Simplified: About 7 in 10 Sioux Falls residents support using tax money to make childcare more affordable, according to survey results from the 2025 National Community Survey.

Why it matters

  • Childcare costs more than in-state college tuition in South Dakota, and most parents – as many as 9 in 10 – are paying more than they can afford, according to federal definition of childcare affordability at no more than 7% of the annual household income.
  • The childcare crisis in Sioux Falls is well-documented, and after months of research, a 97-page report outlining specific, actionable solutions released in 2023, and a separate city task force studying the issue in 2024, City Council has shied away from using city dollars to support families.
  • But childcare re-entered the chat during Tuesday's City Council informational meeting when Councilor Jennifer Sigette said she was "shocked" to see that the majority of residents in a statistically valid survey say they supported using tax money to make childcare affordable.
"There was some traction on this a year ago, and we just didn't feel the support to continue to try to get a project up and running to help make childcare more affordable," Sigette said. "And yet this is 70% of people saying tax dollars should go to help ... This makes me think we need to bring that project up again."

Tell me more

Of those who answered "yes," more than 60% said the support should be for all families, while the rest indicated support should be just for low-income families.

It's unlikely the city will see any support from the state legislature on childcare subsidies or any other early childhood education support.

  • Gov. Larry Rhoden last year vetoed a measure that would've made childcare providers eligible to receive state assistance for their own children.
Childcare crisis: What’s next after state opts not to help?
It’s a huge blow for an industry that’s been “treading water” for some time, as one provider said.
Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

But, there are examples of communities finding childcare solutions without state support. Rapid City, for example, piloted a "tri-share" program in which businesses paid one-third of childcare costs, parents paid another third, and the final third was covered by a nonprofit.

  • In other states, the tri-share model has also been implemented with the city paying one-third of the costs rather than philanthropists.

What happens next?

The community survey shows the data, but there's no action plan in place based on the findings. It's simply information the City Council now has at its disposal, but it'll be up to the councilors to decide if and how they want to act on that moving forward.