As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Spokane ranks the 99th largest city in the nation.

Spokane childcare workers earn $17.14 an hour — modest in absolute terms — but that wage clears 77.2% of the local single-adult living wage of $22.21, among the highest workforce-health readings in the country. The mechanism is wage compression, not rising childcare pay: Spokane's living-wage threshold sits about $7 below King County's because rent, transit, and goods cost less. The retention implication still holds — Spokane centers face less of the bidding war that drives Seattle turnover. The affordability picture moves the other direction: infant care runs $18,410 a year against a $65,745 median household income, a 28% burden, the heaviest in the Washington cohort. Spokane County is formally a childcare desert. Spokane ranks 198th of 250.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

198th nationally, score 42 (Strained) — the lowest in Washington's five-city cohort.
Childcare worker wages clear 77.2% of the local living wage — among the highest in the country, but driven by wage compression, not strong pay.
Infant care eats 28% of household income — the heaviest burden in Washington; Spokane County licenses 32 slots per 100 working-parent kids under five.

Actionable takeaways

Spokane's wage compression beats wage level. Childcare workers earn $17.14/hr — modest in absolute terms — but that wage clears 77.2% of the local single-adult living wage of $22.21, among the highest workforce-health readings in the country. The mechanism is a lower local cost floor, not rising childcare pay.
The 28% income burden is the heaviest in the Washington cohort. Spokane families pay roughly $400 more per month for one infant slot than for shelter — a structural gap that pushes many toward family-childcare homes, relative care, or one-earner arrangements.
The 37.2% single-parent share is the highest in Washington's five-city cohort. Combined with the affordability picture, the strain reads as economic necessity rather than choice — most Spokane mothers of young children are working because they have to be.

Affordability — 16/100

A year of infant center care in Spokane County runs $18,410 — about $1,247 above the national figure of $17,163 and nearly $3,400 below the Washington state average of $21,767. The price looks moderate by West Coast standards. The problem is income: Spokane's $65,745 median household income is roughly $29,000 below Seattle's and $15,000 below the state average. That gap turns a sub-state price into a 28% burden, the highest infant-care-as-share-of-income reading in the Washington cohort.

Toddler center care drops to $15,488 and family-childcare-home rates run $13,475. Childcare to rent runs 1.34 here — well above the 1.06 national figure and the 1.08 Washington average. For a Spokane family with one infant in full-time center care, the math comes to roughly $1,534 a month in tuition, against a $1,141 median rent. A typical Spokane household pays roughly $400 more for one infant slot than for shelter — a structural gap that pushes many families toward family-childcare homes, relative care, or one-earner arrangements.

Supply — 29/100

Spokane County logs roughly 12,190 licensed slots against 38,108 kids under five with working parents — 32 slots per 100 such kids, identical to the King County reading and well into childcare-desert territory. The county counts 116 licensed establishments, or 3.78 sites per 1,000 children under five, below the national density (4.21) and the Washington state baseline (4.9). Statewide, Washington logs a 45.3% supply-vs-demand gap per the Bipartisan Policy Center; Spokane sits at the harder end of that statewide picture, with infant-room access especially constrained.

Workforce — 100/100

This is where Spokane stands out nationally. The median childcare worker earns $17.14 an hour — about $35,640 annually — equal to 77.2% of the local single-adult living wage of $22.21. That ratio is among the highest in the country and well above the 62.6% national figure. The number is real, but the mechanism is wage compression rather than rising childcare pay. Spokane's living-wage threshold sits about $7 below King County's because rent, transit, and goods cost less; the median childcare worker's hourly rate has caught up not because pay rose but because the local cost floor is lower. The retention implication still holds: Spokane centers face less of the bidding war that drives King County turnover, which helps stabilize caregiver-child relationships even where slot scarcity is severe.

Family strain — 42/100

Mothers of kids under six work outside the home at a 66.8% rate in Spokane — close to the 68.2% national figure and four points above Washington's state average of 62.8%. Single-parent share runs 37.2%, well above the 31.8% US figure and the highest in the Washington cohort. Combined with the affordability reading, the picture reads as economic necessity rather than choice: most Spokane mothers of young children are working, more than a third of those households are managed by a single parent, and the childcare bill consumes a disproportionate share of available pay.

Policy support — 57/100

Washington enrolls 17% of 4-year-olds and 8% of 3-year-olds in state pre-K, spending $12,808 per enrolled child and meeting 8.2 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks. The state CCDF subsidy reaches 19.8% of eligible families and serves about 24,500 children a month. Washington's Paid Family and Medical Leave program, in effect since 2020, offers up to 12 weeks at 90% wage replacement. Policy is measured at the state level; every Washington city in this index inherits the same 57.1 score.

In-home care in Spokane

In-home care in Spokane tracks broader Washington-east-of-the-Cascades nanny patterns, with full-time live-out rates running materially below King County and closer to the broader Inland Northwest market. Nanny shares between two families have become a workaround for households priced out of single-family rates, and family-childcare homes carry a heavier share of formal care here than in the Seattle metro. Au pair placements remain a smaller channel but appear in households needing live-in coverage tied to healthcare and Fairchild Air Force Base shift schedules.

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.