I make much less now than I did as a teacher...but I have an MA degree so I made more money from the get-go than the other teachers I worked with. Plus at that time I was in TN so it was much better for living versus were I am now in CA.
When I worked at a center I made $13hr starting out and the cutoff they said would be $18 but after I had my son I couldn't find care....if I charged $13hr as home daycare NO ONE would come to me so I still make less than I did as either a teacher or center worker. I decided on infant only so I can only take 3 kids and even if I wasn't doing infant only I can only have 6 kids tops because of military housing rules and military housing doesn't allow you to get a large daycare license so there is no hope of expanding.