Affordable Daycare in Montana

38 daycares that accept child care assistance are listed in 12 Montana towns. Accepting assistance says nothing about a daycare's own prices. A daycare without this tag may still accept assistance; ask.

Billings, with 10 listed. Next are Missoula (8) and Great Falls (5).

Apply through Best Beginnings Child Care Scholarships, run by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. It is for Montana families who meet the income limits and whose parents take part in eligible activities such as work or school, with children in licensed or approved care. Income limits change each year, so check the current limits on the state's site.

Some families can get it. Head Start and Early Head Start are free for children from families who qualify, and some states waive the family's share of the cost for the lowest incomes. Ask your state's child care assistance office what you qualify for.

Not by itself. Accepting assistance means the daycare takes payments from the state program; its own prices vary like any daycare's. Ask whether it charges more than the state pays, and how much you would pay.

Each state runs a child care assistance program, paid for in part by the federal Child Care and Development Fund. Families who qualify by income, and usually by working, looking for work or going to school, get help paying a daycare that accepts it; the help is often called a voucher or subsidy. Most families pay a share called a copayment, set by the state. Apply through the Montana child care assistance office.

Some families can. States may waive the copayment for families with the lowest incomes, and Head Start and Early Head Start are free for families who qualify. Ask your state's child care assistance office what you qualify for.

Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Child Care Licensing licenses daycares in Montana. It publishes its inspections and the rules it cited, and we copy them onto each listing.