Shelby County, TN
Infant daycare in Shelby County, TN costs $212 per week ($11,007 per year) for center-based care, and $155 per week for family daycare. With a median household income of $59,621, the childcare burden is 18.5% of income, well above the 7% threshold HUD considers affordable. This is above the national median of $174/wk.
Cost Breakdown by Age Group
| Age Group | Center/Wk | Center/Yr | Family/Wk | Family/Yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infant (0-1) | $212 | $11,007 | $155 | $8,060 |
| Toddler (1-2) | $146 | $7,610 | $128 | $6,670 |
| Preschool (3-5) | $146 | $7,610 | $128 | $6,670 |
| School-Age (6+) | $76 | $3,969 | $105 | $5,460 |
Shelby County Childcare FAQ
Center-based infant care in Shelby County costs $212 per week ($11,007 per year). Family-based infant care costs $155 per week ($8,060 per year). Data from the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices.
The Childcare Burden Index for Shelby County is 18.5%, rated "High". This means a family earning the median income of $59,621 would spend about 18.5% of their income on infant center-based childcare.
The national median weekly infant center care cost is $174. Shelby County at $212/wk is 22% above the national median. Annualized, infant center care in Shelby County costs $11,007 per year.
In Shelby County, TN, the most affordable option is typically family-based (home) daycare. Infant family daycare costs $155/wk compared to $212/wk for center-based. For preschool-age children, family daycare is $128/wk vs $146/wk at a center. School-age after-care is the least expensive category at $105/wk (family) or $76/wk (center).
Read the Tennessee guide
Statewide cost trends, subsidies, tax credits, daycare alternatives, and how to afford daycare in Tennessee.
Daycare Cost in Tennessee 2026: A Complete Guide for Parents →More Counties in TN
Childcare costs are weekly median prices from the DOL. Burden Index = annual infant center care / median household income.
The this entity record above pulls directly from the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices. What follows is the per-entity context — how this entity sits in the broader U.S. childcare prices distribution and which underlying factors drive the headline numbers.
The methodology behind every numeric value on this page is publicly documented on the the DOL National Database of Childcare Prices portal and described in detail on this site’s methodology page. Refresh cadence varies by underlying series; the page surfaces the as-of date for each number so readers can trace any figure back to the source release.
Practical use of this page is in combination with the comparison and ranking pages elsewhere on the site, which surface the same data for this entity’s peers within U.S. counties. A single-entity reading without peer context can be misleading when an entity is an outlier on one axis but typical on another.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau Childcare Prices, 2026.