Colorado Lawmakers Advance Proposals to Address Child Care Shortage and Rising Costs

According to Joint Initiatives for Youth + Families (JI), El Paso County is home to more than 46,000 children younger than 5, but only 18,400 child care spots are available for them. A similar story is heard statewide. Not only is child care extremely difficult to find, but Colorado is the fifth-most-expensive state in the country with a year of child care averaging $20,000 per child. Of the 455,000 American women who left the workforce between January and August of 2025, caregiving responsibilities, including the cost of child care, drove out 42%.

The business community is increasingly recognizing the impact this crisis has on employee productivity and bottom lines. For some companies that offer employer-sponsored child care benefits, the return on investment has been as high as 425%, according to a recent Boston Consulting Group study.