As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Joliet ranks the 177th largest city in the nation.
Joliet sits 40 miles southwest of Chicago and outranks it. With a median household income of $88,026 and slightly cheaper Will County provider rates than the inner Cook-DuPage-Kane ring, infant tuition consumes 20.2% of pre-tax pay — under the federal 22% benchmark and meaningfully below Chicago's 28.8%. The city's 47/100 score, second among Illinois cities in the index, is the cleanest example of how income geography reshapes what looks on paper like a uniform Chicago metro market. Will County's supply is no better than the rest of the region: 42 licensed slots cover every 100 working-parent kids under five, and density runs 3.11 establishments per thousand — both below the national figure. The dollars work; the seats don't.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Score 47/100, Strained, ranked 154 of 250; 2nd of 6 Illinois cities, with affordability (45.4) carried by an $88,026 median household income.
- Will County offers 42 licensed seats per 100 working-parent kids under five, mirroring the Chicago metro shortfall; density 3.11 per thousand.
- Infant center care eats 20.2% of income — under the federal 22% benchmark and well below Chicago's 28.8% — but still $17,821 a year per infant.
Actionable takeaways
- Will County's $17,821 infant price is a story in itself. Joliet pays nearly $4,000 less per infant than identical-distance suburbs in Cook, DuPage, and Kane — a quiet exception to the "all Chicago suburbs cost the same" assumption. Worth asking why Will County's NDCP blend lands lower.
- The dollars work; the seats don't. The county is functionally as supply-constrained as Cook (42 per 100), so the affordability cushion only helps families who can actually find a slot — wait-list data from Will County providers is the local follow-up.
- Compare Joliet to Aurora as a same-state, same-tier pair. Similar incomes ($88K vs. $90K), similar policy backdrop, but Joliet ranks 54 spots higher because Will County prices undercut Kane.
Affordability — 45/100
A Joliet family with one infant in a licensed center pays roughly $17,821 a year — slightly above the national median and well below the $21,613 figure that applies in Cook, DuPage, and Kane counties to the north. Will County's blended NDCP price reflects a mix of suburban and exurban providers. Against an $88,026 median household income, infant tuition consumes 20.2% — under the 22.5% national figure and one of the more manageable burdens among Illinois cities in this cluster. The childcare-to-rent ratio of 1.20 still means infant care costs 20% more than a year of housing. Family childcare homes drop the price to about $11,971 — a meaningful option for families who can find one. The lived implication: a Joliet family pays about $1,700 more for infant care annually than the median US family but earns about $9,500 more than the national median, so the burden lands more lightly than in higher-priced parts of the metro.
Supply — 40/100
Will County's licensed system covers about 42 slots per 100 children under five with working parents — the same gap that defines the broader Chicago metro and well below the 73-per-100 national figure. Establishment density is 3.11 providers per 1,000 kids under five, below the state average of 4.12. With about 20,246 estimated slots and 48,163 working-parent kids in the county service area, more than half of demand can't be matched to current capacity. The Bipartisan Policy Center's statewide gap estimate of 37% (Sept 2025) is the structural backdrop.
Workforce — 62/100
The median childcare worker in the metro earns $16.40 an hour, about $34,110 annually — about $2,000 over the national median. Against a single-adult living wage of $25.80 in the metro, that wage covers 64%. The wage figure pools across the broader Chicago labor market; in Will County specifically, lower housing costs ease some of the squeeze, but the recruiting pressure on providers remains the same as elsewhere in the region.
Family strain — 49.8/100
Mothers' labor force participation among kids under six is 66.6% in Joliet — slightly below the national 68.2% and 4.9 points below the Illinois figure. Single-parent share at 32.3% sits within a percentage point of the national average. The strain score is held back not by extreme indicators but by a county-level supply shortfall that puts pressure on every dual-earner household, regardless of income.
Policy support — 44.6/100
Illinois enrolls 35% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K — below the 45% national average — with $6,171 per-child spending and 8 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks met. The state offers no paid family or medical leave, and CCDF reaches 20.1% of eligible kids. Joliet inherits the state's score; Will County's outer-ring suburban geography means many families fall above CCDF income thresholds while still feeling acute affordability pressure, a dynamic visible across most of the metro's outer counties.
In-home care in Joliet
In-home care in Joliet typically reflects metro-wide Chicago nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the broader Illinois market and somewhat softer than rates found in higher-cost northern suburbs. With center costs at $17,821 and slot supply meeting fewer than half of working-parent demand, families increasingly turn to nanny shares to bring effective hourly costs into rough parity with center tuition. Au pair placements through State Department-designated J-1 sponsors are visible in dual-professional Will County households as well.
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 (Will County for Joliet). 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).