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

Harrisburg, PA – 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 County1,360
Allegheny County17,161
Armstrong County492
Beaver County1,574
Bedford County451
Berks County7,637
Blair County1,535
Bradford County796
Bucks County13,730
Butler County2,830
Cambria County1,282
Cameron County**
Carbon County704
Centre County2,146
Chester County11,603
Clarion County365
Clearfield County788
Clinton County401
Columbia County744
Crawford County669
Cumberland County4,544
Dauphin County4,625
Delaware County13,137
Elk County314
Erie County2,998
Fayette County945
Forest County**
Franklin County2,056
Fulton County78
Greene County199
Huntingdon County285
Indiana County619
Jefferson County458
Juniata County144
Lackawanna County2,669
Lancaster County7,657
Lawrence County607
Lebanon County1,930
Lehigh County7,977
Luzerne County5,072
Lycoming County1,459
McKean County362
Mercer County825
Mifflin County385
Monroe County2,255
Montgomery County21,264
Montour County271
Northampton County5,254
Northumberland County981
Perry County524
Philadelphia County27,545
Pike County635
Potter County121
Schuylkill County1,698
Snyder County366
Somerset County701
Sullivan County47
Susquehanna County311
Tioga County536
Union County431
Venango County555
Warren County383
Washington County2,843
Wayne County553
Westmoreland County3,959
Wyoming County236
York County7,687
Other4,894
Estimated Total209,700

*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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