As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Boise ranks the 96th largest city in the nation.

In most American cities, the question is how much pain a family takes from infant-care costs. In Boise, the question is how the system manages to deliver care at this price. Ada County center-based infant care runs $13,633 a year — about $3,500 below the national median, and 17% of the local $81,308 median household income — making Boise the cleanest cost-to-wage tradeoff in this index. The arithmetic runs on the workforce: childcare workers here earn a median $14.24 an hour, just 58% of the local living wage. Idaho is one of a handful of states with no public pre-K and no paid family leave. The only Idaho city in the index, Boise ranks 62nd of 250.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

62nd nationally, score 58 (Moderate) — the only Idaho city in the 2026 index.
Center-based infant care runs $13,633 — 21% below national median, lifting Idaho to 5th nationally for affordability.
The flip side: childcare workers earn $14.24/hr — 58% of the local living wage and one of the lowest workforce scores in the index.

Actionable takeaways

Boise is the cleanest cost-to-wage tradeoff in the country. At $13,633 a year for infant care against an $81,308 median income — and infant tuition running below median rent — Boise is one of the few large cities where the family-side math actually works. The contrast against Seattle, Portland, or even Salt Lake is the local angle.
The affordability flywheel runs on the workforce. Idaho providers can charge $13,600 because they pay teachers $14.24/hr — 58% of the local living wage. Sustained price stability depends on whether that wage gap can hold as the metro grows.
Idaho's policy mix is unusual. Zero state pre-K, zero paid family leave, but CCDF subsidy reach of 35.7% — among the highest in the country. The story is targeting the lowest-income families well while doing nothing universal — a real policy contrast worth naming.

Affordability — 74/100

Center-based infant care in Boise runs about $13,633 a year — roughly $1,140 a month, or 17% of the city's $81,308 median household income. That figure comes directly from the U.S. Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices for Ada County, forward-projected from 2023 to 2025. Boise families pay roughly $3,500 less per year for an infant slot than the national median, and infant center care costs about 84 cents on the dollar of median rent — the only city in this Mountain-West cluster where infant care doesn't exceed monthly rent. The affordability picture extends further: Idaho ranks 5th nationally for affordability, with statewide infant care running about $10,800 a year. The arithmetic is uncommon. In most of the country, the question is how much pain a family takes from infant-care costs; in Boise, the question is how the system manages to deliver care at this price.

Supply — 67/100

Boise has roughly 39 licensed slots for every 100 kids under five with working parents — short of the desert threshold but well below the national 73 per 100. Ada County licenses about 182 establishments serving an estimated 13,000 slots against demand from roughly 33,100 kids. Establishment density of 6.9 per 1,000 under-fives is among the strongest in the entire 250-city index — far above the national 4.2 — which is what lifts Boise's supply score into the top quartile. The density partly explains the affordability picture: a competitive provider market keeps prices down. Statewide, Idaho's 31% gap (per the Bipartisan Policy Center) is meaningful but better than Colorado's 37%.

Workforce — 23/100

The median Boise childcare worker earns $14.24 an hour, or about $29,620 a year — among the lowest median wages in the index. That same wage equals 58% of MIT's living-wage threshold for Ada County ($24.45/hr). Idaho ranks among the lowest-paying states for early educators, and that low wage is structurally tied to Boise's affordability story: providers can charge $13,600 for infant care because they pay teachers $14 an hour. The score of 23/100 puts Boise in the bottom quartile of the index for workforce health, and the implication for retention is direct — the cost of an early-childhood career, measured against what it buys in this metro, is hard to sustain. The affordable-prices flywheel runs on the workforce.

Family strain — 63/100

About 68% of Boise mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — exactly at the national 68% and well above the Idaho statewide 59%. Single-parent share runs at 28%, below the national 32%. Boise is more economically active than the rest of Idaho — the metro absorbs young families and dual-earner households at a higher rate than the state — and the strain profile reflects that: more typical of a coastal-adjacent metro than of the surrounding rural state.

Policy support — 42/100

Idaho is one of only a handful of states with no state-funded pre-K — public 4-year-old enrollment is 0%, and per-child state spending is $0 (NIEER 2024). The state has no paid family leave program. CCDF subsidy reach in Idaho, however, is 35.7% — among the highest in the country — and Head Start serves about 2,600 children statewide. Idaho's policy mix is unusual: minimal universal investment paired with relatively wide subsidy targeting for low-income families. Policy is measured at the state level; Boise inherits Idaho's framework. The 42/100 score reflects that mixed picture — generous on subsidy reach, absent on pre-K and leave.

In-home care in Boise

In-home care in Boise reflects broader Mountain-West nanny-market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running below the Denver and Salt Lake ranges given local cost-of-living and wage levels. The lower center prices reduce some of the pressure that drives families toward in-home alternatives in higher-cost metros, but demand persists for households needing schedule flexibility around tech, hospital, and state-government work. Au pair placements remain a small channel, more common among the in-migrating professional households reshaping the metro.

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.