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The stay-at-home parent may seem like a quaint relic from the age of Leave it to Beaver , but recent analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau by Pew Research Center reveals that not only is the concept still alive and kicking, but it's taking on a more masculine look as well. Of the more than 11 million parents not working outside the home in 2016, 17% of them were fathers, up from 10% in 1989 (the year when data was first collected by the Census Bureau on stay-at-home dads). Overall, that means 7% of all the dads in the U.S. stay at home, an increase from 4% nearly three decades ago.
Mothers still know (childrearing) best.
Before millions of men start patting themselves on the back for strapping on a Baby Björn and changing a few messy diapers , they should keep in mind their numbers still lag far behind the nation's mothers. In 2016, 27% of all mothers in the country stayed at home, just one percentage point less than in 1989. Also, of today's dads who stay at home, only 24% of them claim to do so specifically because they want to take care of the kids, rather than being forced to stay put by illness or because they're out of work.
Not many new parents have the luxury of deciding whether one of them should drop out of the workforce, and even for those where staying at home seems feasible, the choice shouldn't be made lightly. There's no way to quantify the joys (and frustrations) a parent gains by spending more time with their child, but broad financial ramifications exist that everyone should think through before ditching project status meetings and office happy hours for tummy time and Peppa Pig episodes.
Turning parenting into a numbers game
The average cost of child care in the U.S. places a heavy burden on parents, taking up an average of 31% of a household's income according to one study . The cost of child care varies from state to state—day care centers and professional nannies in California charge more than in Florida, for example. On the face of it, the decision for one parent to stay home and take care of a child boils down to whether the income lost by dropping out of the workforce is offset enough by the savings in child care.
For example, let's say John and Jill are a couple in Texas who just welcomed their daughter Jane into the world. John is following his passion of being a telemarketer and makes $23,000 a year, while Jill pulls in $100,000 as a corporate lawyer. The new parents have heard horror stories about the local day care facilities and are considering hiring a nanny, which costs an average of $27,875 a year in the Lone Star State. Given John's job of cold-calling strangers about their life insurance earns him less than $4,000 of what it would probably cost for the couple to pay a nanny, it would make financial sense for John to hang on to his headphones and stay home with baby Jane.
It's about more than just the money.
The above example of the Texan family makes the decision of whether a parent should stay at home full time, and which parent should do so, a relatively simple one. But scenarios in the real world are rarely that clear cut. If John were VP of marketing instead of a telemarketer and earned $70,000 a year, the decision as to whether he should stay home would be more difficult. Or if John still earned a smaller salary but was able to work from home 2 days a week, hiring a part-time nanny or babysitter might be more economical feasible for his family than losing his entire income by having him become a stay-at-home dad. The variables in making the right choice seem endless, and they extend beyond the purely financial (maybe John doesn’t want to miss out on any of his child’s first milestones). But having a good grasp on the income lost by having a parent stay at home vs. the money saved by not having to pay for child care should be one of the factors in to your final decision.
This article, " More Dads Are Staying At Home With the Kids " was originally published on ValuePenguin .
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
