Daycare vs. Nanny vs. Family Help, by State
Which type of childcare costs least?
For one child, home-based family care is usually the cheapest paid option and a daycare center the middle option, while a nanny is the most expensive way to care for one child, because you are the employer and the rate covers your family alone. The order flips with two or more children: center and home-based prices are charged per child, while a nanny's pay is not, so a nanny often wins for siblings. Family help costs nothing in cash. Pick your state and your child's age below to see all four side by side with published figures.
Real medians from the U.S. Department of Labor, real nanny rates from Care.com, and the honest math on family help.
Your situation
Center and home-based prices are per child and scale with the number of children. A nanny is paid per family, so the nanny column does not change with family size (two children typically earn a nanny a modest raise, not double pay).
Monthly cost comparison
| Care type | Per month | Per year | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daycare center | $0 | $0 | State median price, Dept. of Labor |
| Home-based care | $0 | $0 | State median price, Dept. of Labor |
| Nanny (full-time, 40 hrs) | $0 | $0 | Average starting rate in your state, Care.com |
| Family help | $0 | $0 | No cash cost; real costs listed below |
The differences the prices do not show
When the carer is sick. A center is an institution: if your child's teacher is out, someone else covers, and care happens anyway. A home-based provider is one person, and most have a handful of closure days a year plus sick days with no backup. A nanny is also one person; when she is ill or on vacation, the problem is yours, and backup care (a drop-in center day, a grandparent flight, your own PTO) is a real cost that never appears in the rate. Family help has the same single point of failure, with the added delicacy that you cannot exactly issue a warning to grandma.
Hours and flexibility. Centers run fixed hours and charge late fees with enthusiasm. Home-based care is often a little more flexible and frequently includes early drop-off for shift workers. A nanny works the hours you agree, in your home, and covers the gaps centers cannot: the 6 a.m. start, the school pickup, the sick day when a center would send your child home. Family help is the most flexible of all and the least enforceable.
The employer question. With a center or a licensed home, you are a customer. With a nanny, you are an employer, with payroll taxes (budget about 10 percent on top of wages, per Care.com HomePay), possible workers' compensation requirements in your state, overtime rules past 40 hours, and paid time off to arrange. None of this is a reason to avoid a nanny; all of it belongs in the budget line next to the wage.
More than one child. This is where the comparison usually flips. Center and home-based prices multiply per child (many centers discount a sibling by around 10 percent, which the table above does not assume). A nanny's pay covers the family, so the second child often costs only a small raise. Run the selector above with two children and watch the nanny column stay still while the others double: for many two-child families, a nanny or a nanny share (two families, one nanny, costs split) is the rational option, not the luxury one.
How these figures were built
Center and home-based figures are the state medians from the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau, National Database of Childcare Prices (2023 estimates), the same data behind our childcare costs by state pages: half of families in your state pay more than the figure shown, half pay less. Nanny figures are the average reported starting rates for nannies listed on Care.com in each state (data as of October 29, 2025), converted at a 40-hour week using Care.com's own monthly figures; they exclude the roughly 10 percent employer taxes above. For a national reference point, Care.com's 2026 Cost of Care Report puts a nanny for one infant at $870 per week (about $21.75 per hour) at 40 hours a week. Family help is priced at zero cash because that is what it costs in cash; its real price is flexibility, reciprocity, and a backup plan, and our childcare costs guide talks through weighing it honestly. Our full method is on how we check our prices.
Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, National Database of Childcare Prices, 2023 estimates. Care.com, average nanny salary by state, data as of October 29, 2025. Care.com, 2026 Cost of Care Report, published February 3, 2026. Care.com HomePay, nanny pay rates and household employment taxes, updated October 15, 2026.