As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Anaheim ranks the 56th largest city in the nation.

Disneyland and the surrounding hospitality cluster generate substantial demand for non-traditional-hours care that Anaheim's licensed centers — running roughly 7am to 6pm — cannot meet. The mismatch shows up in waitlists and family scheduling pressure no center fix can fully resolve. The price tag is Orange County's standard $24,741 a year for infant center care, consuming 27.3% of Anaheim's $90,583 median household income. Family child care homes at $18,214 a year sit only $6,500 below center care — the narrowest gap in California's largest cities, a marker of OC's licensing and real-estate cost structure pushing home-based providers toward center pricing. Mothers' labor force participation runs 66.7%, near the national rate, on a workforce earning 59% of the local living wage.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Ranked 201 of 250, score 42 (Strained); OC's flagship city, one of California's most service-economy-dependent workforces.
Infant center care eats 27.3% of pre-tax income; OC tourism creates non-traditional-hours demand centers cannot meet.
Family child care homes at $18,214 sit only $6,500 below center care — the narrowest gap in the California cluster.

Actionable takeaways

Lead with the Disneyland non-traditional-hours story. The hospitality-and-tourism employer base generates evening, overnight, and weekend childcare demand the licensed center system — running 7am to 6pm — cannot meet, and that mismatch shows up in scheduling pressure no center fix resolves.
Compare to Irvine and Santa Ana within OC. All three cities pay the identical $24,741 county bill; Irvine absorbs it at 19.1% of income, Anaheim at 27.3%, and Santa Ana at 28% — the cleanest in-county wealth-to-burden gradient in California.
Watch the FCC home pricing convergence. Family child care homes at $18,214 sit only $6,500 below center care — the narrowest gap in the California cluster, a marker of OC's licensing and real-estate cost structure pushing home-based providers toward center pricing.

Affordability — 34/100

A typical Anaheim family with one infant in center-based care pays $24,741 a year — Orange County's average — and 27.3% of the city's $90,583 median household income. That's a meaningfully better cost-burden percentage than Los Angeles (30.2%) thanks to higher OC incomes, but more than four times the federal 7% benchmark. Family child care homes cost $18,214 — only $6,500 cheaper than center care, the narrowest such gap among California's largest cities and a reflection of OC's high licensing and real-estate cost structure pushing home-based providers closer to center pricing. The childcare-to-rent ratio of 0.99 means monthly infant care nearly matches Anaheim's $2,082 median gross rent.

Supply — 36/100

Orange County contains an estimated 81,972 licensed slots against 210,380 children under five with working parents — 39 slots per 100 working-parent kids, the same California pattern. Establishment density at 3.52 per 1,000 children under five is below the state average of 4.23. Anaheim's particular supply picture is shaped by the city's tourism and entertainment economy: Disneyland and the surrounding hospitality cluster generate significant demand for non-traditional-hours care that traditional centers, which run roughly 7am-6pm, cannot meet. That mismatch shows up in waitlists and in family scheduling pressure that no center fix can fully resolve.

Workforce — 38/100

The median Anaheim childcare worker earns $18.30 an hour, or $38,070 a year — the LA-OC metro median, which Anaheim shares. That's 59.4% of the local single-adult living wage of $30.79. With centers competing against Disneyland, the convention center, hotels, and the broader OC service economy for the same entry-level workers, the wage math becomes a binding constraint. The Workforce Health subscore of 38/100 reflects what center directors across the metro describe as classroom closures driven not by lack of demand but by inability to staff at offered wages.

Family strain — 54/100

Mothers' labor force participation among Anaheim women with children under six is 66.7% — slightly below the national 68.2% but above California's 65.6%. Single parents head 30.6% of family households with kids — close to the national 31.8% and slightly above California's 29.1%. The Family Strain subscore of 54/100 captures Anaheim's distinctive demographic mix: a more diverse income profile than coastal Orange County, with a meaningful share of households whose schedules don't align to standard center hours.

Policy support — 56/100

Inherited from California. The state enrolls 48% of 4-year-olds in publicly funded pre-K and spends $15,192 per child. CCDF subsidies reach 16.4% of eligible children. Paid family leave provides 8 weeks at 90% wage replacement. Policy is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Anaheim

In-home care in Anaheim typically reflects metro-wide Orange County nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running in the broader LA-OC range. The city's tourism and entertainment economy creates real demand for caregivers who can work non-standard hours — evenings, overnights, and weekends — which traditional centers cannot accommodate. Nanny shares are common in surrounding OC communities, and au pair placements through State Department-designated J-1 sponsors offer another option for families with a spare bedroom.

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).

Methodology. The State of Childcare Index 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). Each dimension draws on publicly available federal data: U.S. Census ACS (5-year), DOL Women's Bureau NDCP, BLS OEWS and QCEW, the Buffett/BPC/CCAoA childcaregap.org dataset, NIEER State of Preschool, and HHS ACF CCDF reports. 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: /research/methodology.