Child care subsidies provide essential financial support to make child care more affordable, assisting families as they navigate the challenges of balancing work, education, and training. Child care subsidies are one of 12 evidence-based policies included in our 2024 Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap, which details states’ progress toward implementing policies that are proven to impact the prenatal-to-3 system of care.
As of October 1, 2024, four states (Arkansas, New Mexico, South Carolina, and Virginia) have successfully implemented all three key policy levers for child care subsidies—which include setting income eligibility thresholds at or above 85% of the state median income, limiting copayments to 7% or less of a family’s income, and establishing equitable reimbursement rates.
Just this year, 12 states increased income eligibility limits, 15 states decreased family copayments, and 22 states increased provider reimbursement rates.
Read the brief for more details on state progress.
The recently updated Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap provides insight into the core policy levers and further illustrates their interplay graphically, highlighting key points of variation within child care subsidy policies.
