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The Most (and Least) Expensive Counties for Infant Care

By Sharon Ben-Moshe ·

The most expensive U.S. county for infant care is San Francisco County, CA at $606.61 a week; the least expensive is Wayne County, KY at $90.47 a week — a gap of more than 6.7 times. Nine of the ten priciest counties sit in California, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., against a national median of $243.75 per week.

These figures come from the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP) — the 2022 dataset, the most recent NDCP release available as of this writing, and the same data that underlies every county and state page on this site. "Infant care" means full-time care for a child under age 1; "center-based" means a licensed childcare center, not a home-based provider or a nanny. We use this category for cross-county comparison because it is the most consistently reported figure in the DOL data and reflects licensed, full-time care rather than informal arrangements — the closest thing to an apples-to-apples price across very different parts of the country. Every number below is a real reported county median, not an average, an estimate, or a neighboring county's price standing in for a gap in the data.

This is a snapshot of the extremes at the county level. For the bigger picture on what a typical American family pays for infant, toddler, and school-age care nationwide, see our guide to the average cost of daycare in the U.S..

Key Takeaways

  • San Francisco County, CA is the most expensive county in the country for infant care at $606.61/week — 2.49 times the national median of $243.75/week.
  • Wayne County, KY is the least expensive at $90.47/week, just 37% of the national median.
  • California dominates the expensive end of the list, claiming six of the top 10 counties; Massachusetts and the Washington, D.C. metro area fill out the rest.
  • The cheapest counties are all rural, concentrated in Kentucky, South Carolina, and Kansas.
  • The gap between the cheapest and most expensive county is more than 6.7x — all for the same category of care: full-time, center-based infant care.

The 10 Most Expensive Counties for Infant Care

These are the 10 U.S. counties where a family paying for full-time, center-based infant care faces the highest weekly price, based on 2022 NDCP data:

At $606.61 a week, infant care in San Francisco costs a family $31,543.72 a year — more than double the $12,675 a typical U.S. family spends annually on infant care at the national median of $243.75/week.

The Least Expensive Counties for Infant Care

These are the counties where infant, center-based care costs the least, based on the same 2022 NDCP dataset:

At the other end of the scale, a family in Wayne County pays $90.47 a week, or $4,704.44 a year, for infant care — just 37% of the national median of $243.75/week.

Why the Price Gap Is So Wide

Two forces show up again and again in this list: cost of living and geography. The pattern at the top is consistent — every one of the 10 most expensive counties sits inside a major coastal metro area with a high overall cost of living. California accounts for six of the ten: San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties are all part of the San Francisco Bay Area, where housing costs and wages for childcare workers both run well above the national average. Suffolk and Norfolk counties, Massachusetts, cover the greater Boston area, while Arlington County, Virginia, and the District of Columbia sit inside the Washington, D.C. region. In each case, providers face the same rent, wages, and licensing costs that make housing expensive locally, and those costs show up directly in the weekly price of care.

The counties at the bottom of the list show the mirror image. Wayne County, Kentucky, and Barnwell County, South Carolina, are both rural counties, and the tied Kansas counties are all small, rural counties in the eastern half of the state. Lower populations, lower wages, and lower commercial rents in these areas correspond with lower prices for care, the same way they correspond with lower costs for housing and other local services nearby.

These are county-level figures, not state averages. A state can look moderate on paper even if it contains a few extremely expensive metro counties, or affordable even if a handful of rural counties sit far below the state number. For a state-by-state comparison, see our breakdown of childcare costs by state.

This pattern echoes something broader than childcare: metro areas with expensive housing tend to have expensive childcare too, because centers pay competitive wages to retain staff and pay rent like any other local business. It isn't unique to this industry — it's the general cost of living working through a different line of a family's budget.

One caveat worth stating plainly: these are county medians, not a promise of what any individual provider charges. Actual prices vary by provider within a county, and the DOL data reflects one point in time — the 2022 NDCP release, the most recent one published as of this writing.

Prices vary as much within a state as they do across the country. Browse our full directory of U.S. states and counties to find the exact weekly, monthly, and annual price of infant, toddler, and school-age care where you live — the difference between the cheapest and most expensive county nationwide is not a rounding error, it is roughly $4,700 versus $31,500 a year for the same category of care.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most expensive county in the U.S. for infant care?
San Francisco County, California is the most expensive county for infant care, with a median price of $606.61 per week for center-based care, according to 2022 NDCP data. That's about 2.49 times the national median of $243.75 per week, and more than $31,500 a year for one infant.
What is the least expensive county in the U.S. for infant care?
Wayne County, Kentucky has the lowest reported median price for infant, center-based care in the 2022 NDCP data, at $90.47 per week — about 37% of the national median of $243.75 per week. Barnwell County, South Carolina is the second cheapest at $93.88 per week.
Why is childcare so much more expensive in some counties than others?
The most expensive counties are almost all inside high-cost coastal metro areas — the San Francisco Bay Area, greater Boston, and Washington, D.C. — where housing, wages, and commercial rent all run above the national average. The least expensive counties are rural, where those same underlying costs are lower.
Which state has the most counties among the priciest for infant care?
California has six of the ten most expensive U.S. counties for infant care: San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Santa Clara, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties, all in the San Francisco Bay Area. Massachusetts (Suffolk and Norfolk counties), Virginia (Arlington County), and Washington, D.C. round out the top 10.
Are several counties tied for the third-cheapest spot?
Yes. Several rural Kansas counties — Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barber, Barton, Bourbon, Brown, and Chase — all reported an identical median price of $95.60 per week for infant, center-based care in the 2022 NDCP data, tying for third-cheapest rather than any single county holding that rank alone.
What dataset are these childcare prices from?
All prices come from the U.S. Department of Labor's Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP), 2022 vintage — the most recent release published as of this writing. Figures reflect the median weekly price for full-time, center-based infant care reported for each county.
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