Nebraska Child Care Affordability Calculator

Cost of Child Care

Overview

The Nebraska Child Care Affordability Calculator is an interactive tool that shows how licensed child care costs fit, or more often, do not fit, within the budgets of Nebraska families with young children. It accounts for the factors that affect what families pay for child care, along with other major household expenses.

Using the Calculator

  1. Use the left-hand sidebar to select any Nebraska county to see how much child care costs for a sample, two-child household at different income levels.
  2. Use the other fields in the left-hand sidebar to fully customize household income, household composition, child care arrangements and standard household expenses.
  3. In the horizontal navigation bar, you can view outputs as a graph or table, as well as toggle between monthly or annual dollar units.
  4. Users can also download a printable, single-page report for each scenario showing the resulting data as both a table and bar chart. Click "PDF" in the horizontal navigation bar (allow 1-2 minutes to download).
  5. To reset the calculator, select the refresh icon at the top of the left-hand sidebar.

If you have questions or issues with this tool, please email research@earlyfutures.org.

To View Typical Child Care Costs by County

  1. In the sidebar, select the county you want.
  2. The calculator will automatically default to the median income for families with children in that county. However, you can also select the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or 185% FPL (income eligibility level for child care assistance in Nebraska).
  3. To learn more about the default values, select the yellow info icons located inside each of the sidebar menu items.
  4. If you need more information about the data sources, select the "Sources" tab in the horizontal, navigation bar.

To Customize Income, Child Care and Other Household Expenses

  1. Income: The calculator will allow you to select different income levels. The calculator will also automatically compute 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) or 185% FPL based on household size. You can also enter a custom income amount. FPL calculations assume pretax, gross pay.
  2. Household Composition: Change the family size or the number of children in licensed child care by adjusting the household composition. Changing the family size will automatically adjust FPL based incomes.
  3. Child Care: The calculator automatically selects family child care as the default setting. Changing this selection will automatically calculate the price of care based on the 75th percentile of the Nebraska Market Rate Survey. You can also manually change the prices based on your knowledge of the local market.
  4. Housing: You can customize housing expenses (rent or mortgage), as well as utilities for various housing scenarios.
  5. Transportation: The calculator defaults to typical vehicle-related costs for one passenger car. However, you can customize car loan, car insurance, or gas expenses.
  6. Health Insurance: Calculator defaults are based on Nebraska's median health insurance exchange rates for a family of four according to the Affordable Care Act's Health Insurance Marketplace. Changing the household size will not change the default value, but you can customize this value depending on different health care situations, such as an employer-sponsored health care plan.
  7. Food: Default food costs are based on the estimated monthly food cost for a family of four according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Thrifty Food Plan. Changing the household size will not change the default value, but you can also customize this value.
  8. The calculator includes an "Other" category for additional expenses that families may need to include in their budgets. Although it is automatically set to "$0," we encourage you to think about which expenses aren't included—clothing for growing children, diapers, toiletries, household or car repairs, savings, student loans, etc.

How should I use the calculator?

The calculator is a tool to spur public policy conversations about child care affordability. The tool is not intended to be used as a financial planning or budgeting tool for individual families.

If I enter custom amounts, will the calculator store my data?

No. The calculator does not store or collect data entered into the tool. All user inputs are deleted at the conclusion of a session when the calculator times out (i.e., the tool is disconnected from the server) or when the user resets the tool.

Can I save my results?

For privacy reasons, the calculator does not store any data entered by users. You can save your results by clicking the PDF download button located in the horizontal navigation bar. Please allow some time for the PDF to render before saving it to your local device. Your PDF will be saved according to your browser's downloads settings.

The calculator says my income qualifies (or does not qualify) for child care assistance. What does this mean?

The calculator is programmed to indicate if a specified income meets the initial eligibility threshold for child care assistance in Nebraska. The calculator is not intended to determine eligibility for assistance programs. Income is one of the eligibility criteria and meeting income requirements alone does not automatically qualify a family for child care assistance. To learn more about qualifying for child care assistance, visit the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services website.

Does income assume pre-tax dollars?

Yes, calculations assume gross (pre-tax) income. If users would like to include taxes as a household expense, we recommend utilizing the "Other" category to enter a custom amount.

My family has many more expenses that are not reflected in the calculator. Why were those expenses not included?

In addition to child care costs, the calculator estimates the most common household expenses for a family, such as housing, utilities, transportation, food and health insurance. These expenses are not representative of every household situation, which is why users can enter a custom amount under the "Other" category for additional household expenses.

Why are the child care costs for my county different from the costs in my community?

Child care costs may differ from your community's market rates. Child care costs default to the 75th percentile of the Market Rate Survey for either an urban or rural county. Full time rates also vary by child care setting (family child care home or centers/preschools). Urban and rural counties are defined by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

What is the methodology behind this calculator?

The calculator methodology estimates common household expenses (child care, housing, transportation, food and health insurance) for a typical family with two children under age 6 enrolled in licensed child care (see "Data Sources" in the "Sources" tab of the horizontal navigation bar). The original methodology of this tool was developed in 2022 by Grace Reef through the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board (see "Methodology" in the "Sources" tab).

Can I share or present the results from the calculator publicly?

Yes. Please cite the calculator when sharing publicly. We encourage you to email us at research@earlyfutures.org to let us know about your experience using the calculator for public presentations so that we can learn more about how others are using the tool.

Recommended Citation:
First Five Nebraska. (2026). Nebraska child care affordability calculator. Early Futures Partnership. https://www.earlyfutures.org/nebraska-childcare-affordability-calculator

How do I report a problem or learn more about the calculator?

If you encounter problems with the calculator or would like to learn more, please email research@earlyfutures.org.

Income

Income calculation for median household income and Federal Poverty Level assumes pretax, gross pay.

Median Household Income: Median household income for families with own children of householder under age 18 by county in Nebraska.

Federal Poverty Level: Federal poverty guidelines used to determine financial eligibility for certain programs.

185% Federal Poverty Level: Nebraska's limit for initial enrollment in the Child Care Subsidy program is 185% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Child Care

Child Care Prices by Age and Setting: Child care prices of licensed programs by age of child and facility setting. Values are based on full-time rates of the 75th percentile of the Market Rate Survey.

Housing

Median Household Mortgage: Median housing costs for owner-occupied housing units with a mortgage in Nebraska.

Median Rent for a Two-Bedroom Home: Median gross rent for two bedrooms in Nebraska.

Average Utilities: Average utility cost for Nebraska, including electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, trash, streaming, internet and phone utility categories.

Car Payment

Average car payment amount was calculated using a car loan payment formula based on Nebraska's average used-car loan rates (APR), the national average for used car loan amounts and a 68-month loan term.

Car Loan Rates: Average used car loan rates (APR) in Nebraska.

Used Car Loan Amount: The national average for used car loan amount financed.

Loan Calculator: Car loan payment formula assumed a 68-month loan term: Monthly Payment = Loan Amount * (Interest Rate/ 12) / (1 - (1 + (Interest Rate/ 12)) ^ (-Loan Term))

Car Insurance

Average Car Insurance Premium: Average car insurance rates in Nebraska were based on full-coverage limits (including comprehensive and collision) and a base driver profile that included the following characteristics: age (40), primary vehicle (2023 Toyota Camry), good credit score, clean driving record and commutes five days a week.

Car Gas Cost

Average gas costs for one family vehicle was calculated in four steps:

  1. Calculate the average monthly number of passenger-car and light-truck miles traveled per Nebraska driver (see Car Mileage).
  2. Calculate the average fuel efficiency (miles per gallon) of U.S. light-duty vehicles (see Fuel Efficiency).
  3. Divide average monthly miles by average fuel efficiency to estimate the average monthly gallons required per personal vehicle.
  4. Average monthly gallons required by average Nebraska price of unleaded gasoline.

Car Mileage-Vehicle Miles: Total miles traveled per road category (e.g., interstate, arterials, other) in Nebraska.

Car Mileage-Distribution of Vehicle Distance Traveled: Percentage of total miles traveled per vehicle type (e.g., passenger cars, light trucks) in Nebraska.

Car Mileage-Licensed Drivers by State: Total licensed drivers in Nebraska.

Fuel Efficiency: National average fuel efficiency (measured in miles per gallon) of light-duty vehicles with a short wheel base.

Gas Prices: Average retail motor regular unleaded gasoline prices in Nebraska.

Health

Health Insurance Premiums: Median health insurance rates for two adults (ages 21-35) and two children (ages 0-14) in Nebraska.

Food

Average Food Expenses: Estimated monthly food cost for a family of four (one male age 20-50, one female age 20-50, one child age 6-8, and one child age 2-3) based on the Thrifty Food Plan. The Thrifty Food Plan represents the estimated cost of commonly consumed foods and beverages that are nutritious, practical and cost-effective.

Calculation Methodology: Original methodology was developed by Grace Reef from the Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board who worked in partnership with First Five Nebraska to develop a price calculator that shows child care affordability for families.

Dashboard Tool: Tool used to build an interactive web application using automatic, reactive binding between inputs, outputs and prebuilt widgets.

  • Chang, W., Cheng, J., Allaire, J., Sievert, C., Schloerke, B., Aden-Buie, G., Xie, Y., Allen, J., McPherson, J., Dipert, A., Borges, B. (2026). shiny: Web Application Framework for R (R package version 1.13.0.9000). https://shiny.posit.co/

Loading U.S. Census Data: R package for interfacing with the U.S. Census Bureau's data API.

  • Walker, K., & Herman, M. (2026). tidycensus: Load US Census Boundary and Attribute Data as 'tidyverse' and 'sf'-Ready Data Frames (R package version 1.7.5). https://walker-data.com/tidycensus/

Recommended Citation:

First Five Nebraska. (2026). Nebraska child care affordability calculator. Early Futures Partnership. https://www.earlyfutures.org/nebraska-childcare-affordability-calculator