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Hunger is on the rise for the early care and education workforce, according to recent from the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, and signs suggest the challenge is unlikely to improve in the short term. 

In June, 58% of early care and education providers surveyed by the RAPID Survey Project at Stanford said they were experiencing hunger, which researchers measured using six questions about food insecurity developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These providers, who span a variety of roles and settings, are not just dealing with sticker shock at the grocery store; they are skipping meals, eating smaller portions to stretch food supplies further, and going hungry because they鈥檝e run out of money to purchase food.

RAPID has charted provider food insecurity for the past four years. Rates of hunger held steady between 20% and 30% from summer 2021 until early 2024, then began rising precipitously. 

Phil Fisher, director of the Stanford Center on Early Childhood, said the status quo rates of provider hunger were 鈥渦nacceptable to begin with,鈥� but that this recent spike is both 鈥渁larming鈥� and 鈥渃oncerning.鈥� 

鈥淭he early care and education workforce is incredibly vulnerable to economic trends,鈥� Fisher said, explaining the rise. 鈥淧art of it is just how close to abject poverty many [educators] are.鈥�

Indeed, early educators earn a median wage of , making it one of the lowest-paid professions in the United States. An 43% of the workforce relies on public benefits, such as Medicaid and food stamps, to get by. 

So when prices go up, early educators are among the first to feel the effects, and lately, food prices have done nothing but climb. The cost of groceries has almost 30% since February 2020. 

鈥淔ood is very expensive,鈥� said Isabel Blair, a home-based child care provider of almost 20 years who recently decided to close her program in Michigan. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for families earning minimum wage to cover their basic needs 鈥� housing, child care and food.鈥�

Blair has noticed among eggs and produce, in particular. Both are staples in an early education program. 

鈥淵ou go to the grocery store, and the fresh vegetables are very expensive. For a tomato, you pay like three bucks. Or a dozen eggs, you play close to $4 now,鈥� she said. 鈥淔eeding the children, you have to provide breakfast, a snack and lunch. Some programs offer dinner. Add those up, and it鈥檚 very costly.鈥�

In the RAPID survey, providers shared written responses to open-ended questions, and some highlighted how high grocery prices are affecting their own families. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e skipping meals so the kids can eat,鈥� a teacher in Colorado said. 鈥淕rocery prices are through the roof.鈥� 

鈥淕rocery bills continue to rise and we are having to cut back on what we buy and redo our menu at home to be able to afford the same amount of food we were buying just months ago鈥︹�� wrote a center director in Washington.

鈥淸My biggest concern right now is that] we don鈥檛 go hungry in the street someday,鈥� a teacher at a center-based program in Georgia wrote. 

A center director in Indiana said the 鈥渃ost of groceries is going up and I can鈥檛 afford enough food 鈥� to last the entire month. We have to skimp on meals or bring leftovers from work home for the kids to eat.鈥� 

鈥淜eeping food in the house and meeting our nutritional needs as a family [are my biggest concerns],鈥� wrote a home-based provider in Ohio.

Cristi Carman, director of the RAPID Survey Project, said the difficult choices providers must make, between buying more groceries or paying off a bill, is 鈥渞eally, really devastating.鈥� Carman and Fisher separately noted that it becomes harder for caregivers to provide a nurturing, high-quality environment for kids when their stomachs are growling and they鈥檙e worried about how to put food on the tables for their own families before their next paycheck hits.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not humane circumstances for individuals in any role, especially when they鈥檙e caring for the youngest children,鈥� Carman said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not operating under the best set of circumstances. They鈥檙e operating at reduced need.鈥�

What鈥檚 more, Fisher said, is that early care and education providers often aren鈥檛 just buying groceries for themselves, but for the kids in their programs as well. (Rising costs have hit unlicensed providers who care for millions of children from birth to age 5 in the U.S. especially hard, because while they are technically eligible, many remain excluded from the federal food program for child care providers.) So when providers are going hungry, it usually means the kids they鈥檙e serving are affected too. Maybe fresh fruits and vegetables are replaced with canned items, or proteins are replaced with carbs. Corner-cutting becomes unavoidable. 

Despite the severity of food insecurity among providers, grocery prices are not expected to stabilize anytime soon, with the Trump administration鈥檚 tariffs forcing up the cost of imported foods. Meanwhile, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income households offset the cost of food, was disrupted during the government shutdown this fall, leaving many recipients without benefits for weeks. RAPID researchers have not yet finished analyzing survey data from that period, but Fisher acknowledged it may only show a worsening situation.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not expecting these things to get better in the short term,鈥� Fisher said. 鈥淚f anything it will either reach a ceiling or continue to spiral.鈥�

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