As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Lincoln ranks the 71st largest city in the nation.

Lincoln draws on the same Nebraska metro-area NDCP price basket as Omaha — $17,215 a year for one infant in a licensed Lancaster County center — but on a median household income about $2,700 lower at $69,991. The mechanical effect is a slightly tighter affordability burden of 24.6%. The wider story is favorable: Lancaster County offers 61 licensed slots per 100 working-parent kids under five, and the workforce score of 79 (second-best in the cohort) reflects educator pay covering 66.1% of the local living wage. Mothers' labor force participation for kids under six runs 73.6% in this college-and-government city; the single-parent share is 30.8%, slightly below the national average. The composite, 59/100, ranks Lincoln 59th nationally — first in Nebraska, lifted by supply and held back by Nebraska's lack of paid family leave.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 59/100, Moderate, ranked 59 of 250 — first of two Nebraska cities; supply score 91, workforce score 79.
Lancaster County offers 61 licensed slots per 100 working-parent kids under five, comparable to Omaha and well above the national average.
Same strong-supply, weak-policy Nebraska profile as Omaha; childcare workers earn 66.1% of the local living wage versus 62.1% in Omaha.

Actionable takeaways

The local angle is institutional employer competition. Lincoln centers compete for staff against the University of Nebraska, state government, and Bryan Health — three institutions paying comparable hourly rates without the credentialing burden. The follow-up is whether any of them have built sponsored childcare benches.
Lincoln outranks Omaha despite slightly tighter affordability. Higher workforce score (79 vs. 55) and a 30.8% single-parent share (below national) are the structural reasons — Lancaster County's economic mix is more stable than Douglas County's even at lower household income.
Watch UNL family-housing childcare capacity. Graduate student parents and married undergraduates use this layer of supply directly; if UNL cuts back, the city's strong supply score is the first to slip.

Affordability — 21/100

A typical Lincoln family pays $17,215 a year for one infant in a licensed Lancaster County center — about $1,435 a month, or 24.6% of the area's $69,991 median household income. The dollar figure matches Omaha (both cities draw on the same metro-area NDCP price basket), but Lincoln's median household earns about $2,700 less, which pushes the burden ratio slightly higher. Family child care homes price at $11,876 for an infant, providing a meaningful release valve. The childcare-to-rent ratio is 1.37 — center care costs 37% more than monthly rent. For a Lincoln family with two children in licensed centers, the annual outlay reaches about $33,100, which on the local income lands close to 47% of pre-tax earnings.

Supply — 91/100

Lancaster County offers an estimated 61 licensed slots for every 100 children under five with working parents — among the strongest ratios in the cohort and consistent with the broader Nebraska pattern. The county has 108 licensed establishments, or 5.7 per 1,000 children under five, well above the national density of 4.2. Nebraska statewide carries just a 14.7% supply gap per Bipartisan Policy Center estimates, among the smallest in this cohort. The 91 supply score is the foundation of Lincoln's overall ranking: even with a tight affordability picture, parents here face fewer waitlist disasters than parents in most other US cities.

Workforce — 79/100

The median Lincoln childcare worker earns $13.69 an hour, or $28,470 a year — covering 66.1% of the local single-adult living wage of $20.71. The wage-to-cost-of-living ratio comes in better than Omaha's because Lincoln's living wage is lower. The 79 workforce score reflects the relative parity between educator pay and local cost of living, even at modest absolute wages. Practically, Lincoln centers compete for staff against the University of Nebraska, state government, and a healthcare sector all of which offer comparable hourly pay without the credentialing burden, and the structural pressure is real even if it does not yet show up in supply collapse.

Family strain — 75/100

Mothers' labor force participation for those with kids under six is 73.6% — above the national rate of 68% and consistent with the broader Nebraska pattern. The single-parent share is 30.8%, slightly below the national average of 31.8%. Together, these numbers describe a college-and-government city where two-earner married households are the dominant family structure and where childcare demand is structural rather than cyclical. The 75 strain score is one of the higher figures in the cohort and reflects a market where the underlying social economics are comparatively stable.

Policy support — 45/100

Nebraska enrolls about 34% of four-year-olds in state-funded pre-K — among the strongest pre-K access rates in the Midwest cohort and more than three times Missouri's figure. The state meets 6 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks. The CCDF subsidy reaches 22.7% of eligible children. Nebraska offers no state paid family or medical leave, which is a meaningful gap for new-parent families. As in Omaha, the strong pre-K access component is what pulls the overall policy score above its peers; the absence of paid leave is what holds it down. Policy is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Lincoln

In-home care in Lincoln reflects metro-wide nanny market patterns broadly in line with mid-sized Midwestern markets, where licensed center supply is comparatively strong and the in-home caregiver pool is thinner than in major metros. The dominant in-home care population skews dual-professional, families with three or more young children, and households with atypical work hours — including state government and university shift workers. Au pair placements are a small but visible slice of the market. Nanny shares between two families are uncommon at this market size but emerging.

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.