The Salovin family in Springfield pays $26,000 a year in Delaware County childcare costs for their two daughters, ages 1 and 4, writes Erin McCarthy for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

It’s a cost Tyler and Amy Salovin are willing to bear to have their daughters in a licensed facility while they both remain in the work force.

Not that it hasn’t been a financial burden.

“It’s not the only reason we’re not having any more kids,” said Amy Salovin, 36. “But it’s a factor in our decision to remain a family of four.”

Childcare costs have jumped more than 30 percent, outpacing inflation. It can cost more than a mortgage these days, forcing many parents to leaving the workforce, turn to family for help, or use a patchwork of caregivers.

Back in 2019, the Salovins were being quoted prices of $300 to $600 a week for childcare centers.

“We were really stressed because we were also making student loan payments, which were for us very high,” Amy Salovin said.

These days, they earn more and the pandemic pause in loan payments freed up more of their monthly income, giving them the ability to pay for year-long, five-days-a-week care.

“What would we have done otherwise?” Salovin said. “I don’t know,”

Read more about the impact Delaware County childcare costs are having on families in The Philadelphia Inquirer.