New Mexico made childcare free. It lifted 120,000 people above the poverty line

Pre-K students do a drawing activity at Mis Conejitos in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 27 March 2025. Photograph: Isabel Miranda/The Guardian

There was a moment, just before the pandemic, when Lisset Sanchez thought she might have to drop out of college because the cost of keeping her three children in daycare was just too much.

Even with support from the state, she and her husband were paying $800 a month – about half of what Sanchez and her husband paid for their mortgage in Las Cruces, New Mexico.