ChildcareCost

Suffolk County, MA vs Stearns County, MN

Side-by-side childcare cost comparison. Infant center care costs $590/wk in Suffolk County and $431/wk in Stearns County.

MetricSuffolk County, MAStearns County, MN
Infant Center (wk)$590$431
Infant Family (wk)$320$143
Toddler Center (wk)$493$382
Toddler Family (wk)$280$132
Preschool Center (wk)$350$337
Preschool Family (wk)$250$132
School-Age Center (wk)$224$249
School-Age Family (wk)$250$127
Median Income$87,669$73,105
Burden Index35.0%30.6%

Annual Cost Comparison (Infant Center)

Suffolk County
$30,680/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.