The cost of raising young children in New Hampshire keeps climbing, and the supply of places to care for them keeps shrinking. A new analysis from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute finds that the average annual price of center-based care for an infant and a four-year-old reached about $30,000 in 2025, up from roughly $22,500 in 2017. Over the same period, the number of licensed child care providers across the state fell by 120 programs, a 14 percent decline. The result is a market that costs more and offers fewer choices, squeezing families and employers alike.

“Child care remains one of the largest expenses many New Hampshire families face, particularly for households with multiple young children,” said NHFPI Senior Policy Analyst Dow Drukker, who authored the analysis. “As costs continue to rise and provider options decline, many families are forced to make difficult decisions about work, finances, and care options.” The analysis draws on newly released 2025 data from Child Care Aware of America and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

What Families Are Paying

The headline figure of nearly $30,000 reflects the combined cost of caring for two young children, the kind of expense that can rival or exceed a family’s mortgage. Broken down, the average annual price of center-based care in 2025 was approximately $16,462 for an infant and $15,262 for a toddler. Infant and toddler care tend to be the most expensive forms because they require the highest staff-to-child ratios, but the financial pressure does not end when a child grows older. Families continue to face child care costs for years, including before- and after-school programs, summer care, and coverage during school vacations.

The burden looks very different depending on a household’s circumstances. For a married couple with two children under age 5 earning the median family income in New Hampshire, paying these prices would consume about one-quarter of annual household income. For a single mother earning the median income for unmarried mothers in the state, the same care would amount to roughly 61 percent of annual income. That gap underscores how child care costs fall hardest on the families with the least cushion, and how the expense can effectively price a parent out of the workforce when a paycheck barely covers the cost of care.

A Market Losing Capacity

Price is only half of the story. The other half is availability, and on that front the trend is also negative. Since 2017, the average price of center-based care has risen 32 percent and home-based care has risen 30 percent, both outpacing general inflation over the same period. At the same time, the network of providers has thinned considerably. The number of licensed home-based child care programs declined 32 percent between 2017 and 2025, while licensed center-based programs fell 10 percent.

The loss of home-based programs is particularly consequential. These smaller, often neighborhood-rooted operations have traditionally offered flexibility, lower costs, and care in communities where large centers are not viable. Their disappearance leaves gaps that are hardest to fill in exactly the places that can least absorb them. According to the analysis, families in rural regions, households with low and moderate incomes, and parents seeking care outside of traditional working hours may be disproportionately affected by the shrinking supply.

Why It Matters Beyond the Nursery

Child care is not only a family budget item. It is labor market infrastructure. When parents cannot find or afford care, they cut hours, decline promotions, or leave the workforce entirely, and the effects ripple through employers and the broader economy. New Hampshire’s tight labor market and aging population make every working-age adult valuable, which is why the state’s affordability challenges carry economic stakes well beyond individual households. The same cost pressures that strain young families are part of why New Hampshire, despite winning the migration race for young workers, struggles to keep them once they arrive and start families.

The strain also lands on the businesses that provide care. Even as costs to families rise, many providers operate on thin margins, caught between what parents can pay and what it costs to recruit and retain qualified staff. That tension has fueled a steady stream of policy debate in Concord, including proposals like the business tax credit for child care that providers met with skepticism. The underlying economics are stubborn: high-quality care is labor-intensive, wages for early educators are low, and there is little slack anywhere in the system.

New Hampshire has taken some steps. The state expanded eligibility for its Child Care Scholarship Program in 2024 to help more families and providers access assistance, a move NHFPI credits with extending support. But the analysis is clear that the scholarship program alone has not resolved the core problem. “Programs like the Child Care Scholarship Program play an important role in helping families afford care, but providers and families alike continue to face substantial economic challenges,” Drukker said. “Additional policy strategies and public investment could help improve affordability and expand access to care across the state.”

The Bigger Picture

The child care squeeze is one thread in a larger affordability story that runs through New Hampshire’s economy. Housing, health care, energy, and child care costs are all climbing faster than wages for many families, and the cumulative effect is a state where the headline economic numbers look strong even as workers feel themselves losing ground. Child care sits at the center of that picture because it touches both ends of the labor market: it is a cost that keeps parents from working and a sector that itself struggles to pay and retain workers.

For now, the data describe a market under pressure from both directions, with prices up and supply down. Whether the state can reverse the provider decline and ease the cost burden will depend on choices made in Concord and in communities across New Hampshire in the months ahead. The families weighing those costs around their kitchen tables are not waiting for a policy debate to conclude. They are making decisions about work and care right now, and the math, for many, has only gotten harder.

For related coverage, see our reporting on Federal Data Shows New Hampshire Lost 4,000 Workers.

How much does child care cost in New Hampshire?

According to a 2026 NHFPI analysis using 2025 data, the average annual price of center-based care for an infant and a four-year-old reached about $30,000. Individually, the average annual price was approximately $16,462 for an infant and $15,262 for a toddler. These figures are up from roughly $22,500 for the combined infant-and-four-year-old cost in 2017.

How much of a family's income goes to child care in New Hampshire?

For a married couple with two children under age 5 earning the median family income, child care would consume about one-quarter of annual household income. For a single mother earning the median income for unmarried mothers in New Hampshire, the same care would amount to roughly 61 percent of annual income, illustrating how the burden falls hardest on lower-income households.

Is child care becoming harder to find in New Hampshire?

Yes. The number of licensed child care providers statewide declined by 120 programs, or 14 percent, since 2017. Licensed home-based programs fell 32 percent between 2017 and 2025, while licensed center-based programs declined 10 percent. Rural families, low- and moderate-income households, and parents needing care outside traditional hours are most affected.

What is the Child Care Scholarship Program?

The Child Care Scholarship Program helps eligible New Hampshire families afford care. The state expanded eligibility in 2024 to reach more families and providers. NHFPI credits the program with playing an important role, but its analysis concludes that families and providers continue to face substantial economic challenges that the scholarship alone has not resolved.

Why do child care costs matter for New Hampshire's economy?

Child care functions as labor market infrastructure. When parents cannot find or afford care, they reduce hours, turn down advancement, or leave the workforce, which affects employers and the broader economy. In a state with a tight labor market and aging population, the affordability and availability of child care directly influence workforce participation and economic growth.