Redfin is adding daycare and preschool information to every for-sale home listing on its site, the company announced Monday, in a partnership with childcare marketplace Winnie that ties two of the biggest costs facing young families into a single search experience.
Redfin paired the launch with new data showing the typical working family now spends 52 percent of its annual income on housing and childcare combined. But that share swings wildly depending on where they live.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, the two costs eat up 39.8 percent of the median household’s income. In Los Angeles, it’s 96.8 percent, the highest of the 100 metros Redfin studied. That leaves the typical L.A.-based family there with roughly $3,000 a year after paying $94,613 for housing and childcare against a $97,775 median income.
Starting now, buyers browsing listings on Redfin’s desktop and mobile sites can see nearby daycare and preschool options pulled from Winnie’s database, along with distance from the home, tuition, licensing status, financial aid availability and staff certifications. The feature is expected to reach Redfin’s app in September.
Ariel Dos Santos | LinkedIn
“When you’re buying a home, you’re also choosing a neighborhood that works for your family,” Ariel Dos Santos, Redfin chief product and design officer, said in a statement. “For parents and guardians, finding childcare is a big part of that decision. Bringing Winnie’s childcare information directly to every listing on Redfin makes it easier to see what options are nearby while you’re looking at homes, instead of having to search for that information separately.”
The move slots childcare data alongside a growing list of lifestyle overlays Redfin has recently added to listings. That includes weather data from The Weather Company, a proprietary “Sunscore” sunlight rating, First Street climate-risk scores, and Walk Score’s walkability, transit and bike ratings.
The strategy aims to support homebuying decisions, giving Redfin more reasons for house hunters to stay on its site rather than bounce to a listing aggregator.
Seven of the 10 least affordable metros in Redfin’s report are in California. It’s proof that even a big paycheck doesn’t go far when home prices get this high. San Francisco is the clearest example. The median household there earns $162,118 a year, the second-highest income of any metro Redfin studied, and still spends $152,646 of it on housing and childcare alone.
New York City; San Francisco; Anaheim, California; and San Jose, California, round out the five least affordable metros for working families with a young child, according to the report.
The most breathing room is in the Midwest and South, where home prices and daycare costs have stayed more closely in step with local wages. Oklahoma City; Des Moines, Iowa; Warren, Michigan; and St. Louis join Little Rock at the affordable end.
Redfin and Winnie’s researchers point to more than home prices to explain the gap. Childcare costs vary just as sharply, driven by staffing ratios, labor costs and how many licensed slots a metro actually has.
Springfield, Massachusetts, for instance, has relatively moderate housing costs but the fourth-highest childcare costs in the country. Researchers attribute this to a shortage of open slots and strict staffing regulations rather than the local cost of living.
“Families considering a move should weigh both of those big costs — as well as job opportunities — when deciding where to put down roots,” said Sara Mauskopf, co-founder and CEO of Winnie. “And cost is only part of the equation. Families should also make sure childcare is actually available near where they want to live. If care is scarce or unaffordable, an otherwise affordable area may not be a practical place for a family with young children.”
