ChildcareCost

King County, WA vs Essex County, MA

Side-by-side childcare cost comparison. Infant center care costs $478/wk in King County and $462/wk in Essex County.

MetricKing County, WAEssex County, MA
Infant Center (wk)$478$462
Infant Family (wk)$347$250
Toddler Center (wk)$390$409
Toddler Family (wk)$310$230
Preschool Center (wk)$390$310
Preschool Family (wk)$310$200
School-Age Center (wk)$289$215
School-Age Family (wk)$245$214
Median Income$116,340$94,378
Burden Index21.4%25.4%

Annual Cost Comparison (Infant Center)

King County
$24,879/yr
Essex County
$24,001/yr
Sources: DOL National Database of Childcare Prices
Last updated:

The side-by-side above pulls the the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices data for both entity A and entity B. What follows is the interpretation — which specific axes carry the most weight for entity A versus entity B, and which differences are large enough to influence a real decision.

Practical use of the comparison: read the data above, then drill into the individual entity A and entity B detail pages for the underlying breakdown. A pairwise comparison answers the relative question; the per-entity pages answer the absolute question.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau Childcare Prices, 2026.