When you compare the cost of child care to minimum wages across the nation, it becomes apparent just how difficult it is for families living off of a minimum-wage income to afford child care. For example, in Hawaii, the state with the median state minimum wage ($7.75), a minimum-wage worker would have to work full-time from January until July—or 1,162 hours—to cover annual child-care costs for a 4-year-old. Infant care, meanwhile, costs even more—a minimum-wage worker in Hawaii would have to work full-time from January until September (1,548 hours) to pay for a year of infant care.

Child care is simply out of reach for workers who support their families on minimum-wage jobs. The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that child care cost 10 percent or less of a family’s income. Nowhere in the United States does infant care or child care for a 4-year-old cost less than 30 percent of a minimum-wage worker’s annual wages, much less 10 percent. In fact, infant care represents over 50 percent of a full-time, full-year minimum-wage worker’s annual earnings in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Child care for a 4-year-old, meanwhile, represents over 50 percent of a minimum-wage worker’s annual earnings in 20 states and the District of Columbia.