Date Time Nearly 40% of Australian families can’t ‘afford’ childcare Childcare is unaffordable for more than 385,000 Australian families, a new report from Victoria University’s Mitchell Institute shows. The Counting the cost to families: assessing childcare affordability in Australia report uses an international benchmark of no more than 7% of disposable income spent on childcare to determine childcare affordability for families. We found nearly 40% of families using childcare use more than 7% of their household income on childcare. We also found about 83% of families who use childcare spend more on childcare than on utilities or clothing. About 70% spend more on childcare than transport, and over 30% spend more on childcare than on groceries.