As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, San Antonio ranks the 7th largest city in the nation.

A Bexar County childcare worker earns $13.93 an hour and covers 68.5% of a single-adult living wage — the strongest workforce reading of any large Texas city, and one of the better marks anywhere in the South. The arithmetic is cost-of-living: San Antonio's housing-and-services baseline is materially lower than the Austin, Dallas, or Fort Worth tier, and the same nominal wage stretches further. That keeps providers in classrooms longer than the metroplex norm, which is why San Antonio outranks Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth on Beverly's index despite middling affordability and supply. The city's $62,917 median household income — closer to Houston's than Austin's — flips the cost burden, and the family-strain reading drags the overall score back down. San Antonio ranks 20th of 31 in Texas, 73rd of 250 nationally.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

Score 57 (Moderate), ranked 73 of 250; 20th of 31 in Texas — workforce score 91 (best among large Texas cities) anchors the rank.
Bexar County childcare workers cover 68.5% of a local living wage — the strongest reading in any large Texas metro.
Infant care $12,061/year, 19.2% of $62,917 median income; family-strain reading 28 drags the overall score back down.

Actionable takeaways

Lower cost-of-living, not higher pay, drives the workforce score. Bexar County wages of $13.93/hour beat the Texas norm only because San Antonio housing-and-services baseline is materially below Austin and the DFW tier — the policy lesson is housing-cost containment, not wage policy.
Establishment density is the lowest among large TX cities. 2.32 establishments per 1,000 kids — below both the Texas (3.17) and national (4.21) rates — limits the supply ceiling even as workforce stays stable.
Pre-K 4 SA is the local exception to the state policy floor. Funded by city sales tax, it doesn't lift the state-measured score but is the most aggressive local pre-K initiative in Texas.

Affordability — 64/100

A year of full-time infant center care in Bexar County runs $12,061 — roughly $5,100 below the national average but enough to consume 19.2% of the city's $62,917 median household income. Toddler care is $11,174; preschool, $10,436; family child care infant care, $10,707.

San Antonio's prices sit slightly above the Texas state average but well below the Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth metro tier — a function of the lower wage base and lower commercial real estate costs in Bexar County. Childcare-to-rent runs 0.80 — the typical family's rent ($1,258/month) still exceeds tuition, but only modestly. A San Antonio family with one infant in center care pays roughly $1,400 less per year than the Texas state median.

The city's lower household income — closer to Houston's than to Austin's or Plano's — flips the math: cheaper prices in absolute terms still hit harder as a share of paychecks.

Supply — 50/100

Bexar County has roughly 91,400 licensed slots and 165,000 children under 5 with working parents — the same 56-per-100 ratio that holds across most of Texas. The county's 309 licensed establishments work out to 2.32 per 1,000 children under 5 — below the Texas state rate of 3.17 and well below the national rate of 4.21. San Antonio is not formally a childcare desert, but the establishment density is the lowest among the four largest Texas cities and the practical effect on parent waitlists is real.

Workforce — 91/100

The median Bexar County childcare worker earns $13.93/hour — about $28,980 a year — against a local living wage of $20.33/hour. The wage-to-living-wage ratio of 68.5% is the strongest in the Texas cluster outside of Lubbock and a primary reason San Antonio outranks Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth on the index despite middling affordability and supply. The Workforce Health score of 91.0/100 is the highest of any Texas city in the index.

The reading reflects San Antonio's lower cost of living — particularly housing — that lets the same nominal wage cover more of an early educator's needs than it does in Austin or the Dallas-Fort Worth corridor. Provider turnover is still a real issue, but the structural pressure on the workforce is meaningfully less acute.

Family strain — 28/100

Mothers' labor force participation among kids under 6 sits at 64.3% in San Antonio — above the Texas state average of 62.8% but below the national rate of 68.2%. Single-parent households make up 41.0% of families with kids — close to ten points above the national average. The combination drives the Family Strain score down to 28.1/100. As in Houston, the cost-and-supply math doesn't pencil for many families, and a parent — usually a mother — stays home rather than absorb the second-income hit to childcare.

Policy support — 48/100

Inherited from Texas. The state enrolls 52% of 4-year-olds in public pre-K and 11% of 3-year-olds at $4,682 per child, meets 2 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks, reaches 16.4% of eligible children with CCDF subsidies, and offers zero weeks of paid family leave. San Antonio's Pre-K 4 SA program — funded by a city sales tax — operates separately from state policy but does not move the state-measured score.

In-home care in San Antonio

In-home care in San Antonio typically reflects metro-wide South Texas nanny market patterns, with full-time live-out rates in line with the broader Texas market — generally below the Austin and DFW tier given the region's lower wage base. Demand is concentrated among professional households on the city's north side and around the medical center. Au pair placements through the State Department's J-1 program have grown across the metro, particularly among multi-kid families with the housing capacity to host.

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.