How much you’ll pay for childcare across South Australia depending where you live

Childcare fees across South Australia vary by more than $31 a day depending where you live, new analysis reveals. See the fee breakdown here.

Parents in Adelaide’s city and Hills are paying the highest out-of-pocket costs for childcare, a new report reveals.

But if you’re searching for the state’s cheapest childcare fees it pays to live in the Barossa or Mid North.

The varied cost of childcare across the nation has been revealed in a new report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

It finds the average daily fee charged by childcare centres has increased in all states and territories since 2018, when the federal government’s Child Care Subsidy was first introduced.

Queensland families have faced the biggest overall jump since then, but parents in Sydney’s eastern suburbs pay the most after receiving subsidies ($90.24 a day on average).

Parents in Adelaide’s city and hills are paying the most for childcare after subsidies.

In South Australia, parents who send their children to childcare in suburbs around the city and Adelaide Hills pay the most after subsidies ($47.14 a day on average), followed by the western suburbs ($40.73).

Centres in Adelaide’s southern suburbs charge the highest average daily fee, at $135.04, but receive slightly more government subsidy, bringing the daily out-of-pocket cost down to $39.35.

The lowest average daily fee, before subsidies, was $103.25 in Outback SA while parents in the Barossa, Yorke and Mid North regions paid the least after subsidies ($28.33).

Through the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) the federal government pays a proportion of childcare fees for families, depending on how much they earn.

Up to $80,000 taxable income, the CCS covers 90 per cent of fees.

This tapers off by 1 per cent for every $5000 in extra income to a maximum income of $530,000.

In July, 2023, changes to the system – known as the Cheaper Child Care reforms – lifted that threshold from about $356,000, meaning far more families are now eligible for subsidised care.

The reforms also raised the maximum subsidy from 85 per cent to 90 per cent.

The ACCC report found these changes made childcare more affordable for most families.

South Australian families benefited from the biggest drop around the nation, as out-of-pocket costs fell 14.3 per cent.

However, the ACCC noted childcare centre operators have continued to raise fees above rates of inflation and wages growth.

Around the country one in five centres are also charging fees above the hourly rate cap set by government, which is currently $13.73.

Fees charged over that amount are not covered by subsidies.

Despite this, the ACCC report argues “most childcare entities or businesses do not appear to be making excess profits” and about a quarter of companies “are making almost no profit or suffering a loss”.