Child Care Costs for Twins

Last updated on May 1st, 2024 at 02:34 pm

Are you wondering how much child care costs in the US? We polled our Twiniversity fans for quotes on daycare and nanny costs in various states.

A parent of twins (plus a singleton) asks…

“I was wondering if by any chance if you had any information on child care expenses. I have a 21 month old daughter and the twins are 7 months old and I work, but unfortunately I do not qualify for any type of financial assistance because I make too much. But honestly, I cannot afford child care, mortgage, etc. Right now I have different family members, including myself and husband, rotating to take care of the children during the day and I feel its not a stable situation for them.”

Here’s what our community had to say…

Editor’s Note: Please be sure to meet with your tax professional before settling on a budget for your nanny. Nannies are considered full-time employees, not independent contractors, and US law requires that income taxes be withheld from their wages. Here’s a great article outlining the nanny tax process and another article outlining the consequences of not paying nanny taxes. Also, check with your state’s Department of Labor to find out what rights your nanny will have as a domestic worker in terms of the minimum wage, overtime, and other worker’s rights.

We pay $23 per hour to our nanny in Michigan. We’re just basic humans with no impressive, high-earning jobs. I feel you though, it’s hard to work and have childcare.

It’s insane, isn’t it? I have no real advice for you, in that I have not found a solution. My husband and I both have evening hours, so traditional daycare isn’t even an option. Our situation is complicated, but it sort of boils down to me not being able to afford to work full time. So I have opted for part time, but the childcare costs still are killing us. Out that on top of the hospital bills and “first year” type expenses… it’s like a hole you can’t get out of. Sometimes it feels like we are barely treading water.

We don’t use it for child care reasons, but my kids go to a preschool four half days a week at literally at the cheapest place I could find in east county San Diego, CA, and it costs $1,524/month. When they transition to five half days a week over the summer, it will cost more than our mortgage. The preschool doesn’t even provide meals or snacks, except on special occasions, and the administrative processes are unorganized, but the kids are happy there. I’m only sending them because I want them to get used to getting up, going to school, and functioning in a classroom before they start transitional kindergarten with the school district in the fall.

Age matters! We pay $2800 per month for both at 4 years old in Washington State. We were waitlisted for over 6 months to get these spots, but it was definitely more expensive when they were younger!

In MD, we pay $1800/month for both kids. We qualified for a child care scholarship and we get a sibling discount, so you might look into a sibling discount! Our out of pocket is only $360/month.

Our 4 year olds go to a montessori pre school that’s $1,800 per month. When we had a Nanny for 40 hours/week, we paid $1,000/week.

We decided to pay my mom $200/week to keep them in my house.

We’re signed up for daycare starting at 6 months… $4,300 per month for the twins in Maryland (dc/baltimore suburb).

It’s so expensive that my wife and I decided she would stay home. Things were definitely tighter since we only had one income, but it was still the best decision we made. If they went to daycare it would have taken all of one of our wages. It just didn’t make cents (pun intended).

We pay $650 for a 4-day/week nanny in the metro Atlanta area. This is cheaper than daycare here.

I live in Quebec, Canada, and our subsidized daycare costs 9.10$ per day per child. But places are limited, and waiting lists are so long. My 3 year old just got in, but my 11 month old twins are on the waiting list so are home with me for now. It’s like a pre-k program, very educational. They even have a cook in the establishment that serves healthy meals every day, plus two snacks.

We are paying just over $13k for eight weeks of camp this summer. Twins are 5 and my oldest is 7. We pay between $580 and $710 for after care for one twin twice a week, the other twin three days a week and my oldest twice a week. We used to pay $46,000/year (that’s almost $4,000/month) when all three were in daycare 5 days a week. We live in central NJ.

It would be $600 a week in the suburbs of Chicago for our two girls in day care. I ended up resigning because it didn’t seem worth it but it is certainly hard to find what’s right for your family and your finances. I still don’t know if it was the best decision for us all but I am happy to be home with them and that they have the consistency too. I hear care.com is a great resource. Good luck!

I stayed home for the first 18 months because of a similar situation until my mom retired and she could watch them while I worked.

Our twins are 5 years old and go to day care only three days a week. We live in Kansas and it’s $300 a week total.

I was quoted $3500 month for my twins in the California Bay Area, so I quit my job and became a stay at home mom to save $100/month.

Check with local church day cares. Some churches run big day cares and are expensive, but there are some where the daycare is more like an outreach ministry than for making a profit. We have our 7 month old twins in an excellent church daycare that is open to the public for $305/week for both which boils down to about $1281 a month. We would be paying about double that for most other daycares in Raleigh, NC.

Look into nannies! Our in-home nanny is $19/hour, so with multiple kids, it ends up being cheaper than daycare. The most expensive daycare we looked into was $515/week PER CHILD, and the cheapest was $380/week per child. We live in Denver, CO.

Well, I’m a SAHM because daycare costs… Where I live in Michigan, per week for twins is $760/week plus the lunches and snacks and having to volunteer twice a month to bring group snacks. Per month that would have $3060.

I had a very brief time with a nanny and it was awesome because they would also help with keeping the house in order, baby laundry, etc. Plus, you aren’t exposing your kids to weird things that aren’t under your control that you would at a day care center.

I’m the director of an early learning center in SD. Weekly rates here vary from $150-$240 for 3-5 year olds and $180-$275 for birth-age 3. It’s important to note that you almost always get what you pay for and that childcare centers aren’t money making ventures. The entire system is broken for both families and providers.

In Florida, I paid about $500/week for the twins full time. I had a nanny while I worked, then moved to PT nanny/preschool. It is definitely expensive! Just something that we planned for when we were deciding to have kids.

We chose a live-in au pair. Not counting room and board, it’s $18,179 annually. Might be a good option if it works for you family situation!

Need some twin parent friends? Get the support you need with a Twiniversity Membership. Benefits include a monthly twin parent club meeting on Zoom, access to a private Facebook group just for twin parents, and a video library of twin parenting lessons. Visit Twiniversity.com/membership to join today!

Full-time daycare center was $2,900/mo for twins in a middle class Chicago suburb, ages 0-5. It’s insane… But my career is important to me so I’m not going to quit. Just have to keep juggling and hoping it all works out.

$800+/week for daycare for our twins or $42,000/year plus $100-200/week for babysitter support a few days a week in the afternoons. We live in northern Virginia. Hubby and I both work full time and are fortunate enough to still get to spend lots of time in the evenings and on weekends with our kiddos but it’s taken a lot to find our balance.

In-home Care vs. Daycare Center

Nannies could be cheaper, but be careful because it can trigger household employee taxes. These are additional taxes you pay and can add thousands to the cost.

I had a very brief time with a nanny and it was awesome because they would also help with keeping the house in order, baby laundry, etc. Plus, you aren’t exposing your kids to weird things that aren’t under your control that you would at a day care center.

Remember a lot of times when you do day care even if they go 2-3 days a week if you do an in-home day care you still are going to pay full-time rate because you are taking up spots. This comes in handy though for a day to yourself, to do errands, etc.

I’d keep them at home. At least with a nanny they’ll be in a familiar environment without a bunch of other kids.

Our boys did great with a nanny full time when they were babies, but at 2 years old we switched to part time day care (3 mornings a week) and the rest of the time an in-home nanny. It’s really working out great! They were having some slight speech delays by their 2 year checkup but within about a month you could really see the difference from being around other kids. They are also learning so much more at day care, but then they have the comfort of being at home. One issue was naps — they didn’t nap well at the center because they weren’t there often enough. Now they nap at home every day, leaving the center right after lunch.

I’m there with you, but I have a 3 year old singleton, 16 month g/g twins, and one due in January. My husband is a stay at home dad, but I think we need to get our oldest in to daycare or preschool so she has some alone time. I know its gonna be crazy.