As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Toledo ranks the 85th largest city in the nation.

Lucas County's $16,093 infant tuition runs 33.9% of a $47,532 Toledo median household income — the heavier end of the Ohio cohort's affordability burden. The dollar figure runs about $1,070 below the national center median; the squeeze comes from the income line beneath it. Center care here costs 1.52 times annual rent, the second-steepest ratio in the state. Yet 71.6% of Toledo mothers with kids under six are in the labor force, the highest figure in Ohio, against a single-parent share of 62.5% — nearly double the national 31.8%. Supply scores 85.1 on capacity that clears the childcare desert threshold. The 47/100 composite ranks Toledo 155th nationally and second among Ohio's six measured cities, behind Columbus.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 47/100, Strained, ranked 155 of 250 — second of Ohio's six measured cities, behind Columbus.
Infant care in Lucas County runs $16,093/yr — 33.9% of a $47,532 household income, one of the heavier burdens in the index.
Mothers' LFP for kids under six runs 71.6%, the highest in the Ohio cohort; single-parent share 62.5%, nearly double the national 31.8%.

Actionable takeaways

Toledo is a Rust Belt single-parent peak with the same Ohio price envelope. $16,093 statewide infant tuition lands on the lowest household income in the Ohio cohort, producing a 33.9% burden ratio. The structural problem isn't price; it's that Lucas County wages haven't kept pace with statewide center-care inflation.
The 62.5% single-parent share with 71.6% mothers' LFP describes economic necessity, not labor market abundance. Toledo families work the highest LFP in Ohio because the math leaves no other option — that's the local angle, not a workforce-engagement story.
Watch infant-room utilization in Lucas County's 137 establishments. Capacity exists on paper at 5.25 per 1,000 kids; but at $1,341/month tuition against an $880 monthly rent, infant rooms likely sit underutilized while toddler/preschool rooms wait-list — the utilization split is the local reporting opportunity.

Affordability — 5/100

A year of infant center care in Lucas County runs $16,093 in 2025 — about $1,070 below the national figure of $17,163, but Toledo's $47,532 median household income makes that bill 33.9% of a typical paycheck. Statewide, the same care averages $14,469 and consumes 20.8%; nationally, 21.9%. Childcare runs 1.52 times annual rent here, the second-steepest ratio in the Ohio cohort and well above the 1.06 national figure. For a Toledo family with one infant in full-time care, that breaks down to about $1,341 a month in tuition — more than $400 above the city's median monthly rent of $880, and the kind of math that pushes most households toward family-childcare-home arrangements ($10,751/yr) or family help.

Supply — 85/100

Lucas County logs an estimated 18,928 licensed slots against 32,287 kids under 5 with working parents — roughly 58.6 slots per 100 such kids, in line with the rest of the Ohio cohort. The metro counts 137 licensed establishments, working out to 5.25 providers per 1,000 children under 5 — above the national density of 4.21 and well above Ohio's statewide baseline. Capacity is real here; the binding constraint is what families can pay to use it.

Workforce — 82/100

The median Toledo childcare worker earns $13.46 an hour — about $28,000 a year — equal to 67.5% of the local single-adult living wage of $19.94. That ratio sits a few points above Ohio's statewide figure (64.6%) and the national rate (62.6%), reflecting Toledo's lower cost of living rather than competitive pay. Roughly 750 workers staff the metro's centers and family homes per OEWS; the broader county count is larger, but the wage band is the same. Turnover remains the structural problem at this pay rate.

Family strain — 36.9/100

Mothers of kids under 6 work outside the home at a 71.6% rate in Toledo — higher than the Ohio rate (69.9%) and the national rate (68.2%). Single-parent share comes in at 62.5%, nearly double the 31.8% US figure. Read together: most mothers of young Toledo kids are working, the majority of those families are run by a single parent, and they're doing it against an affordability picture that puts childcare at a third of the median household income.

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 Toledo

In-home care in Toledo reflects metro-wide nanny patterns, with full-time live-out rates running in line with the broader Ohio market and skewing higher in Ottawa Hills, Sylvania, and the western Lucas County suburbs where dual-income households cluster. Given the city's affordability picture, nanny shares between two families are the more accessible in-home option for parents priced out of infant center tuition. Au pair placements remain a smaller piece of the market but are growing among households that need live-in coverage for shift work tied to the metro's healthcare and manufacturing 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).

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.