As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Savannah ranks the 184th largest city in the nation.
More than three-quarters of Savannah mothers with children under six are in the workforce — 78.4%, the highest rate in this Georgia cluster and ten points above the national average. The city's tourism and hospitality economy creates demand for non-traditional-hours coverage that center-based care doesn't easily accommodate, and 56.9% of families with children are headed by a single adult. The structural soft spot is workforce. Savannah childcare workers earn $13.79 an hour — the highest nominal wage among Georgia's measured cities — but coastal Georgia's $25.05 single-adult living wage erases the advantage, leaving providers at 55% of what it costs to live in the metro. The workforce score lands at 8/100, bottom decile nationally.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Moderate-tier 60/100, ranked 48 of 250 — third in Georgia's five measured cities.
- Mothers' LFP 78.4% — highest in Georgia cluster, ten points above national rate; 78% of under-sixes have all parents working.
- Workers earn $13.79/hr — best nominal Georgia wage — but only 55% of a $25.05 living wage; workforce score 8, bottom decile.
Actionable takeaways
- Coastal Georgia's living wage erases Savannah's pay advantage. The $13.79/hr median is the highest in the GA cluster — but coastal cost-of-living ($25.05/hr LW) drops the ratio to 55%, worse than Augusta's 64.2% on identical nominal pay. The same dollar buys different lives in different parts of GA.
- Tourism economy is the under-told supply story. Hospitality and historic-district employment create non-traditional-hours childcare demand (evenings, weekends, split shifts) that the 76 licensed centers don't structure for. The 78% all-parents-working figure hides this hours-mismatch problem.
- Pair Savannah with Charleston SC for the coastal-tourism workforce comparison. Both metros face the same cost-of-living-erodes-nominal-pay problem — Savannah's GA pre-K floor vs. SC's policy environment is the natural cross-border experiment.
Affordability — 80/100
A typical Savannah family with one infant in center care spends about $9,915 a year, or 17.5% of the median Chatham County household income of $56,782. That sits modestly above the Georgia state average of 15.4% and well below the 21.9% national figure. Toddler and preschool slots run about $9,121, with family childcare home rates closer to $7,932. Childcare costs roughly 63 cents on the rent dollar against a median monthly rent of $1,302 — the lowest care-to-rent ratio of any Georgia city in this report.
The lived implication: a Savannah family with one infant in center care pays about $7,200 less per year than the national median tab. Lower absolute prices help, but with 57% of local families headed by a single parent, the price advantage gets absorbed by the income gap. Median Savannah household income runs about $22,000 below the national figure.
Supply — 68/100
About 51 licensed slots exist for every 100 kids under five with working parents in Chatham County, with 76 licensed establishments serving roughly 9,000 children under five — a density of 4.34 per 1,000, slightly above the national average of 4.21 and the state average of 4.36. The county is not classified as a childcare desert.
The implication for families: Savannah's supply picture is broadly mid-pack — adequate density, slot ratios in line with the rest of Georgia, no acute capacity crisis but no slack either. Statewide, Georgia's licensed slot count covers about 79% of potential demand, leaving a 21% gap that registers most acutely in infant rooms.
Workforce — 8/100
The median Savannah childcare worker earns $13.79/hr — the highest nominal wage among Georgia's cities in this report — but the local single-adult living wage runs $25.05/hr, putting workers at just 55.0% of a living wage. Coastal Georgia's higher cost of living erases the nominal pay advantage. About 1,120 people work in the field across the metro.
The implication is direct: a workforce earning roughly half of what it costs to live in Savannah is not a workforce that stays. Turnover degrades caregiver-child attachment and drives center owners toward either tuition increases or scaled-back hours. The Workforce Health score of 8/100 places Savannah in the bottom decile nationally on this dimension.
Family strain — 51/100
Savannah's mothers' labor force participation rate of 78.4% for those with kids under six is striking — about ten points above the national average and the highest in this Georgia cluster. Combined with a single-parent share of 56.9%, the picture is one of a workforce that has no off-ramp. 78% of Savannah children under six have all available parents working, the highest near-universal demand for non-parental care in the cluster.
The interpretation depends on perspective: that LFP rate could reflect a healthy local labor market and adequate childcare access, or it could reflect economic necessity in a metro where the median household income is $56,782 and mortgage/rent costs run higher than most of inland Georgia. The high single-parent share argues for the latter.
Policy support — 70/100
Georgia's lottery-funded universal Pre-K program enrolls 55% of four-year-olds, 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. 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 Savannah and the state's other metros.
In-home care in Savannah
In-home care in Savannah typically reflects coastal Georgia's nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running modestly above inland Georgia metros given the higher local cost of living, but below Atlanta's range. The city's tourism and hospitality economy creates demand for non-traditional-hours coverage that center-based care doesn't easily accommodate, which often steers families toward in-home arrangements or family childcare homes. Nanny shares are present in the historic district and Ardsley Park households where dual-income professional families try to bring in-home care closer to center-care economics.
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).