As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Wilmington ranks the 235th largest city in the nation.

Three out of four Wilmington mothers with children under six are in the workforce — among the highest rates in the country — pulled in by a tourism-and-healthcare economy that runs at near-full mobilization through the summer high season. Infant center care in New Hanover County costs $12,837 a year, taking a fifth of a $63,900 median household income; the city's 51 licensed centers cover only 26.7 slots per 100 working-parent kids, the desert-grade ratio that defines all of North Carolina. The lower single-parent share — 34.8%, against 49.1% in Greensboro — gives Wilmington its NC ranking edge. First of nine in the state. Within the country, 158th of 250. Leading the field in North Carolina still lands well below the national midpoint.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 47 (Strained), ranked 158 of 250; first of NC's nine cities — leading the field still lands below the national midpoint.
New Hanover County is a childcare desert at 26.7 licensed slots per 100 working-parent kids; infant care $12,837/year, 20.1% of $63,900 median income.
74.2% mothers' labor force participation — among the highest in the cluster, sustained by a coastal tourism-and-healthcare workforce.

Actionable takeaways

Best in NC, still below the national midpoint. Wilmington tops the state and lands at 158/250 nationally — a clean illustration that the NC ranking ceiling is set by a 55.9% statewide supply gap that no single city can outwork.
Tourism economy props up workforce churn. Hospitality jobs spike pay during summer high season and pull childcare workers into restaurants and hotels; expect classroom turnover concentrated April-October.
Family structure is doing the heavy lifting. Lower single-parent share (34.8% vs 49% in Greensboro) plus high mothers' LFP gives Wilmington two-earner households the cushion the rest of NC lacks.

Affordability — 60/100

A year of infant center care in New Hanover County runs about $12,837 — below the national median of $17,163. For a household earning Wilmington's $63,900 median income, that's 20.1% of pre-tax income — nearly three times the federal 7%-affordable benchmark, but a meaningfully different burden than the 22%+ figures in Charlotte and Raleigh. The childcare-to-rent ratio is 0.82, meaning a month of infant tuition costs about four-fifths of a month's rent in a city where rent is $1,311. A typical Wilmington family with one infant in center care pays roughly $4,300 less per year than the national median family — a meaningful cost-of-living margin against the higher coastal price baseline that defines other Atlantic vacation metros.

Supply — 39/100

Wilmington is a childcare desert. New Hanover County reports about 3,585 licensed slots against roughly 13,439 kids under 5 with working parents — 26.7 slots per 100, below the 30-per-100 desert threshold and well short of the 73-per-100 national figure. The county counts 51 licensed establishments serving 5,040 city children under 5 — 4.7 establishments per 1,000, slightly above the national 4.2. The capacity gap is consistent with the broader North Carolina pattern. Statewide, North Carolina reports a 55.9% childcare gap, among the largest in the country.

Workforce — 33/100

Median childcare worker pay in New Hanover County is $13.48 an hour — about $28,050 annually — or 59.3% of the $22.72 local living wage. That's below the 62.6% national benchmark, reflecting the gap between coastal cost of living and tourism-economy wage levels. Center directors compete against the city's hospitality workforce for the same pool of front-line workers, and turnover follows the higher tourism-season earning opportunity. Wilmington's workforce score is meaningfully weaker than its NC peer cities of similar overall ranking.

Family strain — 68/100

This is Wilmington's strongest dimension. About 74.2% of mothers with children under 6 are in the labor force — well above the 68.2% national rate and one of the highest figures in this cluster. Single-parent households make up 34.8% of families with children, modestly above the 31.8% national share but well below the 46-50%+ figures in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Fayetteville. The combination — high mothers' LFP, lower single-parent share, and the city's $63,900 median household income — is the principal reason Wilmington ranks first in North Carolina despite the same desert-grade supply that pulls its peers down. The strain is real; the family structure absorbing it is more dual-earner.

Policy support — 24/100

North Carolina enrolls 22% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K and spends $7,117 per enrolled child, meeting 9 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks — strong quality, narrow reach. CCDF subsidy reach is 13.4%. The state has no paid family leave program, so Wilmington parents rely on the unpaid 12-week federal FMLA floor unless their employer fills the gap. Policy is measured at the state level; the practical baseline for a Wilmington family is largely state Pre-K and Head Start access.

In-home care in Wilmington

In-home care in Wilmington typically reflects metro-wide nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the broader coastal Carolinas market. Demand concentrates around Novant Health and New Hanover Regional Medical Center clinical staff, the University of North Carolina Wilmington academic workforce, and dual-earner households whose schedules don't fit a center day — particularly during the Port City's high tourism season when many service-economy parents work nights and weekends. Nanny shares between two families are a recurring workaround for the metro's chronic infant-slot shortage, especially among first-time parents on hospital-clinical schedules.

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.