As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Paterson ranks the 165th largest city in the nation.
Center-based infant care in Passaic County runs $13,000 a year, well below New Jersey's state average and the national median. The math should work for Paterson families, and on income alone, it nearly does — until the income comes into focus. Paterson's median household earns $53,800, just over half the state median, which puts the same modest sticker price at 24.2% of pretax pay. Fifty-five percent of households with children are headed by a single parent, second-highest among the state's ranked cities. Family-strain reads 15.4 of 100, in the bottom tenth nationally. New Jersey's pre-K stack and CCDF reach do real work for low-income Paterson households, but the share of local families exceeding subsidy thresholds and paying full freight remains the operative constraint.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Ranked 146th of 250 nationally, score 48 (Strained); infant care eats 24% of a $53,800 median household income, just over half the state median.
- Family-strain score 15.4/100, bottom 10% nationally; 55% of households with kids are single-parent, second-highest among NJ ranked cities.
- Infant center seat: $13,000 a year — below the national median in Passaic County — yet absorbs more than three times the federal 7% affordability threshold.
Actionable takeaways
- Don't read the modest sticker as good news. $13,000 is below the national median, but Paterson families earn just over half the New Jersey median. Sub-national pricing on sub-state income still produces a 24% burden ratio.
- The local angle is NJ's policy-rich advantage being income-gated. Paterson inherits the same paid leave, $17,911 pre-K stack, and 46% CCDF reach as Jersey City — and still lands in the bottom 10% on family strain. The state floor catches the lowest-income families; the cohort exceeding subsidy thresholds remains the operative constraint.
- What to track. Passaic County's CCDF utilization rate. With 55% single-parent share and a $53,800 median, Paterson is among the cities most exposed to any rollback in subsidy reach.
Affordability — 45/100
Center-based infant care in Passaic County runs about $13,000 a year in 2025 — well below New Jersey's state-average $18,500 and below the national median $17,200. Family child care is similar at $11,600. But Paterson's median household income is $53,800, just over half the New Jersey state median of $101,000, which puts infant center care at 24.2% of pre-tax pay — three times the federal 7% affordability threshold. Childcare runs 74% of monthly rent here, a more livable ratio than the state norm but still a heavy combined burden. A typical Paterson family pays a bit less in absolute dollars than the national median family does, but devotes a much larger share of their paycheck to it.
Supply — 75/100
Passaic County offers an estimated 56.8 licensed slots per 100 kids under five with working parents — not full coverage, but well above the national 73-state spread, and nowhere near childcare-desert territory. Establishment density sits at 4.11 providers per 1,000 children under five, just below the national rate. The supply constraint here is real but moderate; the more pressing constraint is that families can't pay for the slots that exist at unsubsidized prices. Head Start serves nearly 13,000 children statewide, with Passaic County a meaningful share.
Workforce — 14/100
Childcare workers across the New York-Newark metro earn a median $17.57 an hour — roughly $36,500 a year. That's 55.8% of the local living wage of $31.50/hour for a single adult. The wage is competitive with the national median but loses ground fast against living costs in northern New Jersey. Programs in Paterson compete for staff against warehousing, retail, and home-health — all paying similar wages with fewer credentialing demands.
Family strain — 15.4/100
The strain numbers tell Paterson's story. Sixty-four percent of mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — below the national average. The single-parent share is 54.9%, nearly twice the national rate and second-highest among NJ's score cities. With a single-parent majority and a median income just over $53K, a full-price unsubsidized infant center bill represents the difference between making rent and not. CCDF's 46.2% reach in New Jersey, strong by national standards, still leaves more than half of working families paying full freight.
Policy support — 76.2/100
Paterson inherits New Jersey's policy stack: 34% of four-year-olds in publicly funded pre-K, $17,911 per child in pre-K spending (third-highest in the nation, behind DC and Oregon), nine of NIEER's ten quality benchmarks met, 12 weeks of paid family leave at 85% wage replacement since 2009, and CCDF reach of 46.2% — more than double New York's. For low- and middle-income Paterson families, these programs do meaningful work. Pre-K, in particular, removes a year or two of full-cost care from the household budget for families who enroll. Policy is measured at the state level.
In-home care in Paterson
In-home care in Paterson typically reflects the broader New York-Newark-Jersey City metro nanny market, though demand is more concentrated than in higher-income parts of the metro. Nanny shares between two families remain the most common way to bring effective hourly rates closer to center-care levels. Some Passaic County families also rely on extended-family caregivers and informal arrangements that don't show up in licensed-provider counts.
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).