Getting discouraged by daycare pricing

Not due until late June and wouldn’t need daycare until mid September 2025 but with the waitlist times I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start looking now. I can’t figure out how working class people are possibly affording infant daycare. Everywhere I’m looking is like $2,000+ per month and that’s nearly my entire take home pay. (I’m a recent college grad and going through a career change so could be a couple years until I’m making more.) My husband makes decent money but $2,000 per month still feels unattainable. I feel like with the pregnancy and parenthood we’ll be able to figure out anything that comes up but with this piece the math isn’t mathing!! does anyone have any leads? I live in east Portland but work in Vancouver so really anywhere on the east side of the river would be doable. We would need 3-4 full days per week. We would also sometimes have family in town to be able to help for a few weeks at a time so monthly rated places regardless of attendance time like KinderCare aren’t super ideal either. Discounts for people in public service?? Welcoming any and all advice. This is kind of causing an unhelpful amount of anxiety for me that I would love to avoid. :(

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You can look into subsidized childcare and see if you qualify? I live in Vancouver and that was the only way I am able to send my baby to daycare. I don’t know if they do it in Oregon but Washington has it for sure!

https://www.oregon.gov/delc/programs/pages/erdc.aspx

@Kori @Maria thank you both but unfortunately we make too much to qualify for these programs (the income limits are so low!) appreciate it though.

I totally feel ya. I was working 2 part time jobs (One at home, one in office) and after having my second kiddo in September I've realized I actually can't afford to go back to my in office job, I would be losing money if I had to pay for childcare. So I'm going to keep my one WFH job and mostly be a SAHM. We are going to cut back everywhere we can to make it work. I honestly don't know how anyone affords full time daycare.

@Sheena ya the best bet I’ve been finding so far is in-home care. Found one today that’s $7.50 per hour. but same here! It’s no wonder the rate of people having babies is going down! It’s so hard to afford the necessities

Depending on your job benefits, you can contribute pre-tax money to daycare services. I would check with HR!

@Jasmine thank you!! I’ll look into this

WeeCare Devine in Vancouver is $83 per day. You only pay the days your little one goes! There are other WeeCares in Vancouver but the teachers and staff there are great!

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