Taxpayers will shell out more than $36,000 per tot for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free 2-K pilot program – roughly $13,000 more than the average cost of private child care, city officials acknowledged Tuesday.
Gov. Kathy Hochul allocated $73 million in state funding for the 2,000-seat pilot launching in the fall — or about $36,500 per tot — as the pair move toward fulfilling Mamdani’s promise of universal child care for all city kids from 6 weeks to 5 years old.
The two Democrats joined forces in Harlem Tuesday to announce the five school districts, mostly lower income and diverse neighborhoods, that will get the first shot at signing their little ones up for the freebie, previously dubbed “2-Care.”
“We’ve done such a good job managing our budget that we’re able to provide this new program in an enhanced way to have 2-year-old care in the city of New York, in addition to all the other investments we made throughout the state with current revenues,” Hochul said, standing next to Mamdani at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling.
The state will solely foot the bill that will balloon to $425 million by 2027 when 12,000 2-K seats become available across the city — with Hochul saying that funding will come from current tax revenues.
A clear funding plan has not been laid out for future years, but Hochul, who faces re-election in November, said the initiative would be an ongoing priority for her as long as she’s in office.
The program’s price tag is considerably higher than what families fork over on average each year to send their 18 month-to-2 year olds to child care centers across the five boroughs, according to a city comptroller’s office report citing 2024 figures.
Families pay about $23,400 for market-rate day care centers, the report released last year states.
Overall, center-based care for infants and toddlers cost families an average of $26,000 per year, a 43% increase from 2019, the 2025 city comptroller report said.
A City Hall rep said that the amount that families pay for care didn’t necessarily equate what it costs to administer the program, but offered up no details about why the one run by the city would apparently be 55% more expensive per child. The spokesperson also couldn’t provide a breakdown of how the $73 million would be spent.
Mamdani and Hochul unveiled the new initiative for city 2-year-olds — along with a buildup of existing free pre-K and 3-K programs — within days of the Democratic socialist mayor starting his four-year term after his universal child care pitch helped fuel his astronomical political ascension.
In all, the expansion in early childhood programs will ultimately provide care for 100,000 more kids across the Empire State, officials have said. There are about 80,000 children aged 2 in the Big Apple currently, according to city health department data and the comptroller’s office
Mamdani lauded Hochul on Tuesday for fronting up the funds for the new handout even as he pleads with state lawmakers to raise taxes on millionaires to help plug a $5.4 billion gap in the city budget.
“We have long known that child care is a priority for the governor,” Mamdani said.
“It’s a priority for parents here in our city, and now it’s a priority in what we’re delivering.”
Parents who live in the chosen five districts — representing each borough save for Staten Island — will have access to the first-of-its-kind program regardless of income or immigration status, Mamdani said.
The application process is expected to open over the summer.
Emmy Liss, the executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Child Care, said at a City Council hearing Monday that officials were partnering with current child care providers to help build the program up.
“We will be working with them this fall to make sure they are ready to operate,” she said.
