That doesn't truly compare apples to apples. But one Missoula family sending their child to UM for two semesters of full-time college course work will spend an average of $5,238, not counting room, board and books. The family next door with a 4-year-old and two full-time jobs will require $6,750 for 50 weeks a year of daycare.
Looking for an in-home nanny? The rates range from $7 to $13 an hour per child, or roughly $1,000 a month to look after two small children.
Numbers like these got Montana lumped with the bottom 10 states for affordable day care, according to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.
The association's annual survey, released last month, found full-time care for a preschooler required around 14 percent of family income in Oregon, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, North Carolina, Maine, California and Montana.
Montana also fell in with Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming for places where the cost of caring for two children exceeded the average monthly mortgage payment.
"In every region of the United States, average childcare fees for an infant in a center are higher than the average amount families spend on food," the association's Stacey Minott wrote. "In 42 states, the price of full-time infant care in a center is higher than tuition at a public college."
You'd think that would be good news for child-care providers. But given Montana's equally low rankings on income surveys, there's a big gap between what the job is worth and what people can afford to pay.
Full text available at the Billings Gazette