The exterior of Growth Mindset Learning Lab in Fort Greene, where nearly all families depend on city and state vouchers to manage the cost of childcare. (Credit: Allie Moustakis)
Morgan Kolb’s spreadsheet keeps growing. She began it the day she learned she was expecting her first child, logging the Brooklyn daycares she called, the months-long wait lists and the tuition costs that often surpass her monthly rent of $2,600 in Fort Greene.
Stories like Kolb’s are common in New York City, where the cost of childcare has emerged as a defining issue ahead of the Nov. 4 mayoral election.
Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee and frontrunner for mayor, has staked his campaign on an expansive promise of free child care for every child from six weeks to five years old and pay parity for the workers who staff those programs.
Mamdani’s plan is estimated to cost $6 billion a year. He says he would fund it by raising $9 billion in new tax revenue from corporations and high-income earners, a proposal that would require approval from state lawmakers. An additional $1 billion would come from city-level reforms like streamlining contracts and strengthening tax enforcement.
Former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primary and is now running as an independent, has said he would expand universal 3-K and make “targeted investments” to increase childcare availability across the city. Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa has not outlined a childcare policy on his campaign website and his campaign did not respond to a message requesting comment.
Childcare is among the fastest rising expenses for New Yorkers. According to a report by the city’s Comptroller’s Office, the average annual cost of center-based infant care reached $26,000 in 2024, a 43 percent increase since 2019. To meet the federal affordability benchmark, which defines childcare as no more than seven percent of household income, a family would need to earn $334,000 a year, nearly four times the city’s median family income of $83,555.
“It’s just so expensive,” said Kolb, 30, a soon-to-be single parent who’s expecting her first child in March.
Kolb, who works in public health at the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, earns about $120,000 a year. Her monthly housing costs total about $2,700, including rent, utilities and building amenities, at a stabilized rate she secured through the city’s housing lottery in 2022. That figure is nearly identical to what a handful of Brooklyn daycares have quoted her for infant care.
“The cheapest I’ve been quoted is around $2,700 for full time infants. If something was too far over $3,000, I was just crossing it off,” she said. Childcare is the one expense that makes her question whether she can afford to stay in Fort Greene.
That reality is familiar to Jamal Castang, a former elementary school teacher and now educational director of Growth Mindset Learning Lab, a daycare center that opened two years ago in Fort Greene.
Castang said his center, which currently cares only for toddlers, charges around $2,500 a month. Infant care, he added, typically runs closer to $3,000 in the neighborhood. While many families face steep costs, some do receive financial relief through city- and state-funded voucher programs. Of the 30 children the center serves, Castang estimated that about 90 percent pay with those vouchers.
To qualify for subsidized care through the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, a family of four must earn under $114,000 a year; for a family of two, the cut-off is just under $77,500. Kolb’s $120,000 salary places her well above those limits, leaving her ineligible.
“I feel really stuck in the middle,” she said. “I’m fortunate enough to make more than that,” Kolb said, referencing the voucher cutoff. “But at the same time, I can’t really afford to pay what’s kind of just the market rate, either.”
She says she’ll definitely be voting for Mamdani in November, who won overwhelming support in Fort Greene during the Democratic primary.
Families in Fort Greene come from across the income spectrum, from New York City Housing Authority developments to luxury high-rises, yet they all want the same thing Castang said. “They all want the same goal of affordable childcare for their child,” Castang said.
When parents call to inquire about care for their child, the first question is never about curriculum. It’s about cost, Castang said. Families want to know whether they can afford it before they consider anything else.
Mamdani’s plan for universal child care promises to ease costs for families while raising wages for providers. In 2023, the Comptroller’s Office reported that child care workers in New York earned a median of $25,000, the lowest of any care occupations and less than half the citywide average. The report also noted that these jobs are filled largely by women of color.
Jane Waldfogel, a professor at Columbia University who specializes in social work and public affairs, said Mamdani’s proposal is “relatively rare” in the United States, noting that New Mexico will be the only state to offer free child care starting Nov. 1.
However, the benefits of a universal system, Waldfogel said, are wide-ranging. Employers retain workers, schools see children arrive more evenly prepared and families gain relief from the crushing costs. But as long as childcare is being paid for by low- and middle-income parents, wages will remain low and quality will suffer, she said.
For Kolb, that means continuing to add names and numbers to her spreadsheet while she waits to see if November’s election will deliver change.
About the author(s)
Allie Moustakis is an M.S. student at the Columbia Journalism School, covering culture and social issues in New York City.