanded child care subsidies, more Head Start funding and universal kindergarten and prekindergarten. Mackenzie has advocated expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.

In a June 2025 survey of 1,158 U.S. adults, 76% called child care costs a major problem and 64% favored federally provided free or low-cost care for children too young for public school. Another 46% said helping working families pay for care should be a high federal priority, while 34% called it a moderate priority.

At a White House Easter lunch on April 1, 2026, Trump said states should pay for daycare. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare,” he said. Voters in the district will decide the congressional race in November.