As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Pasadena ranks the 206th largest city in the nation.

Pasadena — distinct from the Houston suburb that shares its name — anchors the northeastern corner of LA County with Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Huntington Hospital cluster. The professional density would, in another metro, produce affordability at the top of the index. It does not. A $103,778 median household income meets a $24,254 LA County infant-care price; childcare consumes 23.4% of pretax pay, just under California's, and runs 0.91 times rent. Mothers' LFP runs 67.2%, near national; the single-parent share, 30.3%, sits a hair above California's. The city scores 49 — Strained tier — and ranks 30th of 54 in California, a reminder that the LA County cost stack has compressed faster than even the salaries of research scientists and physicians.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 49/100 (Strained); ranked 139 nationally, #30 of 54 in California — distinct from Pasadena, Texas; Caltech / JPL / Huntington Hospital corridor.
LA County $24,254 infant tuition — 23.4% of $103,778 household income; childcare 0.91 times annual rent.
Single-parent share 30.3% — slightly above state's 29.1%; mothers' LFP 67.2%, family-strain score 57.5.

Actionable takeaways

Distinct from Pasadena, TX — verify before publishing comparisons. California Pasadena anchors LA County's Caltech/JPL/Huntington Hospital cluster; the Texas Pasadena (Houston suburb) runs a wholly different price and policy environment. Cross-state confusion is a frequent error.
Caltech/JPL cluster sets a 12-month-plus infant waitlist baseline. Research-and-medical-cluster families begin searching during pregnancy; the most-sought centers run rolling 12+ month waitlists — worth a call to PUSD-adjacent centers as a confirming data point.
Single-parent share 30.3% is the structural drag. Higher than peer affluent suburbs (Torrance 17.4%, Orange 26.2%); the metric correctly captures why mid-six-figure professional density doesn't lift Pasadena into the Moderate tier.

Affordability — 51/100

A year of center-based infant care in Pasadena runs about $24,254 — roughly $2,020 a month, or 23.4% of the median household income of $103,778. The childcare-to-rent ratio is 0.91, with median rent at $2,218 — monthly center care runs slightly under monthly rent, the marker of a household budget under steady pressure but not breaking. The California average burden is 24.7% and the national median is 21.9%. Family childcare homes drop the price to $15,695. The lived implication: a Pasadena family with one infant in licensed center care spends roughly $7,000 more per year than the national median, with about $25,000 more in income to absorb it. Pasadena's specific challenge is the gap between its income profile (mid-six-figure professional) and the cost stack of housing-plus-childcare in northeastern LA County, which has compressed faster than wages.

Supply — 42/100

Los Angeles County offers about 39 licensed slots per 100 children under five with working parents, with roughly 3.88 establishments per 1,000 kids under five. Pasadena's San Gabriel Valley position keeps it within reach of supply across northern LA submarkets, with several long-standing centers anchored to the city's universities, hospitals, and research institutions. The county is not classified as a childcare desert. Infant rooms remain the tightest constraint, and waitlists at the most-sought centers regularly exceed twelve months. Caltech and JPL families in particular tend to begin searching during pregnancy.

Workforce — 38/100

The median childcare worker in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro earns $18.30 an hour — about $38,070 a year. That covers 59.4% of LA County's living wage of $30.79 for a single adult. Pasadena's local cost of living runs higher than the LA County average, which means area providers face a worse practical wage-to-cost gap than the metro figure suggests. Centers near Caltech and Huntington Hospital report consistent turnover at the lead-teacher level, with experienced staff routinely lost to PUSD transitional kindergarten roles or to private-school early-elementary positions where compensation runs materially higher.

Family strain — 57.5/100

About 67.2% of Pasadena mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — close to the national rate of 68.2% and above California's 65.6%. The single-parent share is 30.3%, just above the California average (29%) and slightly below the national rate (32%). The combination produces a moderate family-strain profile — not as resilient as Torrance or Orange in this cohort, but more stable than the cities where lower mothers' LFP and higher single-parent shares compound. Pasadena's professional density (research scientists, physicians, university faculty) tends to support sustained dual-career patterns through the early-childhood years, but the city's higher single-parent share than its peer affluent suburbs adds a structural drag the metric correctly captures.

Policy support — 56.2/100

California enrolls 48% of four-year-olds in state pre-K, spends $15,192 per child served, and meets 4.2 of NIEER's ten quality benchmarks. The state's CCDF subsidy reaches 16.4% of eligible children. California Paid Family Leave provides 8 weeks at 90% wage replacement. Policy support is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Pasadena

In-home care in Pasadena typically reflects metro Los Angeles nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running above the LA County median given the city's professional density (research scientists, physicians, university faculty) and dual-career household share. Nanny shares are common in Pasadena's denser professional neighborhoods. Au pair placements have a steady, established presence in the city's affluent corridors — historically one of the higher-uptake submarkets for J-1 placements in LA County.

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.