If a child’s parents both work full-time and together earn $30,000 per year, can the family receive a subsidy to help pay for child care? What if one of the parents loses their job and needs child care while they look for a new job? If the family does qualify for a subsidy, how much will they have to pay out of pocket? The answers to these questions depend on a family’s exact circumstances, including:

Child care subsidies are provided through a federal block grant program called the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Within the federal guidelines, States/Territories establish many of the detailed policies used to operate their CCDF programs.  This brief provides a graphic overview of some of the CCDF policy differences across States/Territories in 2018.  More information about these and other policies can be found at https://ccdf.urban.org/.