Child Care Options and Daycare

According to the Common Sense Institute’s Child Care Opportunity Index, the average monthly cost of child care in Colorado’s 10 most populous counties, “Colorado ranges from $911 (Pueblo County) to $1,645 (Boulder County) per child.”

Determining if daycare is cheaper than a nanny depends on the type of child care options you are considering, the length of care you need and many other factors. For one child, the cost of full-time daycare, which is around $1,600 per month per child in Denver, is often less than the cost of a nanny, which can often cost $20-30 per hour. Care.com’s 2026 Cost of Care Report shows that the cost of a nanny for one infant per week is roughly $870 compared to approximately $330 per week at a daycare. This article, “Nanny vs. Daycare: Which Is Right for You?” provides an overview of the differences between and the benefits of both nanny and daycare options.

De acuerdo a research from World Population Review, the District of Columbia has the highest child care costs at nearly $29,000 per infant per year and almost $23,000 per 4-year-old per year. Colorado ranks fifth-highest in infant child care costs, at nearly $22,000 per infant per year for full-time child care.

Many families who cannot find daycare often rely on friends, family and neighbors (FFN) to care for their children. FFN providers can care for four or fewer children without a child care license in Colorado. According to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, more than half of Colorado families rely on FFN support to care for their children. Rocky Mountain PBS highlights what FFN care entails and why it is important for families in Colorado needing daycare. 

In Denver, families can contact the Mile High United Way Child Care Resource & Referral specialists for personalized assistance finding licensed daycare providers in the area. 

As this article from the Colorado Sun highlights, many Colorado families simply cannot afford high-quality child care. If families cannot find or afford daycare, they may need to work less or leave the workforce altogether. This reality disproportionately affects women and mothers. In fact, child care and caregiving costs were the top reason women left the workforce in 2025, accounting for nearly half of the women who left their jobs last year. As this article from the Colorado Sun highlights, many Colorado families simply cannot afford high-quality child care.  

While Denver County is considered more affordable than many other Colorado counties, there is less than one child care slot available per child under the age of six, according to the Common Sense Institute’s Child Care Opportunity Index.

Colorado Shine, also known as Colorado brilla, is the state of Colorado’s quality improvement and rating program for licensed early learning, preschool and daycare programs that care for children from birth through five. A mark of high-quality child care, the Colorado Shines rating program uses a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest level of providing the following benchmarks: 

• Safety and health of the children in care
• Training staff to be well-supported 
• Fosters a learning environment that ensures children learn new skills
• Partners with parents in their children’s learning 
• Models sound business practices and leadership 

Colorado Shines provides training and support for early childhood providers to improve the quality of their programming. For families, Colorado Shines provides a number of resources to help you search and find preschool and daycare providers and to feel confident about your choice. 

For more about Colorado Shines, check out our blog posts: 

• ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre guardería y escuela?
• Beneficios de una educación preescolar de calidad: por qué la educación preescolar es valiosa para todos

If possible, start looking for a daycare as soon as you know a little one is on the way. Many child care and daycare providers enroll children on a first-come, first-served basis, and many have 9-to-12-month waiting lists for infants and toddlers. That said, the sooner you can determine the type and location of daycare and start touring and interviewing options, the better. Colorado recently implemented a new law that ensures families can receive prepaid childcare and waitlist fees refunds if they are never accepted at the program. 

Not everyone has the luxury or option to pre-plan months in advance, so using resources like  Criando niños de Colorado, Colorado brilla, Google, Winnie.com y Care.com will help you find daycares that have openings. 

Este guide outlines helpful tips for thinking about and finding daycare options. And this blog post covers what to think about when finding a preschool. 

Determining if daycare is worth the cost for your family depends on a number of factors, including the cost of care, the number of children you need care for, your household income and your household expenses. There are also non-monetary factors to consider, like your career and parenting goals, your mental health, your child’s social-emotional and cognitive development, and more. Deciding whether daycare is right for your family is a personal decision based on many factors and preferences. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has determined that in order for child care to be affordable, families should not be spending more than 7% of their income on daycare. However, as we cover in “Cost of Preschool, Child Care Stretching Families Across Colorado” most Denver families spend more than 18% of their income on child care. 

There are resources to help families in Colorado afford daycare. Raising Co Kids helps identify child care resources and funding based on your family income, qualifying factors and county of residence. The Programa de asistencia para el cuidado infantil de Colorado (CCCAP), Head Start y Early Head Start may be available for qualifying families. For Denver families looking for help affording preschool, reference our Guía para reducir los costos de la educación preescolar.

Colorado does provide programs for qualifying families to help pay for daycare but ranks among the lowest in the nation for investments in child care, according to a report by Child Care Aware, a national nonprofit. Colorado offers programs for families with lower incomes through programs like the Programa de asistencia para el cuidado infantil de Colorado (CCCAP), Head Start y Early Head Start. Preescolar universal de Colorado (UPK) also provides up to 15 hours of free, voluntary preschool for 4-year-olds in the year before they enter kindergarten, and children from families with lower incomes or qualifying factors can often receive additional hours of support. Denver Preschool Program also provides preschool tuition support to all Denver 4-year-olds and many 3-year-olds, saving families upwards of $14,000 per year when combined with Colorado UPK. Learn more in Nuestra guía para reducir los costos de la guardería. 

Even though Colorado ranks high in early-childhood resources availability for working parents, families in Colorado still struggle to cover the cost of child care without assistance. Read more about these programs and “How State, Federal Funding Cuts Could Affect Child Care Assistance for Denver Families.” According to the Colorado Sun’s article, “Colorado child care centers can hardly afford to stay open, and many families can’t afford to enroll without government help,” 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has determined that in order for child care to be affordable, families should not be spending more than 7% of their income on daycare. However, as we cover in “Cost of Preschool, Child Care Stretching Families Across Colorado” most Denver families spend more than 18% of their income on childcare. 

There are many factors influencing the cost of child care in Colorado, including lack of available openings (supply), increasing costs of running a child care center and family child care home, state regulations, rising costs of utilities and supplies and more. The Colorado Sun’s “Colorado child care centers can hardly afford to stay open, and many families can’t afford to enroll without government help” outlines many factors influencing child care costs, including insufficient public funding (Colorado is among the states with the lowest investment in child care). Read more about how “Childcare Costs Outpacing Inflation” y why daycare is so expensive in Denver.