As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Jackson ranks the 191st largest city in the nation.

An infant slot in Hinds County costs $6,754 a year — the lowest price of any of the 250 cities Beverly tracks. A Jackson family pays roughly $10,400 less per year than the national median household for the same service. That same low number is what the worker holding the infant earns: $10.64 an hour, 48% of a single-adult living wage, the worst workforce reading in the country. Mississippi's only scored city ranks 21st nationally on Beverly's index — a Strong-tier finish built on the cheapest care in America and the cheapest labor staffing it. Eighty-four percent of mothers with young children are in the workforce. Sixty-five percent of families with kids are single-parent. The math is tight even at the country's lowest price.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 65 (Strong), ranked 21 of 250 — built on the lowest infant price in America ($6,754/year) and the worst childcare wages in the index.
Median worker pay $10.64/hour, 48% of a single-adult living wage; affordability and workforce are two readings of the same compensation floor.
83.8% mothers' labor force participation — well above the 68.2% national rate; single-parent share 64.7%, roughly double the national 31.8%.

Actionable takeaways

Cheap care subsidized by a $10.46/hour workforce. Jackson's #21 national finish runs entirely on the lowest infant tuition in the country — and that tuition is only possible because the women holding the babies earn 48% of a single-adult living wage. The affordability and workforce scores are two views of the same number.
Mississippi has the only Strong-tier state with a federal FMLA-only policy floor. Watch whether any state subsidy or wage supplement passes — Jackson's structure is the most fragile in the top 25, one wage shock away from sliding.
The supply cushion is the underappreciated asset. Hinds County's 8.3 establishments per 1,000 kids under 5 — nearly double the national rate — gives families real choice; protecting that density should rank above any tuition-side intervention.

Affordability — 90/100

A year of infant center care in Hinds County runs about $6,754 — the lowest absolute price in the 250-city score dataset, and roughly 39% of the national median of $17,163. Family child care homes price even lower, at about $5,994. For a typical Jackson household earning $43,238, infant tuition still consumes 15.6% of pre-tax income — above the federal 7%-affordable benchmark, but a fundamentally different reality than the 35%+ burdens carried by parents in Baltimore or Durham. The childcare-to-rent ratio is 0.55, meaning a month of infant care costs roughly half a month's rent. A Jackson family with one infant in center care pays about $10,400 less per year than the national median family — the largest absolute affordability advantage in the index.

Supply — 98/100

Jackson posts the highest supply score in this report cluster. Hinds County has roughly 9,963 licensed slots against about 16,480 kids under 5 with working parents — 60.5 slots per 100, well above the 30-per-100 desert threshold and within striking distance of the 73-per-100 national benchmark. The county counts 115 licensed establishments serving 9,705 children under 5 — 8.3 establishments per 1,000, nearly double the national 4.2. Mississippi statewide reports a 14.6% childcare gap (Bipartisan Policy Center, Sept 2025), one of the smallest in the country. The seats exist. The problem is not access — it's the wages of the people staffing them.

Workforce — 0/100

Jackson sits at the bottom of the national workforce health distribution. Median childcare worker pay in Hinds County is $10.64 an hour — about $22,130 annually — and amounts to 48.0% of the $22.17 local living wage for a single adult. The 0.4/100 workforce score is the worst in the index. Both Jackson and Mississippi as a whole occupy the bottom decile for early educator pay, and the implication shows up in retention churn that center directors describe as constant. The state's affordability ranking and workforce ranking are two readings of the same underlying compensation floor.

Family strain — 51/100

Jackson's mothers' labor force participation rate is 83.8% — among the highest in the country and well above the 68.2% national rate. The figure reflects both economic necessity and a regional culture of multi-generational caregiving that makes work logistically possible. Single-parent households make up 64.7% of families with children — the highest share in this report cluster and roughly double the 31.8% national figure. Median household income of $43,238 is the lowest in this cluster and well below the national $78,538. Even at the country's lowest infant care price, the math is tight for a single mother earning Jackson's median wage.

Policy support — 39/100

Mississippi enrolls 20% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K and spends $4,450 per enrolled child — modest by national standards, though the program meets all 10 NIEER quality benchmarks, the maximum score. CCDF subsidy reach is 20.8%, the strongest in this report cluster and well above the national average. Mississippi has no state paid family leave program; the federal FMLA floor of 12 unpaid weeks is the only baseline available to Jackson parents. Policy is measured at the state level — what reaches Jackson families is essentially the pre-K and Head Start infrastructure (about 19,939 children enrolled statewide) plus subsidy reach for the lowest-income working parents.

In-home care in Jackson

In-home care in Jackson typically reflects metro-wide nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the broader Mississippi / Deep South market — generally lower than coastal benchmarks. With center care comparatively affordable, in-home care here is more often used for shift workers (especially the medical workforce around UMMC) and for families with multiples or non-standard schedules than as a price workaround. Family-based and informal kin care remain dominant fallbacks for households outside the nanny price band, consistent with the city's exceptionally high single-parent share.

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.