When Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that New York City would expand free child care, Mallorie Ekström immediately messaged her husband about having a second baby.
The prospect had seemed too daunting as long as they were spending $2,000 each month on day care for their 2-year-old daughter. Now there was hope that their daughter could get a free preschool seat at 3 and a sibling could get free care at 2.
“I was super excited,” said Ms. Ekström, 39, who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and works in real estate. “There is just no possible way that we can afford two children in day care.”
New York City is not going to suddenly become an easy place to raise children. But it might become a little less difficult.
The high cost of living has driven many families out of the city. Day care can cost from $20,000 to $50,000 per year. Public schools have lost 100,000 students. The city’s birthrate has dropped.
Earlier this month, Mr. Mamdani appeared with Gov. Kathy Hochul and pledged to expand the city’s free preschool program for 3-year-olds so that every child has a seat and to introduce free child care for 2-year-olds. The governor agreed to include funding in the state budget to foot the bill for the first two years, allowing Mr. Mamdani to move forward on a key campaign pledge.
The new “2-Care” program is expected to start this fall with 2,000 seats in several neighborhoods that have not been identified. By 2029, all 2-year-olds could have a spot, reaching more than 30,000 children.
Setting up the system will be a major test of the managerial competence of Mr. Mamdani’s administration. No major American city offers universal child care. The industry has been in crisis and will need tens of thousands of additional workers. Mr. Mamdani’s plan will also be expensive, and it is unclear where the long-term funding will come from.
The mayor has set high expectations for himself with parents, who could be disappointed if he does not deliver. His plan also will not address care for children under 2 until a second term, if he is re-elected.
But as Mr. Mamdani moves forward with the initial steps, some New Yorkers are starting to plan for the future. And at a moment when President Trump and his allies are struggling to “make America fertile again,” some experts said that the plan could lead to a small uptick in New York City’s birthrate.
“Child care and paid leave are the policies that are more likely to have an impact on boosting the birthrate,” said Karen Benjamin Guzzo, a family demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “I do think you could see a modest increase.”
Ms. Guzzo said that research showed that high quality child care offers other important benefits, including learning opportunities for children and less stress for parents.
Ejiro Ajueyitsi grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn and said it was hard to afford raising his two young daughters there, spending more than $30,000 each year on child care.
“Now I can try for a boy,” he said with a laugh.
Mr. Ajueyitsi, 41, said he relished sharing the news in a phone call with a friend who grew up with him and moved to Texas because it was more affordable.
“I was like, ‘Did you hear — day care is free,’” he said. “‘Are you coming back?’”
Jillian Jameson got married last year and said that having a child was part of her “five-year plan.” But it has felt out of reach without family nearby to help.
“This genuinely makes me feel like having a child is actually possible,” said Ms. Jameson, 31, who lives in Washington Heights in Manhattan and works as an intimacy coordinator in the entertainment industry.
The birthrate in New York City has been dropping for decades. The number of babies born in the city fell 21 percent, to 99,000 in 2022, from 126,000 in 2000, even as the population grew.
The costs of groceries, clothing, health care, after-school programs and summer camps add up. The children’s menu at some restaurants starts at $12 for chicken fingers. Private swim lessons can cost $200 per month.
Free child care is part of a broader push to support families in New York. State and city officials are scrambling to build more affordable housing. The state has one of the nation’s most generous paid leave laws, allowing parents to take up to 12 weeks at two-thirds of their pay. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio started free preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.
The policies have provided stability to mothers like Marielle Montero, who lives in the Inwood neighborhood in Manhattan with her husband and two children. Her family moved into a new affordable housing unit that was built after a major rezoning.
Ms. Montero, who works at a nonprofit, spends $1,600 each month on day care and after-school for her 7-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. She hopes that her daughter gets a seat this fall in “2-Care,” but said she understood that that was unlikely with limited seats in the first year. She was more confident that she would get one of the free preschool seats for 3-year-olds the next year.
“For us, this cements the decision to stay in the city,” Ms. Montero said.
The city’s 3-K program faced years of instability under Mr. Mamdani’s predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, who cut funding and often undermined it. Some neighborhoods do not have enough seats, and some families are placed at preschools that are far from their homes.
Mr. Mamdani plans to spend $100 million to add seats in neighborhoods that need them. Chantal Hinds pays about $17,000 each year for day care for her 2-year-old son and is applying for a 3-K seat in her neighborhood in East Flatbush in Brooklyn.
“I’m really feeling anxiousness about what if he doesn’t get a spot,” she said.
But Ms. Hinds, an education policy researcher who joined the group New Yorkers United for Childcare to draw attention to the issue, said that Mr. Mamdani’s plan made her feel more confident about having a second child.
“This makes it a little less daunting,” she said. “In these times, less daunting is good.”
Emma G. Fitzsimmons is a public policy correspondent for The Times, covering New York City.
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