NYC has one of America’s most watched mayoral races ongoing. Perhaps the most surprising issue dominating headlines is not crime or housing. It is childcare.
Candidates are proposing free care for toddlers, city-run after-school programs, extended school days, and tax-funded support for working parents. Voters are listening. Polls show overwhelming support for universal care for 2 year olds, an issue that, just a decade ago, would have been buried beneath transit policy and policing. This shift is not unique to one city. It is part of a broader national reckoning. From Montana to Massachusetts, from Florida to Illinois, red and blue states alike are wrestling with the same fundamental question: how do we make it possible to raise children and work at the same time?
Childcare is not a niche concern or a women’s issue. It is a linchpin of economic productivity, family stability, and long-term demographic health. And yet, we still treat it as a private problem. It is not. It is a national challenge hiding in plain sight.
The Financial Fault Line
In cities across the country, the cost of infant care in a center exceeds $20,000 a year. Family-based care is slightly less, but still prohibitively high for many households. These are not luxury services. These are baseline requirements for working families.
In New York City alone, childcare-related workforce disruptions cost the economy $23 billion in 2022. Nationally, that number is closer to $122 billion each year. The math is not complicated. When care is unavailable or unaffordable, parents, usually mothers stay home. When they stay home, earnings drop, productivity stalls, and employers lose talent. Every stalled career or abandoned job represents not just a personal sacrifice, but a public cost.
A Global Curve We Are Not Following
While American cities debate pilot programs and funding formulas, other nations have moved decisively. South Korea recently expanded its child benefit system to cover children through age eight. Montenegro now offers universal child benefits from birth to age eighteen. China is preparing to implement a national child allowance program by 2029, after testing it at the provincial level.
These countries are not doing this out of sentimentality. They are responding to population decline, labor shortages, and the economic drag of gender imbalance in the workforce. Their leaders understand what many American policymakers still resist: productivity and care are not separate spheres. If America wants to remain competitive, it must stop thinking of childcare as a soft issue and start treating it like economic policy.
The Supply-Demand Disconnect
Across the country, thousands of childcare slots sit empty, not because demand is low, but because systems are dysfunctional. Licensing delays, uneven reimbursement rates, and staff shortages are just a few of the reasons centers cannot fill their rosters.
In some cities, families apply for preschool programs only to find that the best seats are already gone. In others, providers close up shop due to inconsistent funding and late payments. The result is a cruel irony: oversupply on paper, undersupply in practice. This is not just an operational failure. It is a design flaw.
Regulatory Pressure Without Relief
Childcare is among the most regulated industries in the country. While many standards exist for good reason, the cumulative burden often discourages new providers and squeezes out small operators. A national index of childcare regulation shows that the most restrictive states also tend to have the widest gaps between desired and actual family size. In other words, when it becomes too difficult or expensive to access care, people delay or forgo having children entirely.
Regulatory rigor should never be confused with regulatory wisdom. There is a difference between ensuring safety and making compliance so complex that the system collapses under its own weight.
What Reform Looks Like
States and cities are experimenting with reforms that offer a glimpse of what is possible. Some are launching shared-cost models, where local governments, employers, and families each contribute a portion of care expenses. Others are funding facility expansions in care deserts, modernizing licensing systems, and expanding eligibility for subsidies. New accreditation models are gaining traction, especially tiered systems that lower the barrier for entry without sacrificing standards. These create pathways for smaller, community-based centers to become formally recognized and supported.
Technology is also beginning to play a role, from AI-assisted lesson planning and parent engagement tools to cloud-based licensing and inspection platforms that cut down on paperwork and delay. None of these solutions alone will solve the crisis. But together, they represent a shift away from managing scarcity and toward building capacity.
A National Imperative
At the core of the issue is a question of values. Do we view care as a public good or a private matter? Do we reward caregiving labor, or do we expect it to be absorbed, unpaid, unsupported, and invisible?
For too long, childcare in the United States has relied on the personal sacrifice of families, the low wages of workers, and the charitable instincts of policymakers. That model has reached its limit. If we want a society where families can thrive, where careers are not derailed by parenthood, and where economic growth is shared, then we must reimagine care as a central pillar of public life.
What the Policy Landscape Reveals
Affordability Must Come First Expanded child tax credits, direct subsidies, and universal child benefits are the most direct ways to lower costs. The temporary expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit in 2021 nearly halved child poverty during its brief lifespan.
Supply Is Not Self-Correcting Markets will not fix this on their own. Public investment is required to expand infrastructure, particularly in underserved areas. States like New Mexico and Illinois are piloting models that blend capital investment with long-term subsidy commitments.
Regulation Needs Reform, Not Abandonment Simplified processes, consistent inspections, and modernized digital systems can reduce burdens without compromising safety. Flexibility in staffing and space requirements can make it easier for centers to expand.
Support the Workforce or Watch It Collapse Loan forgiveness, wage supplements, and tuition assistance are essential to attracting and retaining talent in early childhood education. No system will function without the people who make it run.
Technology Is a Force Multiplier From enrollment analytics to smart staffing tools, childcare systems can benefit from the same efficiency upgrades that have transformed other sectors.
Advocacy Moves the Needle Every meaningful policy shift in recent years has come from organized, persistent advocacy. Parents, educators, and community leaders are shaping the future of care, often faster than elected officials. The path forward is not one program or one policy. It is a realignment of priorities.
In the global race for talent and productivity, no country can afford to treat childcare as an afterthought.