As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Ann Arbor ranks the 234th largest city in the nation.

Washtenaw County runs 6.4 licensed childcare establishments per 1,000 kids under five — among the densest provider networks in the entire 250-city index, a figure that pulls Ann Arbor's supply score to 71/100, the strongest in Michigan. The University of Michigan's faculty and staff demand has historically supported a thicker-than-typical mix of campus-affiliated and Reggio-inflected centers. The college-town premium shows up in two other scores. Infant tuition runs $18,231 a year, the highest figure in the entire Midwest cluster, and childcare workers earn 57% of a $25.30 local living wage — the worst ratio in Michigan. The 49/100 composite ranks Ann Arbor 133rd of 250 and first in the state, the cleanest example here of the university-town outlier pattern.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

First in Michigan, score 49 (Strained), ranked 133 of 250; supply score 71/100, the strongest in the state.
Infant center care runs $18,231 a year — the highest figure in the entire Midwest cluster, 22.5% of household income.
Workforce score 19/100, the lowest in Michigan; provider wages cover just 57% of the local single-adult living wage.

Actionable takeaways

Ann Arbor is the cleanest college-town outlier in this report. UMich faculty and graduate student demand drives both the highest infant tuition in the entire Midwest cluster ($18,231) and the densest provider footprint (6.4 per 1,000 kids). Both numbers are about the university, not the rest of Washtenaw.
The structural driver of the 19 workforce score is a Washtenaw living wage of $25.30 against $14.42/hr provider pay. Among Michigan cities, only Ann Arbor has the housing costs of a high-amenity college town and the wage scale of a Midwest provider workforce. UMich's own benefits-eligible postings would pull childcare workers away.
Watch for a UMich-affiliated capacity expansion announcement. With the U-M Board of Regents and Michigan Medicine the city's two largest employers, any sponsored childcare bench would visibly move both supply and workforce scores; the Office of Work/Life Resources is the local source.

Affordability — 37/100

A typical Ann Arbor family with one infant in center care pays $18,231 a year, the median for Washtenaw County and the highest infant figure of any Midwest city in this index. Against a household income of $81,089 — modestly above the national $78,538 — that consumes 22.5% of pre-tax earnings, more than three times the federal 7% benchmark. Center care here costs about 98 cents on the dollar against the city's $1,552 monthly rent, putting it on near-parity with housing as the household's largest line item. Toddler center care holds at $18,231; family child care drops the figure to $12,483, but those slots are scarce. The University of Michigan workforce, dual-PhD households, and the city's high concentration of postdocs and graduate students with young children push center prices into territory more typical of coastal college towns. A typical Ann Arbor family with two children in center care faces roughly $36,000 a year — a figure that frequently exceeds graduate stipends and reshapes career timelines for academic households.

Supply — 71/100

Washtenaw County has an estimated 9,320 licensed slots against roughly 20,700 kids under five with working parents — about 45 slots per 100 children, similar to the rest of Michigan, but the establishment density is markedly different. Ann Arbor and surrounding Washtenaw run 110 licensed centers, or 6.4 establishments per 1,000 kids under five — among the densest provider networks in the entire 250-city index, and well above the national average of 4.2. The supply score of 71/100 reflects that density. The University of Michigan's faculty and staff demand has historically supported a thicker network of campus-affiliated and independent centers than typical for a city of this size, particularly in the lab-school and Reggio-inflected segments.

Workforce — 19/100

The median Ann Arbor childcare worker earns $14.42 an hour, or about $30,000 a year. Against the local single-adult living wage of $25.30 — the highest in Michigan, reflecting Ann Arbor's housing costs — that's 57%, the worst wage-to-living-wage ratio in the state. The 19/100 workforce score is the lowest of any Michigan city in this index. The mismatch is structural: Ann Arbor's labor market has the housing costs of a high-amenity college town and the childcare wages of a Midwest provider workforce. Center directors describe a near-constant turnover problem as workers leave for university support roles, hospital work at Michigan Medicine, or the Detroit-metro warehouse and EV plant labor market.

Family strain — 59/100

Mothers' labor force participation in Ann Arbor households with children under six runs 65% — slightly below state and national averages, a pattern partly explained by the city's high concentration of graduate-student parents whose work isn't always captured in standard LFP measures. The single-parent share runs 21%, well below the national 32%, reflecting the dual-academic and dual-professional household structures common to university towns. The 59/100 score captures the cushioning effect of higher household incomes and lower single-parent share, balanced against the steepest center costs in the Midwest.

Policy support — 54/100

Michigan enrolls 37% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K and meets all 10 NIEER quality benchmarks at per-child spending of $12,761 — one of the strongest per-child investments in the country. The state has no paid family leave, but CCDF subsidy reach covers 31.6% of eligible families. Head Start serves 27,592 children statewide. Ann Arbor families benefit from Michigan's strong pre-K infrastructure once children turn four; the steepest cost gap, as in much of the country, falls on the years before that. Policy is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Ann Arbor

In-home care in Ann Arbor typically reflects college-town nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates running modestly above the broader Michigan market, reflecting university-anchored demand. With center prices among the highest in the Midwest and waitlists long for infant rooms in campus-affiliated centers, dual-academic and dual-professional households often weigh nanny shares as a cost-comparable alternative to two center spots. Au pair placements through State Department-designated sponsor agencies are a more visible channel here than in most Michigan cities, particularly among international faculty 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. 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.