There is no single source for comparing child care costs to college, but among those that have done so is a national analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. EPI found that college is cheaper than child care in 38 states.
Arizona Republic
August 25, 2025
According to research by the Economic Policy Institute, those in the lowest 10% saw wages grow by a stunning 15.3% between 2019 and 2024 outpacing all other groups and twice as much as the median.
El Diario
August 25, 2025
To support his research, Jake Rosenfeld has received funding from the Economic Policy Institute, Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Urban Institute, and the National Science Foundation.
The Conversation
August 25, 2025
Heidi Shierholz, President of the Economic Policy Institute and former Chief Economist at the Department of Labor under President Obama, warns of a slowing US economy, with tariffs hiking prices, tax cuts inflating deficits, wage boosts via minimum hikes and unions, unrigged labor data despite BLS firing, and mass deportations costing 6M jobs including for Americans.
David Lin Report (YouTube)
August 25, 2025
Elise Gould, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an expert in wage dynamics, told Newsweek that areas such as leisure and hospitality “experienced much faster wage growth coming out of the pandemic because of the sheer numbers of jobs lost and the need for employers to scramble to attract and retain workers.”
These effects, she said, were more pronounced for those at the lower end of wage distribution, who required more “enticement” from employers to return to less-compensated, face-to-face roles—bargaining power that was reinforced by the financial supports put in place by policymakers during the pandemic.
Newsweek
August 25, 2025
But some professions are falling further behind than others, with educators seeing the biggest gap between income growth and inflation during the past four years, the study found. Teachers have long struggled with a “wage gap,” meaning that they typically earn less than college graduates working in other fields, due to issues such as constraints on school funding, according to the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.
CBS Moneywatch
August 25, 2025
“The [Atlanta] wage growth tracker is consistent with what we’ve found so far this year — wages at the tenth percentile are growing much more slowly than for middle [and] high wage workers, and, this is a clear reversal of the pattern in the postpandemic labor market,” Josh Bivens, chief economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told The Hill.
…
“As softer labor markets are hurting their wage growth, faster price inflation [driven in part by tariffs] is pinching workers on the cost side,” Bivens told The Hill. “It seems like a complete lock that after very rapid real wage growth in the postpandemic recovery that low-wage workers are going to end 2025 much worse off than they have in years.”
The Hill
August 25, 2025
The analysis compares median earnings data from the U.S. Census Bureau with cost of living estimates from the Economic Policy Institute to assess how far a graduate’s income goes across the country.
Upgraded Points
August 25, 2025
The website used sources including the US Census Bureau 2023 County Business Patterns (CBP), US Census Bureau 2023 American Community Survey, Department of Labor, Zillow and EPI Economic Policy Institute.
Asbury Park Press
August 25, 2025
Having children isn’t what it used to be, either. For boomers, raising a child cost $4,000 a year. While in 2023, that figure skyrocketed, now you need almost $18,000 , making it four times harder to have a family.
And that’s not even considering that childcare alone costs $13,128 per child per year, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which represents between 10% of income for couples and 35% for single parents.
El Tiempo Latino
August 25, 2025