Daycare Cost in Chicago (2026): Centers, In-Home and Nannies

Key takeaway: Full-time infant care at a quality Chicago center costs about $1,800 to $2,900 a month in 2026, and in-home infant care starts around $23.61 an hour.

Daycare cost in chicago: $1,800 a month and up for full-time infant care at a quality center (to $2,900); $23.61 an hour for in-home infant care, starting; $944 a week for 40 hours of in-home infant care — Key numbers from this guide, fall 2026. Each figure is sourced in the text below.

Full-time infant care at a quality Chicago center runs about $1,800 to $2,900 a month, according to Wonderschool’s 2026 Illinois guide. That works out to $21,600 to $34,800 a year for one baby.

How much does daycare cost in Illinois by age?

Age	Illinois average per month
Infant, 0 to 15 months	$1,150 to $1,560
Toddler, 15 to 36 months	$1,000 to $1,300
Preschool	$864 to $1,100

Source: Wonderschool, 2026 Illinois childcare guide.

Chicago runs above these statewide figures, and Illinois as a whole runs about 20% above the national average, according to Wonderschool.

Daycare cost in Chicago: center, in-home care or a nanny

Center: besides Wonderschool’s range, DaycareCalc estimates Chicago infant center care at $1,650 a month for 2026, built from federal market rate survey data. That’s about $420 above the national average.
Hourly in-home care: Care.com puts the starting rate for infant care in Chicago at $23.61 an hour as of November 2026, or about $944 for a 40-hour week. That’s about 7% above the Illinois average of $22.11.
Full-time nanny: DaycareCalc estimates about $3,600 a month for one child.

For full-time care, one-on-one options cost more than centers. At Care.com’s rate, 40 hours a week comes to about $4,100 a month (our calculation: $23.61 x 40 hours x 52 weeks / 12). A nanny starts to make more financial sense with two or more young kids at home. For hourly rates, the nanny taxes a household employer owes and Chicago’s pay and leave rules, see what a nanny costs in Chicago.

How can Chicago families get help paying for child care?

Illinois’ Child Care Assistance Program, known as CCAP, covers part of the cost for eligible working families. Income limits change, so check the state’s current chart before ruling yourself out. If your employer offers a dependent care account, that can also cut the cost by letting you pay with pre-tax money.

Who qualifies for CCAP child care help?

Family size	Maximum gross monthly income, from July 1, 2026
2	$4,058
3	$5,123
4	$6,188
5	$7,253
6	$8,318

Source: Child Care Resource and Referral, Eastern Illinois University.

How do CCAP copays work?

If your family qualifies for the Child Care Assistance Program, you pay a monthly copay and the state pays the rest, up to its maximum rate. The Illinois Department of Early Childhood copay chart, revised July 1, 2026, sets the copay by gross monthly income and family size. A few rules help you plan:

The copay is $1 a month for families at or below 100% of the federal poverty level, a rule the state made permanent on July 1, 2021 (Governor’s office release, via Capitol Fax).
If all children in care are school age and in part-time care (under 5 hours a day), the copay is 50% of the chart amount from September through May (Illinois Department of Early Childhood). The full copay applies in June, July and August.
Some families have no copay, such as certain families experiencing homelessness and deployed military families.
If your copay is higher than the provider’s charge, you pay only the actual cost of care.

CCAP covers children up to age 13 while parents work or attend school. You can apply through the Digital CCAP Application linked by IDEC, and your approval notice shows your exact copay. For the bigger picture of what a child costs here, see our cost of raising a kid in Chicago guide.

Is pre-K free in Chicago?

Chicago Public Schools offers free full-day pre-K for children who turn 4 by September 1, 2026, plus limited half-day seats for 3-year-olds, and community sites including Head Start offer free full-day programs for children 5 and under. Applications are rolling; the Chicago Early Learning hotline is 312-229-1690 (Chicago Early Learning).

What federal tax breaks help with child care in 2026?

Two federal tools got bigger for 2026. A dependent care FSA through your employer lets you pay for care with pre-tax pay. The child and dependent care credit lowers the federal tax you owe. Here is what each one allows this year.

Tax break	2026 amount	Key rule
Dependent care FSA	Up to $7,500 a year ($3,750 if married filing separately)	Raised from $5,000 ($2,500 married filing separately)
Child and dependent care credit, one child	20% to 50% of up to $3,000 in costs, up to $1,500	50% rate applies at incomes of $15,000 or less
Child and dependent care credit, two or more children	20% to 50% of up to $6,000 in costs, up to $3,000	Rate never drops below 20%

Source: IRS Publication 15-B (2026) and IRS: Child and dependent care credit information, checked October 27, 2026.

The credit is non-refundable, so it can cut your federal tax to zero but will not create a refund on its own. It covers care for a child under 13, per the IRS credit FAQs. If you use an FSA and the credit in the same year, the Form 2441 instructions have you account for the benefits you already excluded, so you cannot count the same dollars twice.

To put the FSA in Chicago terms: at the $1,650 a month DaycareCalc infant estimate above, a year of care costs $19,800. The $7,500 FSA limit covers about 38% of that (our calculation: $1,650 x 12 = $19,800; $7,500 / $19,800 = 37.9%).

What daycare costs in Chicago in 2026