As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Augusta ranks the 127th largest city in the nation.
Augusta posts the highest score of any Georgia city in the index — 64/100, ranked 24th nationally — on the back of a workforce dimension that more than doubles Atlanta's. The mechanism is unglamorous. Median childcare worker pay in Augusta is $13.50 an hour, only marginally above Atlanta's, but the local single-adult living wage is just $21.02, so providers clear 64.2% of a living wage instead of 50.9%. Lower regional cost-of-living lets the same nominal dollar stretch further, which moderates turnover and stabilizes capacity. The structural counterweight sits in family structure: 63% of Augusta families with children are headed by a single adult, the highest concentration of family strain in the Georgia cluster.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Moderate-tier 64/100, ranked 24 of 250 — first in Georgia, ahead of Atlanta; workforce score 71 vs Atlanta's 2.
- Workers earn $13.50/hr at 64.2% of a $21.02 living wage — nine points above the Georgia state average.
- Single-parent share 63% — highest in the Georgia cluster, roughly double the 31.8% national average.
Actionable takeaways
- Augusta outranks Atlanta nationally on workforce — and the mechanism is cost-of-living math, not pay. Augusta workers earn $13.50/hr against a $21.02 living wage; Atlanta workers earn $13.69/hr against a $26.36 living wage. Same dollar pay, different lived experience — the South's clearest case for the wage-to-living-wage ratio mattering more than headline pay.
- Augusta-Richmond consolidated city-county geography simplifies the supply read. The 4.24 establishments per 1,000 children figure is the actual lived experience for Augusta families, not a city-core proxy hiding suburban capacity outside the line.
- The 63% single-parent share is the highest in the GA cluster and partially shapes the Fort Eisenhower-area service economy. Shift-work demand from the military installation pushes families toward FCC and in-home care that center-based reports don't capture.
Affordability — 69/100
A typical Augusta family with one infant in center care spends about $9,915 a year — among the lowest sticker prices in the country. Against the median Richmond County household income of $53,134, that works out to 18.7% of pretax earnings, modestly above Georgia's 15.4% state average but well below the 21.9% national figure. Toddler and preschool slots run about $9,121, and family childcare home care drops further to $7,932 for infants. Childcare costs roughly 76 cents on the rent dollar against a $1,087 median monthly rent, lighter than the national pattern.
The lived implication: an Augusta family with one infant in center care pays about $7,200 less per year than the national median tab. But the city's lower household income narrows that gap, and for the 63% of Augusta families headed by a single parent, the math gets significantly tighter at any price point.
Supply — 66/100
About 51 licensed slots exist for every 100 kids under five with working parents in Richmond County. Augusta has 57 licensed establishments serving roughly 13,300 children under five — a density of 4.24 per 1,000, almost identical to the national average of 4.21. The county is not a formal childcare desert, but it sits squarely in the middle of the supply distribution: enough capacity to keep most working families covered, not enough to absorb a demand shock or shorten waitlists for specific care types.
Statewide, Georgia's licensed slot count covers about 79% of potential demand, leaving a 21% gap. Augusta's establishment density holds up against the state average of 4.36 per 1,000 children under five.
Workforce — 71/100
This is what lifts Augusta above its Georgia peers. The median childcare worker earns $13.50/hr — only marginally higher than Atlanta in dollar terms — but Augusta's living-wage threshold is just $21.02/hr, so local workers clear 64.2% of what it takes to support themselves. That is roughly nine points above the Georgia state average and within reach of the national 62.6% benchmark. Augusta employs about 1,980 childcare workers across 57 licensed sites.
The implication is real: lower regional cost-of-living lets the same nominal wage stretch further, which moderates turnover and makes the field more sustainable than in higher-cost Georgia metros. Augusta's workforce score is one of the rare bright spots in the South.
Family strain — 37/100
Augusta's single-parent share of 63.0% is roughly double the national average of 31.8% and is the most concentrated family-strain signal in this Georgia cluster. Mothers' labor force participation for those with kids under six runs 71.8%, slightly above the state and national rates. With 72% of Augusta children under six having all available parents in the workforce, demand for care is near-universal — but the absence of a second earner in the majority of households magnifies every dollar of childcare cost and every gap in supply.
Policy support — 70/100
Georgia's Pre-K program enrolls 55% of four-year-olds through its lottery-funded universal model, with state spending around $6,400 per child and eight of ten NIEER quality benchmarks met. The state CCDF subsidy reaches 36.6% of eligible children — above the typical state pattern. Georgia offers no paid family leave and no three-year-old Pre-K access. Policy is measured at the state level and applies equally across Augusta and the state's other metros.
In-home care in Augusta
In-home care in Augusta typically reflects the Central Savannah River Area nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running noticeably below Atlanta's range — broadly in line with the lower-cost regional pattern across non-metro Georgia. With a high single-parent share and a meaningful Fort Eisenhower military population in the area, demand patterns include shift-work coverage that center-based care doesn't easily accommodate, which often pushes families toward in-home or family-childcare-home arrangements rather than traditional daycare.
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).