New Yorkers Raising an Infant and a Preschooler Need $102,540 a Year Just for Basics, a 2026 Report Found

Child care for an infant and a preschooler in New York runs about $2,345 a month in a bare-bones budget.

That’s the biggest bill a young family faces, and it’s only one line of what a 2026 report says New Yorkers need.

Here’s what that basic family budget covers, and how it adds up to more than $100,000 a year.

Note: This is general information, not financial advice. Budget figures are subject to change.

The Report Behind the Budget

The 2026 State of ALICE in New York report was produced by United For ALICE and brought to New York by United Way of New York State.

ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.

That means households that work and earn more than the federal poverty level, but not enough to afford basic expenses in their county.

The researchers priced a bare-bones budget for every county in New York.

Then they compared it with household incomes from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.

A household earning less than the budget for its county and household type is below what the report calls the ALICE Threshold.

In 2024, that described 48% of New York households, counting the 14% in poverty and the 34% who are ALICE.

If you’re raising kids, those percentages may hit close to home.

The report’s bare-bones budget for two adults, an infant and a preschooler is called the Survival Budget, and it comes to $102,540 for a full year.

Next comes the monthly math, so you can see what a month of that budget looks like.

The Monthly Breakdown

Per month, that family of four needs $8,545.

By our math, that’s about $1,970 a week.

The full-time wage needed to support that budget is $51.27 an hour.

If you’re counting on two paychecks, that works out to roughly $25.64 an hour each, by our math.

Without the kids, the budget for two adults is $4,395 a month.

With an infant and a preschooler in the picture, the budget rises by $4,150 a month, by our math.

That nearly doubles the budget, by our math: $8,545 against $4,395.

Keep in mind that $102,540 is the statewide figure.

The report builds its budgets county by county, so what you need depends on where you live.

The cost-of-basics page lets you type in your county to see its numbers.

Child Care Costs

For a family with an infant and a preschooler, the report budgets $2,345 a month for child care, the biggest bill in the budget.

Housing comes next at $1,569 a month.

That puts child care $776 above housing, by our math.

Together, the two come to $3,914 a month, or about 46% of the budget, by our math.

Compare that with the budget for two adults and no children, which lists $0 for child care.

For one adult with a child in child care, the budget is $1,126 a month; with a school-age child, it’s $423.

So your costs may depend on how old your kids are.

If you’re paying for child care now, compare your monthly bill with that $2,345.

Everyday Essentials

Food comes to $1,404 a month for two adults, an infant and a preschooler.

Spread over a 30-day month and four people, that's about $11.70 per person per day, by our math.

Compared with two adults and no children, the kids add $455 to the food line, $231 to transportation and $188 to health care, by our math.

Transportation runs $801 a month, and health care is $688.

Technology is the smallest line, at $163 a month.

Together, those four lines come to $3,056 a month, by our math.

Check your grocery receipts against that $1,404 and see where your household lands.

Taxes and Miscellaneous Costs

Taxes run $878 a month, the fourth-biggest line in the budget.

Taxes are one of the budget's eight lines, so the $8,545 a month includes an estimate for them.

The report also builds in a 10% miscellaneous category, which comes to $697 a month for this family.

When you compare your paycheck with the budget, keep in mind that $878 is a tax estimate, not your actual bill.

Taxes and miscellaneous costs total $1,575 a month, by our math.

Households With Children

The report also breaks out how households with children fare against the ALICE Threshold.

In 2024, 27% of married households with children were below the threshold.

If you're raising kids with a partner, you're in the group with the lowest rate, though more than one in four of those households still fell below the line.

If you're raising kids as a single adult, the rate was 61% for households headed by a single man and 77% for those headed by a single woman.

Those rates are for households with children in general, not only those with an infant and a preschooler.

Pay Versus the Budget

Picture a household where one adult works full time as a cook and the other works full time as a bank teller.

The report puts their combined earnings at $76,144 a year in 2024.

The federal poverty level for a family of four was $31,200 in 2024, less than a third of the Survival Budget, by our math.

The federal poverty level defines eligibility for many types of public assistance.

If your household earns more than that line but less than the budget, the report notes that households in that gap often don't qualify.