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Child care is enormously expensive; ask any parent. In the last year, however, costs have only risen further.

On average, a week of daycare for one child now costs roughly $321 in the U.S. (up 13 percent from $284 in 2022), according to the Care.com 2024 Cost of Care report. Most of this burden is put on working parents: The report found that in 2023, U.S. parents spent roughly 24 percent of their household income on child care, with more than one-third (35 percent) admitting to relying on their savings to foot the bill.

But some companies are stepping in to help. San Francisco, California-based language app Grammarly gives employees who have to take business trips an annual stipend of $4,000 to cover child care. Other companies, such as San Francisco-based infant formula company Bobbie, have rolled out reentry programs for new parents and child care stipends for offsite events.

Still, such companies are generally the exception to the rule -- there's a reason why the current lack of support for parents in the U.S. is often referred to as the child care crisis. And in September, the government's $24 billion in child care subsidies through the American Rescue Plan ended. With that funding now closed off, many child care facilities may have no choice but to raise the costs of their services.

The Biden administration has called on Congress to address the issue, noting that some child care providers may be forced to close without additional resources. The Council of Economic Advisers, which advises the presidency on economic policy, has also noted that the U.S. could lose an estimated $237 billion per year if working women are forced to pare back their workloads or leave the workforce altogether.

"A healthy economy depends upon the ability for people to save and spend, but given the crushing weight of child care costs, those pillars are crumbling," said Brad Wilson, CEO of Care.com, in a press release about the report. "The child care crisis should be a major red flag for everyone, not just parents."

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