Employed women spent an estimated $16 billion on child care arrangements during 1987. The care may come from family members, neighbors, or friends or from organized facilities such as day care centers or nursery schools.

This brief provides the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau on child care costs. The data come from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. In the survey, we asked wives in married-couple families who were employed or in school questions about child care arrangements. In families where there was only one parent. we obtained information from that parent. The data presented in this brief cover the 29 million children under age 15 of employed mothers.

Two-thirds of preschool-age children of employed mothers — the primary recipients of child care — received care in a home environment. Another quarter received care in organized facilities such as nursery schools or day care centers. These proportions have not changed significantly since the winter 1984-85 survey.