As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Shreveport ranks the 148th largest city in the nation.

Mothers' labor force participation in Shreveport runs 65.1% for those with children under six, three points below the national average and the lowest reading in this report. The city posts the lowest Family Strain score on the page (17.9). The interpretation is uncomfortable: when the math on a second income doesn't pencil out — particularly for the 56% of Shreveport families headed by a single parent, whose entire household budget is one paycheck away from crisis — the labor market participation rate falls. Caddo Parish childcare workers earn $10.59 an hour at 53% of a living wage, infant tuition is the lowest sticker price in this report at $8,963, and median household income runs $30,000 below the national figure. The low LFP isn't a sign of family preference; it's a sign of childcare access failure.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Strained-tier 39/100, ranked 213 of 250 — workforce 3.2, bottom 5% nationally; family strain 17.9, lowest in this cluster.
Workers earn $10.59/hr at 52.6% of a $20.13 living wage; infant tuition $8,963, the lowest sticker price in the report.
Mothers' LFP 65.1% — lowest in this report, three points below national average; reads as access failure, not preference.

Actionable takeaways

Lowest mothers' LFP in the entire 250-city dataset reads as access failure, not preference. The combination — 56% single-parent share, $48,465 median income, $10.59/hr workforce wages, 39-per-100 supply ratio — describes a labor market where staying out is the rational response to a system that doesn't function. The LFP statistic is a downstream symptom.
The lowest infant tuition in the entire report ($8,963) is the false signal. Cheap on paper, but unaffordable in practice — the cost burden ratio (18.5%) only looks reasonable because the income denominator is among the lowest in the country. Burden, not price, is what matters.
Watch the 850-person workforce as the systemic-fragility metric. Among the smallest absolute child care workforces in the dataset for a metro of Shreveport's size — meaning the loss of a few veteran lead teachers can shutter classrooms in ways that don't register in supply-ratio statistics.

Affordability — 68/100

A typical Shreveport family with one infant in center care spends about $8,963 a year — the lowest sticker price in this report — or 18.5% of the median Caddo Parish household income of $48,465. That sits modestly above the Louisiana state average of 16.3% and below the 21.9% national figure. Toddler care runs $8,725, preschool $8,328, and family childcare home rates around $6,956. Childcare costs roughly 76 cents on the rent dollar against a median monthly rent of $980.

The lived implication: Shreveport's NDCP price tags are the cheapest in this report, but the local income base is also the lowest. The cost burden ratio (18.5%) lands close to the state average, but with 56% of Shreveport families headed by a single parent, even modest dollar amounts overwhelm thin household budgets. Median household income here ($48,465) runs $30,000 below the national $78,538.

Supply — 48/100

About 39 licensed slots exist for every 100 kids under five with working parents in Caddo Parish — well below the 73 national figure and tied with the broader Louisiana statewide pattern. The parish has 72 licensed establishments serving roughly 11,700 children under five, a density of 4.99 per 1,000, modestly above the national average of 4.21.

The implication for families: Shreveport has reasonable site density but slot ratios that signal full waitlists. Statewide, Louisiana's licensed supply covers about 61% of potential demand — a 38.8% gap that ranks among the worst in the country. Shreveport sits squarely in that statewide pattern.

Workforce — 3/100

The median Shreveport childcare worker earns $10.59/hr — about $22,020 annually — against a local single-adult living wage of $20.13/hr, putting workers at 52.6% of a living wage. About 850 people work in the field across the metro. The Workforce Health score of 3.2 places Shreveport among the bottom 5% of cities nationally on this dimension and reflects Louisiana's broader pattern of childcare wages running roughly half of what local living costs require.

The implication is direct: at this wage level, the field cannot retain experienced lead teachers, and the small absolute workforce (850 people) means losing even a handful of veterans materially shrinks local capacity. Center owners face the same impossible squeeze as in Baton Rouge — pass costs through to families who can't absorb them, or shrink supply in a market that already runs thin.

Family strain — 18/100

Shreveport posts the lowest Family Strain score in this report at 17.9. Mothers' labor force participation runs 65.1% for those with kids under six — three points below the national average and the lowest in this report. With a 56.0% single-parent share — well above the 31.8% national figure — and 65.9% of children under six having all available parents in the workforce, the picture is one of a city where many mothers have effectively been priced out of the labor market by the combination of low local wages, expensive-relative-to-income childcare, and inadequate supply.

The lived interpretation: when the math on a second income doesn't pencil out — particularly for single parents whose entire household budget is one paycheck away from crisis — the labor market participation rate falls. Shreveport's low LFP isn't a sign of family preference; it's a sign of childcare access failure.

Policy support — 26/100

Louisiana's policy floor is among the weakest in the South. State Pre-K enrolls 34% of four-year-olds and just 1% of three-year-olds, with state spending around $5,676 per child and 7.8 of ten NIEER quality benchmarks met. The CCDF subsidy reaches just 13.0% of eligible children — less than half of Georgia's 36.6% reach. Louisiana offers no paid family leave. Policy is measured at the state level and applies equally across the state's four metros in this report.

In-home care in Shreveport

In-home care in Shreveport typically reflects the smaller-metro Louisiana nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running below Baton Rouge or New Orleans and well below national norms. The Ark-La-Tex region's lower regional cost-of-living shapes both demand and pay structures: most working families rely on extended-family care or family childcare homes, while formal in-home arrangements are concentrated in the small professional-class segment around Willis-Knighton Health, LSU Health Shreveport, and the Barksdale Air Force Base community.

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.