Rising prices for many key services helped deliver the White House for President Donald Trump in 2024, and the Trump administration recently touted falling rents and gas prices as part of its affordability agenda. But child care costs, on the other hand, continue to rise.

Child care has become one of the fastest-rising household expenses in the United States. Since 2010, the cost of daycare and preschool has increased by 61%, outpacing the rise in food prices, college tuition, and medical care. As child care costs climb, many families are forced to make difficult trade-offs, often pushing parents, especially women, out of the workforce or into less stable care arrangements.

These pressures extend beyond individual households. When parents leave the labor force or reduce hours because child care is unaffordable or unavailable, employers lose workers, communities lose economic activity, and........

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