Förskola (municipal preschool, from age one) costs at most around 1,800 kronor a month for the first child, however much you earn. The fee is 3 percent of the household's income before tax up to a cap that Skolverket (the Swedish National Agency for Education) raises every year. Siblings cost less, child four is free, and from the autumn of the year your child turns three, 15 hours a week are free of charge.
The förskola fee is one of the few costs in the early years that is actually predictable. It follows a set of rules that is the same across the country, the maxtaxa (the national fee cap), and you can work it out in a minute if you know three things: the household income, how many children you have in förskola and fritids (after-school care), and what year it is.
Sunday evening, a flat in Sundbyberg. The förskola place is confirmed for February, the municipality's online service is asking for the household income, and you are sitting with two payslips and a parental benefit that changes in March, trying to work out what goes in the box. It is not hard, but nobody has explained it. This is how the fee is calculated, and how to avoid a backdated invoice two years from now.
How the fee is calculated
| Child | Förskola, percent of income | Maximum fee (2025) | Fritids, percent | Maximum fee fritids (2025) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child 1 (the youngest) | 3 % | 1,765 kr | 2 % | 1,176 kr |
| Child 2 | 2 % | 1,176 kr | 1 % | 588 kr |
| Child 3 | 1 % | 588 kr | 1 % | 588 kr |
| Child 4 and more | 0 % | 0 kr | 0 % | 0 kr |
If the household earns more than the cap, you pay the maximum fee. If you earn less, you pay the percentage of your actual income. A household with 40,000 kronor a month before tax and one child in förskola therefore pays 1,200 kronor.
What counts as income
- Salary before tax, including overtime, unsocial hours supplements and bonuses
- Parental benefit and sickness benefit
- Unemployment benefit and activity support
- Pension
- Business income for the self-employed
- Does not count: student finance, child allowance, housing allowance, maintenance support and income support
Both adults in the household count, including a partner who is not the child's parent. It is the household that pays, not the parenthood. If a partner moves in, the fee changes, and that must be reported.
How to report your income, and what happens if you do not
You enter your income in the municipality's online service when you accept the place, and update it every time it changes: a new salary, parental benefit coming to an end, a partner moving in or out. If you enter no income at all, the municipality sets the maximum fee. Many municipalities, including the City of Stockholm, check afterwards against the income assessed by Skatteverket (the Swedish Tax Agency) and send an invoice or a refund for the difference, often a couple of years later. It is not a penalty, it is a correction, but it arrives at an awkward moment.
What is free
- Allmän förskola (universal preschool). From the autumn term of the year your child turns three, every child is entitled to 525 free hours a year, in practice 15 hours a week during school terms. If your child attends more than that, you pay a fee for the rest, and many municipalities knock part of the fee off for three-year-olds and older. Read more in our guide to Allmän förskola.
- Child four and up. No fee.
- Öppen förskola (open preschool). Free, no enrolment, an adult comes along. See Öppen förskola in Stockholm.
Worked examples
| Family | Income/month before tax | Children | Fee/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two adults, one child at förskola | 70,000 kr | 1 | Maximum fee, around 1,800 kr |
| Two adults, two children at förskola | 70,000 kr | 2 | Around 1,800 + 1,200 = 3,000 kr |
| One adult, one child at förskola | 32,000 kr | 1 | 960 kr |
| Two adults, one at förskola and one at fritids | 70,000 kr | 2 | Förskola around 1,800 kr, fritids around 600 kr |
The percentages apply to the household's actual income up to the cap. A household above the cap always pays the maximum fee, whether its income is just above or far above. The youngest child is always child one, even if that is the one at fritids.
Five things that do not affect the fee
- Number of hours. In most municipalities, including Stockholm, the fee is the same for 20 hours a week as for 45. A few municipalities charge less for shorter hours, so check yours.
- Municipal or independent. Same maxtaxa, same cap.
- Which förskola. The popular one with a waiting list costs the same as the one with places available.
- Summer. The fee is paid twelve months a year, even when your child is off in July.
- Illness and absence. If your child is home for a month with chickenpox and a sibling who catches it, you still pay.
Separated parents: a split invoice
If your child alternates between two households, you can ask for a split invoice. Each household's income is then counted separately and each pays its own share, and a new partner's income only counts in the household where they live. It is done in the municipality's online service, and it is worth sorting out at the time of the separation rather than one parent paying and the other sending money by Swish. How childcare works when a child lives in two homes is covered in A nanny with shared custody.
Fritids after förskola
When your child starts förskoleklass (the preschool year at school, at age six), they move over to fritids, at 2 percent instead of 3 for the first child, as in the table above. The fritids place is not automatic; you apply through the municipality. How fritids works in practice is described in Fritids, and what happens around Starting school in Stockholm in a separate guide.
Förskola compared with a nanny
Förskola is almost always the cheapest option, and it is where most children should be. What it does not cover is the time after closing. A nanny who picks up from förskola and is at home two afternoons a week, three hours each time, costs around 4,300 kronor a month with us after RUT (the Swedish 50 percent tax deduction for household services, taken off the invoice directly). It is a complement, not an alternative, and that combination is what most of our families have. The full price picture is in our guide to How much does a nanny cost in Stockholm in 2026? and on the prices page.
How we do it with our families
Most of the families we work with have their children at förskola until four or five and a nanny who takes the rest of the afternoon. One of them lives in Bromma: two children at förskola, both parents commute into the city, the förskola closes at half past five and whoever does pick-up is home at quarter to six at the earliest. Since last autumn Nike has done pick-up on Tuesdays and Thursdays at four, walked home via the playground, started dinner and stayed until the parents get in at quarter past six. The förskola fee is exactly the same as before. What has changed is that those two days a week no longer end in a sprint. What it costs depends on the hours, from 165 kronor an hour after RUT, and we work out a quote for your hours at the free first meeting.
Would you like a nanny who comes the same days every week and whom the children know? Book a free first meeting with the nanny in your own home, and we will work out a quote for your hours.
Read more: Allmän förskola · Preschool in Stockholm · Fritids · Prices
Frequently asked questions
What is maxtaxa?
A cap on what a municipality may charge for förskola and fritids. The fee is a percentage of the household's income before tax, 3 percent for the youngest child in förskola, but never more than the amount that follows from the income cap. Skolverket raises the cap every year, and every municipality in Sweden applies the maxtaxa, for both municipal and independent förskolor.
What counts as income?
The household's combined gross income per month, that is, salary before tax, for both adults living at the address, whether or not they are the child's parents. Parental benefit, sickness benefit, unemployment benefit and pension are included. Student finance, child allowance, housing allowance and maintenance support are not. The self-employed enter their business income.
Is it cheaper with several children?
Yes. The youngest child counts as child one and costs the most, 3 percent of income. Child two costs 2 percent, child three 1 percent, and from the fourth child förskola is free. The sibling discount is counted across förskola and fritids together, so one child at fritids and one at förskola count as two children in the same household.
What happens if we entered the wrong income?
Municipalities check afterwards against the income assessed by Skatteverket and send an invoice or a refund for the difference. It can arrive two years later, so update your income in the online service every time it changes: a new salary, parental benefit coming to an end, a partner moving in. If you enter no income at all, the maximum fee is applied.
Is an independent förskola more expensive than a municipal one?
No. The maxtaxa applies to every förskola that receives municipal funding, both municipal and independent, so the fee is the same whichever förskola your child attends. What can differ is charges for things like outings or lunch in isolated cases, but the basic fee follows the same percentages and the same cap across the country.