Daycare in Old Town.

Old Town sits between Lincoln Park to the north and the Near North to the south, with the Old Town Triangle historic district at its core, the Wells Street corridor running through it, and Sedgwick and Clybourn forming its western edge. The neighborhood's brick and stone three-flats, the Crilly Court rowhouses, and the post-Cabrini-Green residential redevelopment shape a particular daycare market: long-running cooperative nursery schools, AMI Montessori houses inside converted parlor floors, and a thin layer of family child care homes constrained by the high share of condo and rental housing.

What you'll actually pay

In 2026 dollars, full-time center-based daycare in Old Town runs roughly $2,250 to $2,650 per month for infants and roughly $1,850 to $2,150 per month for preschool-age children, drawing on the National Database of Childcare Prices for Cook County and on Illinois Action for Children rate work for the Near North service area. DCFS Part 406 family child care homes price in the $1,500 to $1,700 per month range for infants, though family child care home supply is thinner than on the north side because much of Old Town's residential stock is condo and rental rather than two-flat. Nanny shares run $1,550 to $1,800 per child per month.

The infant premium tracks the Illinois ratio rule. Section 407.140 of 89 IAC sets the center infant ratio at one teacher to four children under 15 months, with a maximum group size of eight infants per room. Old Town's Wells Street commercial rent and the credentialed-infant-teacher labor pool push the infant rate well above the toddler rate at the same center, with a $400 to $600 monthly gap that closes when a room transitions to the toddler one-to-five ratio under 407.150.

CPS Pre-K, Lincoln Elementary, and the Ogden East branch

Old Town straddles two CPS attendance areas. The north end of Old Town falls inside the Lincoln Elementary attendance area at Kemper and Geneva, which is one of the most tightly drawn boundaries on the north side. The south end falls inside the Manierre Elementary and Newberry Math & Science Academy attendance areas. Ogden International School of Chicago operates an East Branch at Walton in the Gold Coast, which draws Old Town families on its citywide IB lottery. CPS Universal Pre-K is offered at neighborhood elementary schools and at community-based partner sites under the ISBE Preschool For All program.

Lincoln Elementary historically has not offered PFA Pre-K because the K-8 attendance demand fills the building, but a Pre-K seat does open in periodic years depending on enrollment. Manierre and Newberry run PFA Pre-K with seats subject to ISBE income eligibility. Three-year-old PFA seats are income-eligibility-based, with priority for children below 100 percent of the federal poverty level and for children with an IEP. Old Town families who want a guaranteed Pre-K-through-kindergarten path commonly choose a private nursery school for Pre-K and apply to Lincoln, Newberry, Manierre, or Ogden through the GoCPS attendance-area or magnet processes for kindergarten.

CCAP via Illinois Action for Children

Illinois' Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) is the state's CCDF voucher. CCAP covers families up to 225 percent of the federal poverty level under the 2024 Smart Start Illinois expansion. In Cook County, Illinois Action for Children is the intake agency. CCAP is meaningfully used in the south Old Town and Cabrini-Green redevelopment blocks; less so in the Old Town Triangle where the addresses skew toward dual-earner households above the income ceiling. CCAP can pay licensed centers, licensed family child care homes, and licensed-exempt relative caregivers under the state's rate schedule.

Federal credits and the Illinois stack

Three federal tools stack on top of any CCAP voucher or CPS Pre-K placement: the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit on IRS Form 2441, the Dependent Care FSA (up to $5,000 per family per year of pre-tax savings), and the federal Child Tax Credit. Illinois adds the state Earned Income Credit at a percentage of the federal EITC. A two-earner Old Town household paying the full private Triangle rate typically recovers $1,500 to $2,100 in combined federal tax savings on the $5,000 FSA alone, with additional savings via the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit and the state EITC depending on income.

Sample Old Town centers

Listings reflect editorial picks, not paid placements, and pricing is the licensed published rate before any CCAP voucher or federal and Illinois tax credit. Full Old Town listings directory is in progress.

Where to go next

Walk through the cost calculator to model your Old Town year with the FSA, the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit, and the Illinois stack factored in. Read our subsidized daycare explainer for how CCDF and PFA work nationally, the Chicago cost overview, the broader cost pillar, and our nanny-share guide if you're weighing that route through the infant year. For neighboring north-side pockets, see Lincoln Park daycare and Lakeview daycare, or step back to all Chicago.