Should daycares post tuition online, or make every family call for the number?
The parent-behavior data points one way: publish at least a range, frame it with what's included, and let the page do the first round of sorting.
The tuition page is also a conversion page, one step in the path from stranger to booked tour that our daycare website conversion guide covers end to end.
What parents say they want to know first
In the federal Parent Survey run for HHS in spring 2024 (OPRE report #2025-099; 2,035 parents of children under 6), 80.9% of parents who had looked for information said practical information was most helpful.
Within that practical list, parents put hours and days of care first (56.2%), then closeness to work or home (48.6%), age groups served (35.2%) and whether the provider is enrolling (33.1%), with quality (41.6%) and cost (39.5%) close behind.
Asked what would help most that they had trouble finding, 44.9% of parents named more practical information, especially whether a program has openings, and 26.6% named affordability.
One honest caveat: this survey shows parents value cost information, not that posting tuition raises enrollment, and no published study measures that directly.
OPRE's 2025 review of how parents choose care agrees: parents look for a setting that seems safe, sits close to home or work, has hours that fit, is affordable or accepts subsidies, and has a vacancy now or soon.
The case for publishing child care prices
Cost is not a side question: among children whose parents searched for care in 2023, 72% of parents reported at least a little difficulty finding it, and cost was the main reason for 34% who did not find the program they wanted, tied with lack of open slots (NCES, "Early Childhood Program Participation: 2023").
When a family does engage, the clock is short: parents who made a child care decision spent an average of 13 hours looking for information, and 27.5% had less than one week to decide (OPRE, 2024 survey).
A family on that clock who cannot find a number at 9 p.m. on Tuesday is likely to call the center whose number they could find.
Your rates are not secret anyway: 65.7% of parents in the 2024 survey got child care information from people they know, so silence on the website just moves the number to the parking lot, without your explanation attached.
The market is thin, too: 36.5% of parents had exactly one child care option that met their family's needs, 27.7% had two, and 22.5% said no option met their needs.
Affordability weighs hardest on the families least able to absorb a surprise: in OPRE's analysis of 2012 federal survey data, lower-income parents more often named affordability as the main reason they did not enroll after searching (39% versus 24% of higher-income parents).
Why the number stings: Child Care Aware of America's 2025 price report put the national average annual price of child care at $13,184, which takes 10% of a married couple's median income and 33% of a single parent's, and the report's May 2026 release adds that in every state with data, center care for two children exceeds median rent.
Why owners keep tuition off a daycare website
The hesitation is not irrational, and the large operators' filings show why.
KinderCare's fiscal 2025 annual report attributes its comparable revenue growth of 0.3% to two offsetting forces: higher tuition rates added 2.2 points and lower enrollment subtracted 1.9.
Price and volume move together in child care, so printing a number means committing to defend it at the tour.
Being the expensive listing in the map pack is the other fear: Bright Horizons reports average monthly tuition of $2,765 for infants, $2,565 for toddlers and $2,175 for preschoolers across a sample of about 350 of its US centers (its 2025 annual report), which is premium, often employer-sponsored care and not a national benchmark.
Annual infant tuition, two published sources
Bright Horizons' 10-K gives its own explanation of the spread: many competitors offer lower prices by using less intensive ratios and paying lower compensation and benefits.
A center that charges more for higher ratios, cooked meals or a curriculum should say exactly that, and the tuition page is where that sentence lives.
A single posted number is impossible anyway: Child Care Aware of America's 2025 report put center infant care at $15,636 a year and center care for a 4-year-old at $12,555 (average of state averages), against home-based figures of $11,673 and $10,572, and the Labor Department's county database put 2022 prices anywhere from $6,552 to $15,600.
That spread is the case for a range by program, not for a blank page.
What a daycare tuition page should show
- A range for each program and age group, with the month the rates were last updated
- What tuition includes and what it does not: meals, supplies, diapers, field trips, activity fees
- One-time costs listed separately: the registration fee and any annual supply fee
- Whether you accept state child care subsidies or employer benefits, with a who-to-ask line
- Part-day, part-week and sibling pricing notes, if you offer them
- A tour request form or booking link next to the numbers
A page built like that can answer in one breath, for example: toddler program, $1,525 to $1,725 a month, meals and supplies included (illustrative numbers, not a market rate).
Exact tuition can wait for the tour; the range should not.
Setting the number is a different job from publishing it: how much to charge for daycare is its own guide.
Families will ask whether tuition is tax deductible: link the question to our child care tax credits for parents guide instead of answering tax questions yourself.
Preschool tuition needs its own labels, because part-day, school-year, full-day and full-year programs are different products, and each price should say which schedule, which weeks and which extras it buys.
Show a range with what's included
- Families screen themselves before anyone spends a tour slot
- Cost gets answered for the 39.5% who ranked it among the most helpful things to learn
- Your explanation travels with the number, not the parking lot's version
Show nothing at all
- Every inquiry opens with the price question, by phone or form
- Tour slots go to families the tuition may already rule out
- The parents comparison shopping at 9 p.m. never ask
The one place prices never go: your Google profile
Google's guidelines for representing your business on Google say the business description may not contain links of any kind or focus on promotions, prices or sales, and Google recommends using it for services offered, mission and history (as of October 2026).
Your rates belong on your website or in a Google post, while the profile description answers what you are.
Subsidies and the 7% number parents quote
If you accept subsidies, the tuition page should say so plainly: KinderCare reported that subsidized families supplied 37% of its fiscal 2025 revenue, through a dedicated team working with about 850 agencies (its fiscal 2025 annual report), one large chain's mix and not an industry average.
The figure parents sometimes quote, that care should cost 7% of income, is a subsidy co-payment history, not a private-tuition rule: the 2016 CCDF rule set 7% of family income as an affordability benchmark (81 FR 67438), the 2024 rule made it a cap, and the final rule published May 12, 2026 rescinded that cap effective July 13, 2026, while 37 Lead Agencies (31 states, DC and 5 territories) still limited co-payments to 7% or less as of March 2026.
Marketing to subsidy families is its own guide, accepting child care subsidies.
Rules change through federal rulemaking and state plans, so confirm current subsidy rules with your state CCDF agency before printing anything about co-payments.
How to decide for your center
Ask two questions.
First, would a family your tuition doesn't fit rather find out from your page or from a phone call?
Second, does your price carry a one-sentence story about what it buys: ratios, food, curriculum, hours, staff tenure?
If both answers are yes, publish the range and date it.
If you hold the numbers back anyway, know what you chose: every inquiry opens with the price question, and the family comparing options tonight never asks.
When you want to know what your tuition page does now, the free audit reads it the way a test would: what visitors see, what they click, and where tour requests stop.
Frequently asked questions
Will posting tuition online scare families away?
The families it scares off are mostly families the tuition doesn't fit, and among children whose parents searched for care in 2023, cost was the main reason for 34% of those who didn't find the program they wanted (NCES). A range on the page lets those families sort themselves out before either of you spends a tour slot.
Do I have to put my exact prices on the website?
You can publish a range by program and age instead, with the month the rates were last updated, and confirm the exact figure on the tour. What your state expects of published pricing is a licensing question, so confirm with your state licensing agency.
Should I put my rates in my Google Business Profile description?
No. Google's guidelines for representing your business say the description may not contain links of any kind or focus on promotions, prices or sales, and Google suggests using it for services offered, mission and history.
What if my tuition is higher than the centers near me?
Say what the price buys, right next to the number. Bright Horizons' 2025 annual report notes that many competitors offer lower prices by using less intensive ratios and paying lower compensation and benefits, the company's own framing of why prices differ.
What should the page say about help paying for care?
State plainly whether you accept state child care subsidies or employer benefits, and who to ask. KinderCare reported that subsidized families supplied 37% of its fiscal 2025 revenue, one company's mix but a sign of the scale of subsidized care.
How should the tuition page handle questions about tax credits?
Link the question to a plain explanation instead of answering it yourself, and our child care tax credits guide for parents covers the federal side. Specific tax questions belong with a tax professional.