As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Aurora ranks the 50th largest city in the nation.

Aurora's single-parent share — 34.7% of households with children — runs three points above the national average and tops every other Colorado city in this index. That demographic detail reshapes the affordability story. Center-based infant care in Arapahoe County runs about $22,000 a year, the Colorado state-average price, and consumes 26% of the city's $84,320 median household income. But for the single-parent third of Aurora households, that 26% of median income lands closer to 40% of an actual single earner's paycheck. The math becomes binary: subsidy, family help, or a forced step out of work. Colorado's CCDF subsidy reach covers just 12.7% of eligible families. Aurora ranks 153rd of 250 — eighth of nine Colorado cities.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

153rd nationally, score 47 (Strained) — eighth of nine Colorado cities.
34.7% single-parent share — the highest in the Colorado cohort and three points above the 31.8% national figure.
Infant care eats 26% of household income on state-average pricing; for single-parent households, that share lands closer to 40% of one earner's paycheck.

Actionable takeaways

Single-parent share is the buried lede. At 34.7% of households with kids, Aurora tops every Colorado peer and runs three points above national. Any local affordability story here should split the burden math by household type — averaging hides the binding constraint.
CCDF reach is the policy story. Colorado's subsidy reaches just 12.7% of eligible families, and Aurora has the highest share of households that would actually qualify. Most are on a waitlist or unaware they qualify — a reportable gap with named state and county touchpoints.
Pricing is a state-average estimate. Arapahoe County is not in the federal price database, so the $22,000 figure draws from the 2024 CCAoA Colorado survey forward-projected to 2025 — note this when comparing Aurora to peer cities with observed county data.

Affordability — 28/100

Center-based infant care in Aurora runs about $22,000 a year — roughly $1,840 a month, or 26% of the city's $84,320 median household income. The price is statewide-average pricing data: the U.S. Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices does not publish rates for Arapahoe County, so the figure draws from Child Care Aware of America's 2024 Colorado survey forward-projected to 2025. Aurora families pay roughly $4,860 more per year for an infant slot than the national median. Infant care marginally exceeds median monthly rent. The implication is sharper for Aurora's single-parent households — over a third of families with kids — for whom that 26% of median income lands closer to 40% of a single earner's actual paycheck.

Supply — 37/100

Aurora has roughly 40 licensed slots for every 100 kids under five with working parents — outside the technical childcare-desert range but far below the national 73 per 100. Arapahoe County licenses about 115 establishments serving an estimated 18,800 slots against demand from roughly 47,100 kids. Establishment density of 3.0 per 1,000 under-fives is the lowest in the Denver-metro cohort. Aurora's supply is not collapsing — it is structurally insufficient, in line with the broader Colorado pattern (37% statewide gap per the Bipartisan Policy Center). Families increasingly hold multiple waitlist spots from late pregnancy through the first year.

Workforce — 85/100

The median Aurora childcare worker earns $18.62 an hour, or about $38,720 a year — among the higher median wages in the national index. The workforce employment figures are reported at the Denver-Aurora MSA level, so Aurora's wage matches Denver's exactly. That same wage equals only 68% of MIT's living-wage threshold for the metro ($27.41/hr). The pattern is identical to Denver's: solid nominal wages, real shortfall against the local cost of living. Turnover pressure is a metro-wide problem, not an Aurora-specific one.

Family strain — 47/100

About 67% of Aurora mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — close to both the state and national norms. What pulls Aurora's family-strain score into the bottom half is the single-parent share: at 34.7%, it tops every other Colorado city in this index and runs roughly three points above the national average. With infant care taking a quarter of median income city-wide, the strain on Aurora's single-earner households is materially higher than headline numbers suggest. The math becomes binary — either subsidy, family help, or a forced step out of work.

Policy support — 65/100

Colorado's universal pre-K reaches about 70% of four-year-olds, with state per-child spending of $5,722 and 2 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks met. The state's FAMLI paid leave program, effective January 2024, offers up to 12 weeks at up to 90% wage replacement. CCDF subsidy reach is 12.7% statewide. For Aurora — given its single-parent concentration — that 12.7% subsidy reach is the most consequential policy number. Most income-eligible Aurora households remain on a waitlist or unaware. Policy is measured at the state level; Aurora inherits Colorado's full mix.

In-home care in Aurora

In-home care in Aurora reflects broader Denver-metro nanny-market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the wider Front Range market. Nanny shares — two families splitting one caregiver — have become more common across the eastern metro as a way to bring effective per-family rates closer to center prices. Au pair placements through J-1 sponsors offer dual-income households a flexible-hours alternative, though the all-in cost still puts in-home care out of reach for most single-earner households.

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; Child Care Aware of America 2024 state survey (Colorado pricing anchor); 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.