This story is produced from an episode of KVPR’s Central Valley Daily podcast. Listen to all episodes here, and wherever you get your podcast. Central Valley Daily is supported by the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. If you have a story idea, email podcast@kvpr.org.
FRESNO, Calif – Fresno elected officials have a plan to make childcare more affordable.
The city is responding to families who say they struggle to find affordable childcare – with many having to choose between going back to work or staying home and raising their children.
The research firm Beverly ranks Fresno, a city of half a million people, near the bottom in its 2026 State of Childcare Report.
It analyzed data and found 31% of pre-tax household income goes to childcare in Fresno. The firm says “Infant care eats 31.2% of pre-tax household income – highest cost burden of any large California city, on a $66,804 median income”.
An average monthly cost for toddlers and infants to attend daycare is between $1,000 to $2,000 for many families in Fresno. Rent and utilities tend to take up a major chunk of household budgets, before factoring childcare costs.
“We have both a supply and a demand issue here locally,” Tyler Maxwell, Fresno City Council member, told KVPR’s Central Valley Daily podcast. “On the supply side, we are one of the most impoverished places in the entire nation and California.”
In Fresno, roughly 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. Nearly 40,000 children live below poverty in the city.
Maxwell said part of the problem with solving childcare in Fresno is that there aren't enough childcare providers.
But now he’s among a group of Fresno council members pushing a project known as the “Commission on Family Affordability and Childcare Access.”
The commission will propose policy solutions to reduce childcare burdens, support new childcare businesses, improve compensation for workers, and explore long-term subsidized childcare options, according to Maxwell.
The commission is seeking to partner with early childhood education agencies such as Head Start, First 5, the Fresno County Office of Education and Children’s Service Network to coordinate resources, and implement data-driven solutions, Maxwell said.
The commission has been collecting data on cities across the United States and looking at their solutions on making childcare more affordable.
“We’ve also had talks with mayors in New Mexico who are leasing out city assets to nonprofits to run childcare and early childhood education operations,” Maxwell said.
Childcare and cost of living are major issues going into the 2026 midterm elections for communities around the country. In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently made child care free for all families that are receiving child care assistance.
The Fresno Unified School District has shifted their operational budget towards afterschool programs to try to help address the issue, too.
Officials are currently seeking feedback on the commission and its proposals. Once they have enough response, officials will bring the commission for a vote by the full council.
“Due to the pandemic and the different situations at home, there has been a shift” in addressing the childcare problem, Maxwell said.
