As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Sioux Falls ranks the 112th largest city in the nation.
Sioux Falls is one of the few cities in the entire 250-city index where annual infant tuition runs below annual rent. Minnehaha County's $10,225 figure costs 0.86 times the household's yearly housing bill, against a national 1.06 ratio, and consumes just 13.7% of a $74,714 median household income. Mothers' labor force participation for kids under six runs 82.9%, near the highest figure in the dataset, in a tight metro labor market that pulls more women into work than economic necessity alone would predict. The 62/100 composite ranks Sioux Falls 37th nationally, near the top of the Midwest. The drag is policy: South Dakota offers no state-funded pre-K, no paid family leave, and CCDF reaches just 8.5% of eligible families — a market-driven outcome propped up by no policy infrastructure to speak of.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Score 62/100, Moderate, ranked 37 of 250 — the only South Dakota city scored, near the top of the Midwest.
- Infant care in Minnehaha County runs $10,225/yr — 13.7% of household income, one of the lowest cost burdens in the index.
- Policy score 11.1/100 — no state pre-K, no paid family leave; CCDF reaches just 8.5% of eligible families.
Actionable takeaways
- Sioux Falls is the no-policy-strong-demographics archetype. South Dakota offers no state pre-K, no paid family leave, and CCDF reach at 8.5% — yet the city ranks 37 of 250 because Minnehaha County's labor market and household incomes do the work the policy regime doesn't. That is a replicable pattern only where demographics cooperate.
- The local angle is one of the few index cities where childcare costs less than rent. A 0.86 cost-to-rent ratio against the 1.06 national figure — interview Sioux Falls Sanford and Avera HR teams about how this affects healthcare-staff retention.
- Watch the only-South-Dakota-city status carefully. Rapid City and Aberdeen would tell different stories; Sioux Falls cannot stand in for the state on its own. Reporters should be careful with extrapolation.
Affordability — 82/100
A year of infant center care in Minnehaha County runs $10,225 in 2025 — about $6,940 below the national figure of $17,163, and Sioux Falls's $74,714 median household income makes that bill 13.7% of a typical paycheck. Across South Dakota, the equivalent care averages $9,064 and consumes 12.5% of household income; nationally, 21.9%. Childcare actually runs below rent here — 0.86 times the annual rent bill, against a national ratio of 1.06. For a Sioux Falls family with one infant in full-time center care, the $10,225 tuition pencils out to about $852 a month — a real bill, but one of the few in the index where childcare costs less than housing. Family-childcare-home options ($7,729/yr) are even more accessible.
Supply — 62/100
Minnehaha County logs an estimated 8,642 licensed slots against 17,824 kids under 5 with working parents — about 48.5 slots per 100 such kids. That's tighter than the national figure of 73 slots per 100 and below the Ohio cohort, but still well clear of the "childcare desert" threshold of one slot for every three kids. The county counts 60 licensed establishments, or 4.16 providers per 1,000 children under 5 — close to the national density of 4.21. Capacity here is the index's middling number, not its high one.
Workforce — 55/100
The median Sioux Falls childcare worker earns $12.90 an hour — about $26,830 a year — equal to 62.3% of the local single-adult living wage of $20.70. That's nearly identical to the national ratio (62.6%) and a few points below South Dakota's statewide figure (62.9%). Roughly 1,340 workers staff the metro's centers and family homes. At this wage band, the metro's tight labor market — the area's overall unemployment is among the lowest in the country — keeps turnover high, with classroom teachers continuing to lose ground to retail and warehouse competitors paying $15-17.
Family strain — 80.7/100
Mothers of kids under 6 work outside the home at an 82.9% rate in Sioux Falls — one of the highest figures in the 250-city index and more than 14 points above the 68.2% national rate. Single-parent share comes in at 32.6%, almost identical to the national 31.8%. With a $74,714 median household income and modest single-parent share, the high mothers' LFP reads more as labor-market opportunity than economic necessity — a tight job market pulling more mothers in.
Policy support — 11.1/100
South Dakota is one of a handful of states with no state-funded pre-K program — 0% of 4-year-olds and 0% of 3-year-olds enrolled, and zero per-child spending. The state's CCDF subsidy reaches just 8.5% of eligible families, well below the national average, and serves about 3,000 children a month. South Dakota offers no statewide paid family or medical leave program. Policy is measured at the state level.
In-home care in Sioux Falls
In-home care in Sioux Falls reflects regional patterns, with full-time live-out nanny rates running in line with the broader Upper Midwest market and rising as households compete for experienced caregivers in a tight labor market. Nanny shares between two families have become more common in neighborhoods where dual-income professional households cluster. Au pair placements remain a smaller share of the market but are growing among households that need live-in coverage for shift schedules tied to the metro's healthcare and financial-services 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).