Georgia’s Child Care Sector is Under Pressure, and so are Working Families

By Ellyn Cochran

Published by Saporta Report

In Georgia, 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. 

Across the state, the cost of everyday life is rising faster than many can keep up with.
Even with more Georgians working than ever before, many households are struggling to stretch their paychecks as inflation, housing, grocery, and utility costs continue to rise. In the middle of this economic pressure is one of the biggest expenses many families face: child care.

Families are finding that full-time center-based infant care can top $13,000 per year in some regions of our 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. The federal government recommends that families spend no more than 7 percent of their income on child care, but in reality it costs much more. Two-parent families in our state 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.

Behind the scenes, child care providers are facing financial strain of their own. New insights from Quality Care for Children’s 2026 provider survey, which includes responses from close to 600 early learning and care programs across Georgia, 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. These shortages are making it harder for programs to meet demand, even as more working families search for stable, affordable care.

At the same time, child care providers report rising costs across nearly every part of their operations and say they have reduced spending on supplies, learning materials, and food in an effort to remain sustainable. Others are making difficult tradeoffs, such as delaying needed facility maintenance, reducing investments in their programs, or absorbing costs without passing them fully on to families who are already stretched thin.

One of the most immediate pressures facing child care programs is food costs, which continue to rise as inflation increases and as more families face food insecurity. In this year’s survey, 74 percent of providers note that food costs are a growing challenge for the families they serve, underscoring how many rely on child care programs to ensure their children receive consistent, healthy meals and snacks each day. And, even while child care providers are ensuring that the children in their care are fed, almost 30 percent of providers say they too had personally experienced food insecurity within the past year.

This challenge is not unique to Georgia. Nationally, a recent RAPID survey showed that more than half of child care providers have experienced food insecurity themselves, underscoring how financially fragile the early learning and care workforce has become.

Yet, despite these hardships, child care providers continue to show up for children, making sure that they are receiving the high-quality early learning instruction, skills development, and nurturing they need to thrive. Child care programs across Georgia report strong early learning practices, especially with an increased focus on early literacy instruction, including more intentional language and literacy experiences, laying the foundation for long-term success in school.

But, if families cannot afford or access care, parents may be forced to cut back work hours or leave the workforce entirely. Children miss out on critical early learning experiences. And communities, from local businesses to regional economies, feel the impact.

Child care is not just a service. It is critical infrastructure for a thriving Atlanta and a strong Georgia. If we want to support working families and a stable workforce, we must invest in both sides of the system: making care more affordable for parents while ensuring providers can sustainably operate and continue serving their communities.

Because right now, both are under pressure, and both are essential to Georgia’s future.