As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Roseville ranks the 169th largest city in the nation.
In Placer County, on the northeastern shoulder of the Sacramento metro, Bay Area equity refugees have produced a particular affluence. Roseville's $117,354 median household income is roughly $21,000 above California's, while its $23,277 infant center price stays close to the state median. The arithmetic clears: 19.8% of pretax pay to infant care, a 0.92 childcare-to-rent ratio, and the fourth-highest score among California's 54 measured cities. Mothers' LFP is 68.0%, above the state, and the single-parent share is 23.9%, well below it. The workforce wage of $17.45 an hour against a Placer living wage of $28.89 is a less brutal gap than coastal California's, though the same retention pressures — Amazon warehouses, hospital aide jobs at $20-plus — apply here as everywhere else in the state.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Score 60/100 (Moderate); ranked 50 nationally, #4 of 54 in California — Placer County, northeastern Sacramento suburb.
- $117,354 household income against $23,277 infant care — 19.8% of HHI, among California's lowest burdens; 0.92 childcare-to-rent.
- Establishment density 6.27 per 1,000 kids under 5 — well above national; family-strain 66.3, mothers' LFP 68.0%.
Actionable takeaways
- Bay Area equity migration powers Roseville's affordability. $117K HHI at the Sacramento metro's affluent edge is a direct artifact of households trading SF/SJ housing for Placer County tract homes — track Bay Area home-price moves as the leading indicator of Roseville's median income.
- Twin Elk Grove for Sacramento-suburb pattern. Both cities anchor the state's #2 and #4 California rankings on the same Sacramento-area infrastructure; comparing them isolates which factors are county-driven vs. city-driven.
- Placer County's 6.27-per-1,000 density is unusual for inland CA. Local supply has expanded with Bay Area in-migration; if migration slows, expect new center openings to follow within 18-24 months.
Affordability — 68/100
A year of center-based infant care in Roseville runs about $23,277 — roughly $1,940 a month, or 19.8% of the median household income of $117,354. That percentage puts Roseville among the most affordable major California cities in the index, even though the dollar price is only slightly below the state average of $23,760. The drivers are income (about $21,000 above California's median) and rent ($2,099 vs. the state's $1,956), which together produce a childcare-to-rent ratio of 0.92 — meaning monthly center care costs slightly less than monthly rent, an unusual relationship in California. Family childcare homes in Placer County average $15,506 a year for an infant, about $7,800 below center pricing. The lived implication: a Roseville family with one infant in licensed center care spends roughly $6,000 more per year than the national median, but earns about $39,000 more — leaving meaningful margin that families in most of inland California don't have.
Supply — 59/100
Placer County offers about 39 licensed slots per 100 children under five with working parents and roughly 6.27 establishments per 1,000 kids under five — one of the better supply profiles in inland California. Roseville sits at the affluent edge of the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom metro, and the local supply has expanded to meet steady demand from families relocating from the Bay Area for housing relief. The county is not classified as a childcare desert. Practical availability is tightest in infant rooms, as it is across the state.
Workforce — 44/100
The median childcare worker in the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom metro earns $17.45 an hour — about $36,290 a year, lower than the California metro average. That covers 60.4% of Placer County's living wage of $28.89 for a single adult. The workforce-health score of 43.8 is one of the better marks in the state because the wage-to-living-wage gap in the Sacramento area is narrower than in coastal California — but the same structural problem applies: turnover is high, and centers struggle to keep experienced lead teachers when retail and entry-level health-system jobs in the same metro pay comparably.
Family strain — 66.3/100
About 68.0% of Roseville mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — slightly above the national rate of 68.2% and well above California's 65.6%. The single-parent share is 23.9%, below the California average (29%) and the national rate (32%). Higher mothers' LFP combined with lower single-parent share signals a stable two-income household pattern that holds together in part because childcare costs, while real, do not consume the household budget the way they do in lower-income California cities.
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; Roseville inherits California's profile.
In-home care in Roseville
In-home care in Roseville typically reflects metro Sacramento nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running below Bay Area averages but above national medians. The supply pool draws partly from Sacramento and partly from a growing local roster as the city's affluent neighborhoods have expanded. Nanny shares are present but less common than in denser Bay Area cities. Au pair placements have a foothold in Placer County's higher-income households, though the broader Sacramento metro has fewer J-1 placements than coastal California.
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).