As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Akron ranks the 139th largest city in the nation.
Mothers' labor force participation in Akron households with kids under six runs 72.6% — the highest of any Ohio city in this index — against a 61.4% single-parent share, nearly double the national 31.8%. The combination reads as economic necessity, not slack capacity. Summit County's $16,093 infant tuition runs 33.2% of a $48,544 median household income, and the $1,341 monthly tuition figure sits more than $400 above the city's $930 median rent — a 1.44 cost-to-rent ratio well above the 1.06 national figure. Supply scores 82.4 on density that clears the childcare desert threshold. The 46/100 composite ranks Akron 161st nationally and fourth of Ohio's six cities — middle of the cohort, well below the state's median income peers.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Score 46/100, Strained, ranked 161 of 250 — fourth of Ohio's six cities, middle of the cohort.
- Infant care in Summit County runs $16,093 a year — 33.2% of a $48,544 household income.
- Mothers' LFP for kids under six runs 72.6%, the highest in the Ohio cohort; single-parent share 61.4%.
Actionable takeaways
- Akron is part of the Rust Belt single-parent peak pattern. Cleveland 71%, Cincinnati 55%, Toledo 62%, Akron 61% — the cluster is the structural fact. Don't moralize the share; report Summit County's $48,544 income against $1,341/month tuition and the math becomes visible.
- The structural driver is the Ohio price envelope landing on a low-income county. Same statewide $16,093 NDCP figure as Columbus and Cleveland, but on lower household earnings — the affordability score collapses to 7 of 100 even where the slot supply scores 82.
- Watch Summit County's healthcare and university employer base for shift-care demand. Akron Children's Hospital, Summa Health, and the University of Akron anchor the local labor market — nanny share growth in Fairlawn and Hudson is the visible market response to the affordability squeeze.
Affordability — 7/100
A year of infant center care in Summit County runs $16,093 in 2025 — about $1,070 below the national figure — but Akron's $48,544 median household income makes that bill 33.2% of a typical paycheck. Across Ohio, the same care averages $14,469 and consumes 20.8% of household income; nationally, 21.9%. Childcare runs 1.44 times annual rent here, well above the 1.06 national figure. For an Akron family with one infant in full-time center care, the math comes to roughly $1,341 a month in tuition, more than $400 above the city's median monthly rent of $930. That spread is the practical reason family-childcare-home options ($10,751/yr) and family help carry so much of the load in this metro.
Supply — 82/100
Summit County logs an estimated 21,549 licensed slots against 36,757 kids under 5 with working parents — about 58.6 slots per 100 such kids, consistent with the rest of the Ohio cohort. The county counts 138 licensed establishments, or 4.76 providers per 1,000 children under 5 — above the national density (4.21) and Ohio's statewide baseline (4.27). Akron sits comfortably outside "childcare desert" territory; what's tight is the price ceiling, not the slot count.
Workforce — 73/100
The median Akron childcare worker earns $13.68 an hour — about $28,450 a year — equal to 65% of the local single-adult living wage of $21.03. That ratio sits a hair above Ohio's statewide figure (64.6%) and the national rate (62.6%). Roughly 730 workers show in OEWS for the metro; the wider county count runs higher. As elsewhere in the Ohio cohort, the durable problem at this wage band is retention — competing service-sector jobs in Summit County now pay $15-17 an hour with simpler workloads.
Family strain — 39.6/100
Mothers of kids under 6 work outside the home at a 72.6% rate in Akron — the highest in the Ohio cohort and well above the national figure (68.2%). Single-parent share comes in at 61.4%, nearly double the 31.8% US figure. The combination reads as economic necessity rather than choice: most Akron mothers of young children are working, the majority of those households are managed by a single parent, and the affordability picture above gives them limited room to absorb childcare costs.
Policy support — 41.9/100
Ohio enrolls about 15% of 4-year-olds in state pre-K and 6% of 3-year-olds, spending roughly $4,250 per enrolled child and meeting 5 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks. The state's CCDF subsidy reaches 26.4% of eligible families and serves about 50,500 children a month — close to the national average. Ohio offers no statewide paid family or medical leave program. Policy is measured at the state level; every Ohio city in the index inherits the same 41.9 score.
In-home care in Akron
In-home care in Akron tracks metro-wide nanny patterns, with full-time live-out rates running in line with the broader Ohio market and trending higher in Fairlawn, Hudson, and the western Summit County suburbs where dual-income professional households concentrate. Nanny shares between two families have become a common workaround for parents priced out of single-family rates. Au pair placements remain a smaller share of the market but are picking up in households that need live-in coverage for shift schedules tied to the metro's healthcare employer base.
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).