Childcare cost by county
Full-time childcare prices for your county, at centers and in family childcare homes, from infants to school age. From the U.S. Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices.
2022 prices (earlier where a state has no 2022 data) · Checked October 2026
Short answer
Look up your county
Full-time prices at centers and in family childcare homes, infant to school age.
National median, infant care at a center
$12,647a year
$243 a week · 2022
Highest state medians
Lowest state medians
Tap a state to see its counties.
Infant care prices by state
Median full-time price for one infant, by state. Tap a state to look up its counties, or a column heading to sort.
| District of Columbia | $490 | $25,480 |
| Massachusetts | $462 | $24,001 |
| Minnesota | $390 | $20,280 |
| California | $379 | $19,719 |
| Colorado | $377 | $19,625 |
| Hawaii | $366 | $19,020 |
| Alaska | $362 | $18,819 |
| Washington | $357 | $18,580 |
| Connecticut | $350 | $18,200 |
| Oregon | $329 | $17,131 |
| Maryland | $327 | $17,024 |
| New Jersey | $314 | $16,314 |
| Vermont | $313 | $16,282 |
| New Hampshire | $300 | $15,603 |
| New York | $300 | $15,600 |
| Ohio | $295 | $15,340 |
| Wisconsin | $293 | $15,236 |
| Rhode Island | $290 | $15,059 |
| Delaware | $280 | $14,575 |
| Illinois | $278 | $14,473 |
| Nevada | $276 | $14,333 |
| Arizona | $270 | $14,040 |
| Virginia | $247 | $12,829 |
| Nebraska | $244 | $12,675 |
| Maine | $230 | $11,960 |
| Utah | $226 | $11,766 |
| Florida | $225 | $11,700 |
| Montana | $221 | $11,482 |
| Pennsylvania | $218 | $11,331 |
| Oklahoma | $215 | $11,204 |
| Missouri | $215 | $11,177 |
| North Dakota | $214 | $11,118 |
| Tennessee | $212 | $11,007 |
| Georgia | $205 | $10,660 |
| North Carolina | $203 | $10,531 |
| South Carolina | $199 | $10,344 |
| Texas | $185 | $9,620 |
| Michigan | $173 | $9,006 |
| West Virginia | $167 | $8,709 |
| Idaho | $166 | $8,653 |
| Iowa | $166 | $8,631 |
| Wyoming | $161 | $8,381 |
| Kansas | $157 | $8,181 |
| Louisiana | $153 | $7,973 |
| Kentucky | $151 | $7,868 |
| South Dakota | $150 | $7,800 |
| Arkansas | $148 | $7,670 |
| Alabama | $136 | $7,073 |
| Mississippi | $119 | $6,171 |
| Indiana | No data | – |
| New Mexico | No data | – |
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Data as of October 2026.
- Many county prices are DOL estimates. 1,947 of 2,817 county infant-center prices were estimated by DOL from the trend between survey years, and 180 were modeled from statewide data. They are provider prices before any subsidy, in nominal dollars.
- States with gaps. Indiana and New Mexico have no county prices in the federal database. Arkansas (2021), Missouri (2020), Pennsylvania (2020) and Vermont (2021) use their most recent earlier year. Alaska has prices for 8 of 30 counties. Missouri has prices for 7 of 115 counties.
Questions about childcare costs
How much does childcare cost a month?
In 2022, the national median price for full-time infant care at a childcare center was $243 a week, about $12,647 a year or $1,054 a month. Prices run much higher in some counties and states: the District of Columbia's median was $25,480 a year, Mississippi's $6,171.
Is home daycare cheaper than a center?
Usually, for infants. In 2,421 of the 2,706 counties that report both prices, the median for infant care in a family childcare home was lower than at a center. Look up your county above to compare the two side by side.
Why are the prices from 2022?
2022 is the most recent year in the U.S. Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices. Prices have risen since: the consumer price index for day care and preschool rose 22.5% from August 2022 to August 2026. Treat these figures as a floor, and call two or three providers for current rates.
Do these prices include subsidies?
No. They are what providers charge, from state market-rate surveys, before any childcare subsidy, Head Start or employer benefit.
Plan for childcare costs
How much does childcare cost? Daycare prices by stateFull-time childcare for one child cost $6,552 to $15,600 a year in 2022, per federal data. See daycare prices by state and the 2026 ways to pay less.
Night nurse cost: what overnight newborn care costsMost night nurses are night nannies or newborn care specialists at about $22 to $35 an hour. See per-night costs, nanny taxes and what insurance won't pay.
Postpartum doula cost: hourly, overnight and packagesPostpartum doulas charge about $25 to $50 an hour, more for overnights. See package math, Medicaid visit rates by state, and ways to pay less.How we built this
Where the prices come from
County prices come from the U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP), 2008-2022 file, which DOL built from state childcare market-rate surveys. We use the NDCP's weekly full-time median prices for centers and for family childcare homes ("home"), each for infants (0 to 23 months), toddlers (24 to 35 months), preschoolers (36 to 54 months) and school-age children. Each state uses its most recent study year with county prices: 2022 for most states, an earlier year where the NDCP has no 2022 prices (the state table shows each state's year).
Prices are in that year's dollars and are not adjusted for inflation; the NDCP does not publish inflation-adjusted prices. Annual figures are the weekly price x 52. State medians are DOL's own state-level estimates for the same year (NDCP State-Level Estimates 2022 file, which DOL computes from county prices and county child-population estimates); where DOL has none, we compute a median weighting each county by its households with children under 6, which reproduces DOL's figure for 43 of 49 states.
The national figure is that weighted median across all counties with 2022 prices. DOL imputed some county prices: it converted hourly, daily or monthly survey prices to weekly, modeled county prices from statewide figures, filled missing age groups, and estimated years with no survey from the price trend between survey years (NDCP technical report, September 2024). Many 2022 county prices are such estimates; per-state counts of modeled and estimated infant center prices are included.
Market-rate surveys measure what providers charge, not what families pay after subsidies.
2,817
counties with a center infant price
NDCP, 2022 or latest
49
states and DC with county prices
NDCP
$243
national weekly median for center infant care, 2022
Weighted by households with children under 6
22.5%
rise in the day care and preschool price index, August 2022 to August 2026
BLS
Sources
- 1.National Database of Childcare Prices: 2008-2022 (Data File) U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 2.National Database of Childcare Prices: State-Level Estimates and Affordability Rankings 2022 U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 3.National Database of Childcare Prices Technical Report (September 2024) U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 4.National Database of Childcare Prices U.S. Department of Labor, Women's Bureau. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 5.Consumer Price Index, Day care and preschool, U.S. city average (series CUUR0000SEEB03) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.