About ChildcareCost
What does childcare cost near you?
What we do
ChildcareCost surfaces federal childcare-price data at the county level so parents can compare what they pay to what their neighbors pay.
We focus on U.S. childcare prices by county and age group. Every page on childcarecost.org is built from the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices, cited and linkable so readers can trace any number back to its source.
Who this is for
ChildcareCost is built for expecting parents, working families, policy analysts, and HR benefits teams.
Why this exists
Public data on U.S. childcare prices by county and age group is technically free, but practically locked behind file formats, acronyms, and paywalled dashboards. ChildcareCostexists to close that gap: take the raw federal and public-sector data, and turn it into pages a normal person can read in thirty seconds.
How we work
- Primary source only. We pull from the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices and cite the exact dataset and version on every page.
- No invented numbers. If a figure is not in the underlying public data, it does not appear on childcarecost.org. We never generate synthetic statistics to fill gaps.
- Methodology, in plain English. We use the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices to surface county-level weekly prices for infant, toddler, preschool, and school-age care, broken out by center-based and family-based providers. Prices are shown both nominally and as a share of median household income in the same county.
- Refreshed on a schedule. Refreshed once per year when DOL publishes a new NDCP vintage, typically in the fall.
- Corrections welcome. Readers flag issues all the time. When the source fixes a record, ChildcareCost follows.
Known limitations
NDCP prices are modeled from state licensing records and surveys, not live rate sheets — actual tuition at a given provider may be 20-30 percent higher or lower. Coverage is strongest for counties with robust state childcare data and thinner for rural and territorial counties.
Independence
ChildcareCost is an independent publication. We are not funded, owned, or directed by any of the agencies, companies, or organizations that appear in our data. Hosting is paid for by advertising — see our Privacy Policy for details — and we do not take paid placements, sponsored rankings, or "remove-my-entry" fees.
History
ChildcareCost launched in 2026 as part of a small portfolio of independent public-data sites. It has been maintained and updated continuously since.
Contact
Tips, corrections, data-partnership questions, and press inquiries: [email protected]. More options on our contact page.