As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Cedar Rapids ranks the 208th largest city in the nation.

Linn County runs 4.79 licensed childcare establishments per 1,000 kids under five, the densest provider base of any city in this report's Midwest 1 cluster. That density is the structural reason Cedar Rapids is the only Midwest city to crack the Strong tier in the 2026 index, ranked 19th of 250 nationally. Iowa's labor market gives it a tight but functional setup: 78.2% of mothers with kids under six work, ten points above the national figure, and 66 licensed slots cover every 100 working-parent kids. The wage-to-living-wage ratio for childcare workers — 68.6% — is among the strongest anywhere. Cedar Rapids is the policy-light, supply-rich archetype that almost no other midsize metro replicates.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 65/100, Strong, ranked 19 of 250 — the only Midwest city to clear the 60-point threshold and the cluster's national leader.
Workforce score 91.6; the median childcare worker earns $13.98/hr, covering 68.6% of the local single-adult living wage versus 62.6% nationally.
Mothers' labor force participation for kids under six runs 78.2%, ten points above the national average; 66 licensed slots cover every 100 working-parent kids.

Actionable takeaways

The structural driver is Iowa's family-childcare-home licensing regime. Linn County's 4.79 establishments per 1,000 kids — the densest in the Midwest cluster — leans heavily on small in-home programs that other states make harder to license. That is a replicable policy lever.
Cedar Rapids is the policy-light, supply-rich archetype. Iowa offers no paid family leave and modest CCDF reach, yet Cedar Rapids is the only Midwest city in the Strong tier. Supply density and a 68.6% wage-to-living-wage ratio are doing the work.
Watch whether Linn County retains educators when Cedar Rapids housing climbs. The workforce score rests on a low cost of living, not high wages — if rents accelerate, the 91.6 score is the first indicator at risk.

Affordability — 35/100

A typical Cedar Rapids family with one infant in a licensed center pays about $13,898 a year — roughly $3,300 below the national median and one of the lower headline prices in this report. Linn County's NDCP figure reflects a small-metro pricing environment and a provider base that hasn't climbed at the rate the Chicago metro has. Against a Cedar Rapids median household income of $67,859, infant tuition consumes 20.5% of pre-tax pay — under the 22% federal affordability benchmark, though still above the Iowa state figure of 18.2%. The childcare-to-rent ratio of 1.25 means a year of infant care costs 25% more than a year of rent. Family childcare homes drop the price further to about $9,083 a year. The lived implication: a Cedar Rapids family pays roughly $3,300 less per child per year than the national median family — a real annual savings even before factoring in lower local housing costs.

Supply — 86/100

Linn County's licensed system covers about 66 slots per 100 children under five with working parents — well above the 42-per-100 figure that defines metro Chicago and approaching the 73-per-100 national benchmark. Establishment density at 4.79 providers per 1,000 kids under five is the highest among Midwest 1 cities and well above the Iowa state average of 4.42. With about 11,295 estimated slots and 17,240 working-parent kids in the county service area, Cedar Rapids is one of the most provider-dense cities of its size in the national index — the structural reason supply scores so high here.

Workforce — 92/100

The median Cedar Rapids childcare worker earns $13.98 an hour, about $29,080 annually. Against a Linn County single-adult living wage of $20.39, that wage covers 68.6% — among the strongest ratios in the Midwest 1 cluster. The figure reflects Cedar Rapids's modest cost of living rather than unusually high childcare wages; the practical effect is that providers can recruit and retain qualified educators more competitively here than in higher-cost metros, which contributes to the unusually deep supply.

Family strain — 65.5/100

Mothers' labor force participation for kids under six is 78.2% — ten points above the national 68.2% and slightly above Iowa's 76.3% — and 79.0% of children under six live in households where all available parents work. The single-parent share at 39.6% sits well above the national 31.8% but below several other cities in this report. The high LFP, in a city where childcare supply largely keeps pace, reflects the Cedar Rapids labor market's near-universal participation pattern combined with one of the better-functioning licensed care systems in the state.

Policy support — 66.2/100

Iowa enrolls 67% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K — well above the 45% national average — with $3,735 per-child spending and 8 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks met. The state has no paid family or medical leave program. CCDF reaches 23.4% of eligible kids, with about 11,400 children served monthly statewide. Cedar Rapids inherits the Iowa policy score, which sits among the higher policy scores in the broader Midwest cluster.

In-home care in Cedar Rapids

In-home care in Cedar Rapids typically reflects smaller-metro Iowa nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates well below those found in larger Midwestern metros. Given the unusually deep licensed center supply here, the in-home market is more often a flexibility choice — for shift workers, dual-professional households, or families with multiple young children — than a workaround for capacity shortfall. Au pair placements through State Department-designated J-1 sponsors are also visible in dual-income Linn County 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 (Linn County for Cedar Rapids). 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.