Daycare/Preschool Pricing in MetroWest (Boston, Brookline: for sale, real estate, credit)

[Whatsnext75]

Yeah most people seem to have 2 kids around here. Personally I've only ever wanted 2 and I think a lot of people think 2 is a good number. And like u said, if the average woman doesn't start having kids until she's 34, 2 might be all there's time for if she's lucky.

[FromEverywhereUSA]

That kind of sucks for us, though. We like babies and want more than two!

[Whatsnext75]

Well then you better be able to pay for them (: i also like babies but they don't stay babies for long.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by Parsec

I don't know about driving down birth rates, but it definitely delays the age at which women give birth to their first child. Based on my limited unscientific research, the average age for a first-time mother in the Boston area is around 34 years old for kid #1 and 37 years old for kid #2.

That's amazing. I was 37 when I had my 3rd and I was treated like I was really OLD.

[Whatsnext75]

I had my first at 35 and on my paperwork at the Dr's office I was referred to as elderly lol. Our babysitter had her first at 37 and went out to have 2 more...this was in the 90s. Must be much more common now.

[SpringMom3]

Like others have said- there are definitely full time centers in MetroBoston but they are $$$$. I can tell you that IN Boston, we were paying 425 per kid for infant/toddler care 2 yrs ago, which was a great deal. Out of the city, you can find places for much less than that the place we are switching our kids to right now is 365 or 355/wk for infants and 345 for toddlers, which is also a GREAT price. So basically I'd say $25K-ish for the city, 20Kish for out of the city, prices lower for tiny tiny centers, and higher for bigger. Hours are typically 8-5 and you usually pay extra if you want 7am or 6 pm pick ups.


There's a sibling discount of 10% off the cheaper kid. We went for 3 and had all 3 in a center last year and OMG it was rough. Unfortunately, it didn't get much better with K because in many towns full-time K is still not free. So you pay for full time K, before-care and after care and that also adds up. Then you get killed for summer camp which at the cheapest is around $300/wk and can go up to $600/wk.


And keep in mind, you pay for all this on an after-tax basis. so that 25K you are paying is what? 35K pretax?

[Dm84]

You can put up to $5,000/year in an fsa for daycare. It helps a little bit.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

Ha. I'm not sure if it's driven the birthrate down but I do think it's something people think about in terms of how many they have.

With us, we are waiting on the first to be out of day care before starting on the second. Granted, we are both 35 now, so getting up there in age.

Plus every once in a while when you come down to the kitchen and see permanent marker written on the wall, you sometimes think to yourself "1 is enough"


#1 just moved to the preschool room which is $70/week cheaper. I feel like we just got a raise!

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by SpringMom3

Like others have said- there are definitely full time centers in MetroBoston but they are $$$$. I can tell you that IN Boston, we were paying 425 per kid for infant/toddler care 2 yrs ago, which was a great deal. Out of the city, you can find places for much less than that the place we are switching our kids to right now is 365 or 355/wk for infants and 345 for toddlers, which is also a GREAT price. So basically I'd say $25K-ish for the city, 20Kish for out of the city, prices lower for tiny tiny centers, and higher for bigger. Hours are typically 8-5 and you usually pay extra if you want 7am or 6 pm pick ups.


There's a sibling discount of 10% off the cheaper kid. We went for 3 and had all 3 in a center last year and OMG it was rough. Unfortunately, it didn't get much better with K because in many towns full-time K is still not free. So you pay for full time K, before-care and after care and that also adds up. Then you get killed for summer camp which at the cheapest is around $300/wk and can go up to $600/wk.


And keep in mind, you pay for all this on an after-tax basis. so that 25K you are paying is what? 35K pretax?

This is why so many moms are forced to quit work after having their 2nd kid. Many (most?) people simply don't earn enough money to send 2 kids to daycare here. It's not worth it to work unless you're making at least $75k-100k/year. Of course you can make it work if you earn less (e.g. if you can work staggered hours to minimize the time your kids are in daycare), but you would only do it if you absolutely had to (e.g. your husband doesn't make enough to pay the bills). It's a tough life for young families in the Boston area. I can't imagine sending THREE kids to daycare, omg you are crazy!

[Peabody99]

We use a home daycare women in a (pricey) suburb and she was cheaper than the centers! About $1200 a month one baby, now a toddler! She doesn't drop her rate when the babies get older, but we like her so it's worth it! The centers near us that are good were around $1700!