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Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s universal childcare plan will cost 50% more than he advertised, according to a new study.
The proposed program is estimated to cost a whopping $9 billion annually, approximately with an average cost per child roughly $27,000, according to the report from the Center for New York City Affairs, a nonpartisan research organization affiliated with the New School.
“An estimated $8.7 to $9.3 billion would be needed annually to fund universal child care in New York City,” the report, which was released on Monday, states.
That’s $3 billion more than the mayor previously said his ambitious universal free childcare program would cost.
Hizzoner promised on the campaign trail that his plan to make childcare free for children from 6 weeks old to five years old regardless of family income would cost about $6 billion per year and be paid for by taxing the state’s wealthiest earners.
The $3 billion gap identified in the study was largely tied to teacher pay, with the Center for NYC Affairs estimating some 23,000 new childcare workers will need to be hired, mainly for infants and children under three years old.
The city also needs to create about 10,000 new seats for children younger than pre-K, the researchers projected.
The report also noted that the city, in the 2025 fiscal year, budgeted $2.5 billion and ended up spending $3.8 billion on childcare services.
“This is emblematic of the regular under-estimation of service delivery costs,” the researchers noted. “Therefore, the City will need to identify at least an additional $4.9 to $5.5 billion to sustain a fully universal system.”
Rolling out the program is essentially impossible without major support from the state and federal government, the report noted.
City Hall has not said how it plans on paying for the program beyond taxing the rich and asking Albany for more money.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has already promised Mamdani $1.2 billion to kickstart the program in certain neighborhoods and said she plans to continue the funding.
The city currently offers free pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, with limited seats for 2-year-olds starting this fall.
Hochul said in January the funding will come from “existing” state revenues rather than new taxes.
Taxing the rich, as Mamdani and his socialist supporters have suggested, was off the table, she said at the time.
City Hall has yet to release its own official cost model for the program and declined to comment on the $9 billion figure.
“Delivering on those promises will require additional public investment, and this administration has been clear about that from the start,” Mamdani spokesperson Jenna Lyle told The New York Times.
“We are grateful to Governor Hochul for her partnership and initial investment in this work,” Lyle said.
City Hall didn’t return a request for comment from The Post.
— Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
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