As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Independence ranks the 230th largest city in the nation.

Independence shares Jackson County's $13,616 infant tuition with Kansas City to the west, but the two cities part ways on income. The Independence median household earns $59,480 — about $8,000 less than its larger metro neighbor — pushing the affordability burden to 22.9% of pre-tax pay. Most of Jackson County's 130 licensed centers concentrate westward, leaving eastern Jackson County families with a narrower set of nearby options. Forty-two percent of families with children are headed by a single parent, ten points above the national figure, and the supply column scores just 20/100 against a Missouri statewide gap of 47%. The 41/100 composite ranks Independence 209th nationally and last among Missouri's four indexed cities — the same county geography as Kansas City, the same prices, a sharper squeeze.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 41/100, Strained, ranked 209 of 250 — last of Missouri's four indexed cities; infant care consumes 22.9% of household income.
Single-parent share 42.2%, ten points above the national 31.8%; concentrates the cost burden on one-earner households.
Same Jackson County prices as Kansas City but on a $59,480 median income, $8,000 below its larger metro neighbor.

Actionable takeaways

The local angle is intra-county provider geography. Most of Jackson County's 130 licensed centers concentrate in or near the Kansas City core, not in eastern Independence — same county-level supply ratio, sharper effective shortfall east of I-435. A neighborhood-level desert map would surface this.
Independence is the Kansas City metro equivalent of Saint Paul to Minneapolis. Same county data envelope, lower-income twin city, sharper burden ratio. The cross-comparison is what reveals where regional pricing cuts hardest.
Watch the 42.2% single-parent share against Missouri's no-paid-leave posture. With CCDF reach at 25.2% and a 47% statewide capacity gap, single-parent Independence households have the fewest fallbacks of any Missouri city in this index.

Affordability — 43/100

A typical Independence family pays $13,616 a year for one infant in a licensed Jackson County center — about $1,135 a month, or 22.9% of the area's $59,480 median household income. The dollar figure is identical to Kansas City (both draw on the same county-level NDCP prices), but the burden ratio runs about three points higher because Independence's median household earns roughly $8,000 less. Family child care homes price at $8,352 for an infant — about $700 a month — providing a meaningful release valve. The childcare-to-rent ratio is 1.07 — center care costs about 7% more than monthly rent. For an Independence family with two children in licensed centers, the annual outlay approaches $23,700, which on a $59,480 income lands close to 40% of pre-tax earnings.

Supply — 20/100

Jackson County offers an estimated 34 licensed slots for every 100 children under five with working parents — well below the national benchmark of 73 and the most binding constraint on Independence's overall score. The county has 130 licensed establishments, or 2.9 per 1,000 children under five, below the national density. While the county does not register as a childcare desert, the gap is material, and Missouri statewide carries a 47% supply gap per Bipartisan Policy Center estimates. For Independence specifically, the supply pinch is sharper than in the Kansas City core because most of the county's establishments concentrate westward, leaving eastern Jackson County families with a narrower set of nearby options.

Workforce — 64/100

The median Independence childcare worker earns $14.64 an hour, or $30,440 a year — about 64% of the area's $22.97 single-adult living wage. That gap is consistent with the Jackson County pattern overall and with Missouri statewide. Center directors here, as in Kansas City proper, describe routine turnover among assistant teachers, who often leave for retail or warehouse positions paying $17 to $19 an hour. The structural implication for Independence: supply expansion is gated by the same wage constraints affecting the broader region, with no obvious near-term mechanism to raise pay without raising tuition.

Family strain — 47/100

Mothers' labor force participation for those with kids under six is 71.1% — slightly above the national rate of 68% and consistent with the broader Midwestern pattern. The single-parent share is 42.2%, about 10 points above the national 31.8%. Together, these numbers describe a city where two-earner and single-parent households together comprise the dominant childcare-needing population, and where the affordability burden falls disproportionately on the single-earner half of that population.

Policy support — 40/100

Missouri enrolls about 10% of four-year-olds in state-funded pre-K and meets 4.3 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks. The state's CCDF subsidy reaches 25.2% of eligible children. Missouri offers no state paid family or medical leave, which leaves new parents dependent on whatever employer benefits exist or on unpaid FMLA. Missouri also has partial gaps in NDCP price coverage, which means national price benchmarks for the state come with a wider error band than for fully covered states. Policy is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Independence

In-home care in Independence reflects metro-wide nanny market patterns broadly in line with the Kansas City region. Median household economics make a sole-employed nanny a stretch for most Independence families, but nanny shares between two households are an emerging arrangement, particularly among dual-earner couples comparing the math against tandem center tuition. Au pair placements are a small slice of the market and concentrate on the Kansas side of the metro. Informal kin care remains a dominant feature of the local landscape, particularly for single-parent 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.