As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Hayward ranks the 164th largest city in the nation.

In Hayward, an East Bay city of 162,000 sandwiched between Oakland and Fremont, an infant in center care costs $28,536 a year — the highest county-level price in this California cohort and roughly $11,000 above the national figure. The same Bay Area conditions cut both ways. Childcare workers earn $21.62 an hour, the highest local prevailing wage in the cohort, lifting workforce health to 68.7 — the strongest workforce reading in the group. Alameda County's establishment density of 7.46 sites per 1,000 children under five is nearly double national. Mothers' LFP runs 69.7% and the single-parent share 27.4%, both better than state averages. The result is a Moderate-tier score of 56 and a national rank of 84 — high-cost equilibrium, not breakdown.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 56/100 (Moderate); ranked 84 nationally, #14 of 54 in California — East Bay, Alameda County, SF-Oakland-Fremont metro.
Infant center care $28,536 — highest in this cohort, 25.1% of $113,775 median household income; childcare 1.01 times annual rent.
Workforce $21.62/hour — highest local wage in cohort; workforce score 68.7, supply density 7.46 sites per 1,000 kids — both among California's best.

Actionable takeaways

High-cost equilibrium, not breakdown. Hayward shares the SF-Oakland-Fremont MSA price tag and inherits the same Bay Area wage premium — the unusual story is that the workforce side actually moves with the price side, lifting workforce health to a state-leading 68.7.
Alameda County density is a real cushion. 7.46 sites per 1,000 kids is nearly double the national figure; East Bay's mature center-and-FCC market across Hayward, San Leandro, and Fremont absorbs slot pressure that Inland Empire markets cannot.
Track healthcare/food-service minimum wage as a workforce floor. California's $20+ statewide healthcare and food-service wage anchors competing job offers — when those rise, expect Hayward childcare wages to follow within 12-18 months.

Affordability — 37/100

A year of infant center care in Alameda County runs $28,536 in 2025 — about $11,373 above the national figure of $17,163 and roughly $4,800 above California's statewide $23,760 — and lands at 25.1% of Hayward's $113,775 median household income. That income-burden ratio sits a hair above California's statewide 24.7% even with the city's well-above-state household income, which is the headline story of Bay Area childcare: prices have climbed faster than even the local wage premium. Toddler center care drops to $22,146; family-childcare-home rates run $21,066 for infants. Childcare runs 1.01 times annual rent here — essentially even with shelter cost — versus 1.06 nationally. For a Hayward family with one infant in full-time center care, that's about $2,378 a month against $2,360 in median rent. The combined housing-and-childcare line crosses $56,000 a year.

Supply — 63/100

Alameda County logs an estimated 42,877 licensed slots against 110,042 kids under 5 with working parents — about 39 slots per 100 such kids, the prevailing California ratio. The county's establishment density is unusually strong: 658 licensed providers translate to 7.46 sites per 1,000 children under 5, well above the 4.21 national density and California's 4.23 statewide. That site count reflects a mature center-and-home-based market across the East Bay, with concentrations in Hayward, Fremont, San Leandro, and the surrounding hill towns. The density is the structural reason Hayward's Supply score lands among the strongest in California despite the same statewide 35.8% gap between supply and BPC-modeled potential demand.

Workforce — 69/100

The median Bay Area childcare worker earns $21.62 an hour — about $44,970 a year — the highest local wage in this California 3 cohort and equal to 64.1% of the local single-adult living wage of $33.71. That ratio sits roughly four points above California's statewide 60.3% and a hair above the 62.6% national figure. About 5,760 workers show in OEWS for the local cell. The Bay Area's unusually high living wage threshold is offset, in this case, by an unusually high prevailing wage for childcare workers — partly an effect of California's $20+ statewide healthcare and food-service minimum wage anchoring competing job offers and partly a function of the East Bay's stronger licensed-center pipeline. The Workforce score of 68.7 is among the highest in California.

Family strain — 67.5/100

Mothers of kids under 6 work outside the home at a 69.7% rate in Hayward — about four points above California's statewide 65.6% and a touch above the national 68.2%. Single-parent share comes in at 27.4%, modestly below both California's 29.1% and the national 31.8%. The combination — high mothers' LFP and below-average single-parent share — reads as a dual-earner Bay Area family pattern in which both parents work because the income sustains the local cost of living. Seventy-one percent of Hayward kids under 6 are in households where all available parents work, which keeps demand for paid care effectively universal across the city.

Policy support — 56.2/100

California enrolls about 48% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K and 10% of 3-year-olds, spending roughly $15,192 per enrolled child and meeting 4.2 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks. The state's CCDF subsidy reaches 16.4% of eligible families and serves about 232,500 children a month. California's Paid Family Leave program, in effect since 2004, provides 8 weeks of leave at a 90% wage replacement rate for lower earners. Policy is measured at the state level; every California city in the index inherits the same 56.2 score.

In-home care in Hayward

In-home care in Hayward tracks the broader Bay Area nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running in line with the wider San Francisco-Oakland region and pulling toward the high end among the dual-income tech and healthcare professional households the city's $113,775 median income concentrates here. Nanny shares between two families are an established workaround for parents weighing single-family rates against center tuition that already crosses $28,500. Au pair placements through the State Department's J-1 program are a steady presence, particularly in households where parents commute across the bay and live-in flexibility offsets the long workday.

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.