An economic analysis of 2,360 counties across 47 states reveals a notable hole in some Montgomery County employees wallets. The data were revealed by the National Database of Childcare Prices, the most comprehensive federal source of national childcare economic expense by geography.

The Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor co-issued the findings.

Analysts examined child care costs from 2018 and then extrapolated the numbers to reflect 2022 valuations.

Nationally (in those 2022 dollars), the yearly expense for infant center-based care ranged $5,357–$17,171 per year.

That’s an average 17.6 percent outlay of median income across the U.S.

In Montgomery County specifically — the area leader in the expense for this service — the median price tag (again in 2022 dollars) was $16,506. That’s a 13.7 percent share of average monthly wages here.

For a family making the in-county average salary of $108,420, the budgetary effect is $14,854 per year per infant child.

The economics increase exponentially with additional children.

The news is somewhat better here than in Philadelphia County, where the wage expense for childcare is a whopping 22.5 percent of annual earnings.

But Montgomery County’s 13.7 outlay leads the surrounding suburbs in the hit on household wallets:

• Delaware County: 13.3 percent
• Chester County: 13.1 percent
• Bucks County: 12.7 percent

More on the percentage of wages going to childcare locally, regionally, and nationally is at the National Database of Childcare Prices.

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Trevor Noah took a 2021 look at the problematic cost of childcare in America.