The cost of child care continued to outstrip inflation last year, with care often costing more than food and rent, a new report found.
Last year, the annual cost of center-based infant care reached as high as $15,895, while quality care at an accredited center hit $16,835, according to “Parents and the High Price of Child Care: 2009 Update.”

“The bottom line is that you get what you pay for,” Linda Smith, executive director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, said in a statement. “And today’s economy only makes it that much harder for parents who are already struggling with the current cost of child care to afford the quality child care their children need and deserve.”

The cost of child care rivaled or topped other essentials. Parents, on average, spent more on child care fees than food in every region of the country, the report said. In fact, while the nation’s cost of living rose 3.8 percent last year, center care for a baby rose 4.8 percent and care for a four year old jumped 6.2 percent, the report said, relying on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

New York topped the list of least affordable states for baby care, with Massachusetts the second most expensive, followed by Minnesota, Colorado, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana, according to the report. (Washington State ranked 13th.)

The report offered a few interesting recommendations beyond the demand for greater federal funding of child care grants, including a suggestion the early learning-friendly Obama administration could embrace.

“Requiring the Department of Health and Human Services in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences to determine the cost of quality child care and report back to Congress.”

The report’s broader goal gets to the heart of the early learning issue: Are child care, preschool and pre-k parts of our commitment to public education or elements of a different and complimentary system?

The Virginia-based child care group suggests its position in another recommendation.

“Designing a system to help underwrite the cost of child care so that all families, not just wealthy families, can afford the cost of quality child care.”