As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Philadelphia ranks the 6th largest city in the nation.

Philadelphia counts 8.04 licensed childcare establishments per 1,000 children under five — nearly double the national rate and among the highest in any city ranked in the index. The number reflects a long urban tradition of small-program family child care plus a substantial Head Start footprint. Yet the city scores 47, in the bottom 40% nationally, weighed down by a state policy backbone that is the weakest in this Northeast cluster. Pennsylvania funds zero weeks of paid family leave and enrolls just 26% of four-year-olds in publicly funded pre-K. Center-based infant care in Philadelphia County runs $16,700 a year, eating 27.5% of a $60,700 median household income. Seventy-three percent of mothers with kids under six remain in the labor force — high participation that mostly indicates that stepping out is no longer an option.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Ranked 152nd of 250 nationally, score 47 (Strained); Pennsylvania policy stack offers zero weeks of paid leave, weakest in the cohort.
Infant center seat: $16,700 a year — 27.5% of household income, nearly four times the federal affordability threshold; childcare runs 5% above monthly rent.
Establishment density 8.04 providers per 1,000 kids under five, among the strongest in any city in the index; mothers' workforce participation 73%, well above the national 68.2%.

Actionable takeaways

The structural drag is Pennsylvania's policy floor. Zero weeks of paid family leave is the most consequential gap — it pushes infant care onto Philadelphia households earlier than in any state with even a modest leave program. The fix is in Harrisburg, not at City Hall.
The local angle is supply abundance failing to rescue affordability. 8.04 establishments per 1,000 kids is among the strongest in any U.S. city — yet Philadelphia still posts a 27.5% burden ratio. Slot count is not the constraint; price relative to income is.
Watch the Pittsburgh comparison. Pennsylvania's two ranked cities tell the same policy story — no paid leave, modest pre-K — on different income bases. Philadelphia versus Pittsburgh isolates which problems are state-level (most of them) and which are local.

Affordability — 22/100

Center-based infant care in Philadelphia County runs about $16,700 a year in 2025 — close to the national median of $17,200 and slightly above Pennsylvania's state-average $15,700. Family child care lands at $14,200, narrower than the typical center-FCC gap. Philadelphia's median household income is $60,700, which puts infant center care at 27.5% of pre-tax pay — nearly four times the federal 7% affordability threshold and noticeably worse than the state average of 20.6%. Childcare runs about 5% above monthly rent here, the kind of inversion typical of urban markets where housing is held down by rent control or aging stock. A typical Philadelphia family pays roughly $1,000 less per child for center care than the national median family does, but earns about $18,000 less.

Supply — 79/100

Philadelphia County offers an estimated 48.3 licensed slots per 100 kids under five with working parents — middle of the pack nationally — and 8.04 establishments per 1,000 children under five, nearly double the national rate of 4.21 and among the highest in any score city. The supply density reflects a long urban tradition of small-program family child care plus a substantial Head Start footprint. Pennsylvania's state-level capacity gap is 27.7%, close to the national figure. Philadelphia is not a childcare desert by any measure.

Workforce — 42/100

Childcare workers in Philadelphia earn a median $15.23 an hour — close to the national $15.41 but well below New York-metro wages — for $31,670 a year. The local living wage for a single adult is $25.38/hour, putting Philadelphia workers at 60% of living wage, slightly below the national 62.6%. Pennsylvania's statewide childcare wage of $13.62 is significantly lower than Philadelphia's, so the city sits in a relatively better position within the state but still struggles to compete with retail, hospitality, and warehouse work along the I-95 corridor.

Family strain — 44.2/100

Seventy-three percent of Philadelphia mothers with kids under six are in the labor force — well above the national 68.2% and the Pennsylvania state average of 70.5%. The single-parent share is 53.1%, well above the national 31.8%. Seventy-two percent of kids under six have all available parents working. The high LFP indicates that economic necessity is keeping participation up despite the cost burden — Philadelphia mothers can't generally afford to step out, and the unsubsidized portion of the system absorbs that pressure.

Policy support — 52.0/100

Pennsylvania's policy backbone is the weakest of any state in this cluster. Just 26% of four-year-olds are enrolled in publicly funded pre-K, with $8,336 per child in pre-K spending — below New Jersey by half. The state meets 6.7 of NIEER's ten quality benchmarks. There is no state paid family leave program. CCDF reaches 33.7% of eligible families, well below New Jersey's 46.2%. For Philadelphia families, the absence of paid leave is the most consequential policy gap — and it shapes how soon a parent must return to work and put an infant into the most expensive form of care. Policy is measured at the state level.

In-home care in Philadelphia

In-home care in Philadelphia typically reflects the broader Mid-Atlantic nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running well below New York-metro benchmarks but above the broader Pennsylvania average. Nanny shares between two families remain a common solution for households who want full-time coverage at center-care-equivalent cost. Au pair placements add a live-in alternative for households who can absorb the program fee.

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.