Description
In 2025, 58% of children aged 0 to 5 years were in child care in Canada. Participation was similar to 2023 (56%).
In Canada, there are numerous types of child care arrangements for parents to choose from. Centre-based child care remained the most common type of arrangement in 2025, with 32% of all children aged 0 to 5 using this type of child care, followed by care by a relative (12%) and home-based child care (10%).
Today's release of the 2025 Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements (SELCCA) focuses on trends in parental expenses and difficulties finding child care.
Parental expenses for centre-based child care decrease from 2023 to 2025
Among its key objectives, the ongoing implementation of the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care system (CWELCC) aims to reduce child care fees for children aged 0 to 5 in participating licensed child care arrangements. The SELCCA collects information on parental expenses for all types of licensed and unlicensed arrangements used by children, and not just child care that is part of the CWELCC.
Similar to findings from 2023, expenses for full-time home-based child care were stable in 2025 at $534 per month. Home-based child care is comprised of both licensed providers, which may participate in the CWELCC, and unlicensed providers (around 45% of home-based child care providers in 2024), which are ineligible.
Nationally, expenses for children aged 0 to 5 attending centre-based child care full-time have continued to decrease from an average of $663 per month in 2022, to $508 in 2023 and to $435 in 2025, coinciding with the implementation of the CWELCC for participating centres.
Overall, five jurisdictions—Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories—saw decreases in average parental expenses for full-time centre-based child care, each decreasing over $100 per month in 2025 compared to 2023.
While parental expenses in 2025 in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Nunavut were similar to 2023, these jurisdictions already had expenses that were lower than the average for Canada.