ChildcareCost

San Francisco County, CA vs Stearns County, MN

Side-by-side childcare cost comparison. Infant center care costs $607/wk in San Francisco County and $431/wk in Stearns County.

MetricSan Francisco County, CAStearns County, MN
Infant Center (wk)$607$431
Infant Family (wk)$395$143
Toddler Center (wk)$433$382
Toddler Family (wk)$369$132
Preschool Center (wk)$477$337
Preschool Family (wk)$410$132
School-Age Center (wk)$438$249
School-Age Family (wk)$433$127
Median Income$136,689$73,105
Burden Index23.1%30.6%

Annual Cost Comparison (Infant Center)

San Francisco County
$31,544/yr
Stearns County
$22,395/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.