FACT SHEET: How Many Pennsylvania Families in Every County Will Qualify for the Childcare Tax Credit Under Governor Shapiro’s Expansion

Last month, Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law an expansion of the Childcare Tax Credit for nearly 210,000 Pennsylvania families. Under previous law, Pennsylvania would match only 30 percent of the federal Childcare Tax Credit. Now, thanks to this new bipartisan legislation, the state credit will match 100 percent of the federal credit, helping Pennsylvania families offset more of the burden of rising childcare costs in the Commonwealth.

The Childcare Tax Credit that is available to Pennsylvanians at the state level is based on the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. Taxpayers must receive the federal credit to also be eligible for the state credit in Pennsylvania. The major expansion signed into law by Governor Shapiro means:

  • The maximum credit will be $1,050 (one child) or $2,100 (two or more children).
    The minimum credit will be $600 (one child) or $1,200 (two or more children).

Prior to the expansion signed by Governor Shapiro, the maximum credit Pennsylvania families could receive was up to $315 (one child) or $630 (two or more children). Under the new law, Pennsylvanians could see up to a 233% increase in their tax credit from last year.

Read below to see an estimated county breakdown of the number of Pennsylvanians who may benefit from the expanded tax credit thanks to the expansion signed into law by Governor Shapiro.

County

  How Many Pennsylvania Families Are Eligible for the Childcare Tax Credit Because of Governor Shapiro’s Expansion* 

Adams County

1,360

Allegheny County

17,161

Armstrong County

492

Beaver County

1,574

Bedford County

451

Berks County

7,637

Blair County

1,535

Bradford County

796

Bucks County

13,730

Butler County

2,830

Cambria County

1,282

Cameron County

**

Carbon County

704

Centre County

2,146

Chester County

11,603

Clarion County

365

Clearfield County

788

Clinton County

401

Columbia County

744

Crawford County

669

Cumberland County

4,544

Dauphin County

4,625

Delaware County

13,137

Elk County

314

Erie County

2,998

Fayette County

945

Forest County

**

Franklin County

2,056

Fulton County

78

Greene County

199

Huntingdon County

285

Indiana County

619

Jefferson County

458

Juniata County

144

Lackawanna County

2,669

Lancaster County

7,657

Lawrence County

607

Lebanon County

1,930

Lehigh County

7,977

Luzerne County

5,072

Lycoming County

1,459

McKean County

362

Mercer County

825

Mifflin County

385

Monroe County

2,255

Montgomery County

21,264

Montour County

271

Northampton County

5,254

Northumberland County

981

Perry County

524

Philadelphia County

27,545

Pike County

635

Potter County

121

Schuylkill County

1,698

Snyder County

366

Somerset County

701

Sullivan County

47

Susquehanna County

311

Tioga County

536

Union County

431

Venango County

555

Warren County

383

Washington County

2,843

Wayne County

553

Westmoreland County

3,959

Wyoming County

236

York County

7,687

Other

4,894

Estimated Total

209,700

*All data is an estimated county by county breakdown based on applications from FY 2022 tax data. The information in this chart is from the Department of Revenue as of 12/29/2023.

**Data has been redacted to prevent disclosure of individual tax return information.

For more information about the Childcare and Dependent Care Tax Credit, visit pa.gov/childcaretaxcredit.

 

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