Note: This is Glendale, Arizona — the West Valley suburb of Phoenix in Maricopa County. Not to be confused with Glendale, California in Los Angeles County.
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Glendale ranks the 90th largest city in the nation.
In Glendale, the affordability strain is exiting the labor force quietly. Only 60.7% of mothers with children under six work — seven points below the national rate and the lowest figure in the Arizona index — even as 36.9% of households with kids under 18 are headed by a single parent, well above the national 31.8%. The pressure point is arithmetic: Maricopa County's standard $17,063 infant-care bill against Glendale's $70,139 median household income, the lowest of any Phoenix-area city, eats 24.3% of pre-tax earnings. That is the heaviest in-metro burden, and it is converting into labor-force exits rather than budget complaints.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Ranked 196 of 250, score 43 (Strained); 9th of 10 in Arizona, second-lowest in the state.
- Infant center care eats 24.3% of pre-tax household income — heaviest in-metro burden, on a $70,139 median income that is Phoenix-area's lowest.
- Mothers' LFP just 60.7% — seven points below national, lowest in Arizona; affordability is converting into labor-force exits.
Actionable takeaways
- Cover this as a labor-force-exit story, not a price story. Glendale's mothers' LFP at 60.7% is the lowest in Arizona — seven points below national — and the gap shows what the affordability burden looks like when measured in dropouts rather than dollar bills.
- Compare to Peoria next door. Same West Valley geography and Maricopa supply, but Peoria's $93,403 median income produces an 18.3% burden against Glendale's 24.3% on the identical $17,063 bill — the income gap is the most actionable variable.
- Track FCC home capacity in the West Valley. Family childcare homes at $7,584 cut the bill by more than half, but the West Valley historically runs thinner than the East Valley — licensing data on home-based providers would tell whether the labor-force trend can reverse.
Affordability — 33/100
Center-based infant care in Maricopa County costs roughly $17,063 a year — the same Maricopa-wide price tag every Phoenix-area family faces. Against Glendale's $70,139 median household income — the lowest of any Phoenix-area city in the index — that's 24.3% of pre-tax earnings for a single child in care, well above the federal 7% affordability threshold and harder to absorb than in Mesa, Tempe, or even Phoenix proper. A typical Glendale family with one infant in center care spends roughly $1,100 more per year than the Arizona statewide average and pays nearly a quarter of its pre-tax income for a single line item. Family childcare homes at $7,584 a year cut the bill by more than half, but supply is constrained and waitlists are long across the West Valley.
Supply — 39/100
Maricopa County operates roughly 51 licensed slots per 100 kids under 5 with working parents — about a third short of the national 73-per-100 benchmark. Glendale shares the county's establishment density of 2.1 providers per 1,000 kids under 5, half the national rate of 4.2. The West Valley has historically been less center-dense than the East Valley, with a higher share of family childcare homes and informal arrangements absorbing demand. Statewide, Arizona's 3.9/100 Supply score is the worst in the country — Glendale families compete in the same constrained pool as the rest of the metro.
Workforce — 89/100
Maricopa childcare workers earn a median $17.41 an hour, or about $36,220 a year — 68.4% of the local single-adult living wage of $25.47. Workers earn more here than the national childcare-worker median of $15.41 in absolute terms but cannot independently afford to live in the metro they serve. Glendale's lower local rents make staying in the field marginally easier than in higher-cost Phoenix-area suburbs, but the underlying retention math remains hard.
Family strain — 29.5/100
About 60.7% of Glendale mothers with kids under 6 are in the labor force — about 7 percentage points below the national rate of 68.2% and the lowest of any Arizona city in the index. The single-parent share is 36.9%, well above the 31.8% national rate. The combination — high single-parent share, lower-than-average mothers' LFP, and the heaviest in-state cost burden — points to a city where a meaningful share of would-be working parents are quietly opting out because the math doesn't work. Family Strain at 29.5 captures that pressure: this is a city where the affordability gap is converting into labor-force exits, not just budget stress.
Policy support — 35.1/100
Arizona enrolls 4% of its 4-year-olds in state-funded pre-K and 3% of 3-year-olds — both near the bottom nationally. The state spends $7,972 per enrolled child but meets only 3 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks. There is no state paid family leave program. CCDF subsidies reach about 23.2% of eligible Arizona children. Glendale inherits this score at the state level. For a city with the heaviest in-metro cost burden and the lowest mothers' LFP, the absence of strong public childcare infrastructure lands harder than it does in Gilbert or Scottsdale.
In-home care in Glendale
In-home care in Glendale typically reflects West Valley nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running modestly below the East Valley — generally in the low $20s per hour for experienced caregivers. Nanny shares are an increasingly common adaptation as families pool resources to bring per-family costs below center prices. Au pair placements through J-1 sponsor agencies remain a smaller share of the market than in higher-HHI Phoenix suburbs, given that Glendale's median household income makes the all-in $30,000-plus annual cost a stretch for the families who would most benefit.
Methodology: The the score is a 0-100 composite score across five dimensions: Affordability (30 pts), Supply (25 pts), Workforce Health (15 pts), Family Strain (15 pts), and Policy Support (15 pts). City-level prices and supply use the city's primary containing county. Policy Support is measured at the state level. Full methodology and data sources: beverly.io/research/methodology.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimates; U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau National Database of Childcare Prices; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS (May 2024) and QCEW; Buffett Early Childhood Institute / Bipartisan Policy Center / Child Care Aware childcaregap.org (Sept 2025); NIEER State of Preschool Yearbook 2024; HHS ACF CCDF FY2023; National Partnership for Women & Families (March 2026).