As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Overland Park ranks the 126th largest city in the nation.

Overland Park's 89/100 family strain score sits in the top decile of the entire 250-city index. The drivers are familiar in affluent suburbs: a $103,838 median household income well above both Kansas ($72,639) and the country ($78,538), a 22% single-parent share against a national 32%, and 75% mothers' labor force participation for kids under six. Yet Johnson County still offers only 42 licensed seats per 100 working-parent kids — the same ratio that defines metro Chicago — and infant rooms in higher-rated Overland Park centers run 12-to-18-month waitlists. The city ranks 25th of 250 nationally at 64/100, second of five Kansas cities and one of only two in the state to clear 60. The cushions are thicker; the structural slot gap is the same.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 64/100, Moderate, ranked 25 of 250 — one of only two Kansas cities to clear 60, both in Johnson County.
Family Strain score 89/100, top decile nationally; $103,838 median household income, 22% single-parent share against the national 32%.
Even with strong fundamentals, Johnson County offers only 42 licensed slots per 100 kids who need care; infant rooms wait 12-18 months.

Actionable takeaways

Overland Park is the wealthy edge of the Kansas City metro. Compare to Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO across the state line — Johnson County's $103,838 income drives the entire spread, while Wyandotte and Jackson families pay the same regional NDCP rates without the cushion.
The structural slot gap is identical to Chicago's. A 64/100 ranking masks that Johnson County's 42-per-100 ratio matches Cook County's exactly. The cushions are thicker; the wait-list math isn't.
Watch the 117-center Johnson County base for chain consolidation. Higher-rated providers run 12-18 month infant waitlists in 2026; if national chains pull back from suburban Kansas City, the supply score is the first to move.

Affordability — 80/100

A typical Overland Park family with one infant in center care pays $15,281 a year, the median for Johnson County. Against the city's $103,838 household income — well above both the Kansas median of $72,639 and the national $78,538 — that works out to 14.7% of pre-tax earnings. Still double the federal affordability benchmark, but the gap from cost to income is narrower here than in almost any Kansas City. Center care runs roughly 88 cents on the dollar against the city's $1,455 monthly rent. Family child care drops the infant figure to $11,019, and toddler center care is essentially flat at $14,712. For an Overland Park household with two children in center care, the line item nears $30,000 — meaningful even at six-figure incomes, and the reason high-earning families here often rebuild their household budget the moment a second child is on the way.

Supply — 42/100

Johnson County, which holds Overland Park, has an estimated 19,088 licensed slots against roughly 45,400 kids under five with working parents — about 42 slots per 100 children. The county runs 117 licensed centers, or 3.2 establishments per 1,000 kids under five, a stronger density than most of Kansas but still below the national average of 4.2. Statewide, Kansas faces a 38.5% supply gap, and even Johnson County's better-than-state density doesn't insulate Overland Park families from waitlists that often run 12 to 18 months for infant rooms in higher-rated centers.

Workforce — 64/100

The median Overland Park childcare worker earns $14.64 an hour, or about $30,440 a year — the highest hourly figure of any Kansas metro in this index, but only 64% of the local single-adult living wage of $22.97. The wage premium reflects Johnson County's higher cost of doing business; the gap to a living wage reflects the structural problem the entire industry faces. Center directors here report turnover that mirrors national patterns: when a teacher leaves, a parent often loses six months of attachment work and a few weeks of reliable care.

Family strain — 89/100

Mothers' labor force participation in Overland Park households with children under six runs 75% — well above both the Kansas (70%) and national (68%) averages. Combined with a high household income and a single-parent share of just 22% (versus 32% nationally), that's a city where the burden of childcare disruption falls on more two-earner households than typical, and falls less catastrophically when it hits. The 89/100 family strain score is among the strongest in the index — not because parenting in Overland Park is easy, but because the structural cushions are thicker.

Policy support — 44/100

Kansas enrolls 45% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K, with 6 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks met and per-child spending of $4,562. The state has no paid family leave program, and CCDF subsidy reach is estimated at 16.5% of eligible families. Head Start serves about 6,400 children across Kansas, with 1,800 in Early Head Start. Policy is measured at the state level; Overland Park inherits the Kansas posture without local supplements.

In-home care in Overland Park

In-home care in Overland Park typically reflects metro-wide nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the broader Kansas City and West North Central market. Given the city's high household incomes and the persistent waitlist gap at top-tier centers, families with two children under five increasingly weigh nanny shares — splitting one caregiver between two households — as a cost-comparable alternative to two center spots. Au pair placements through State Department-designated sponsor agencies remain a smaller but growing channel for families who value live-in continuity.

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.