As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Vancouver ranks the 132nd largest city in the nation.

Vancouver, Washington — not Vancouver, British Columbia — sits across the Columbia from Portland and inherits the awkward geometry of two states' policy regimes meeting at one labor market. Clark County's $18,813 annual price for a center-based infant slot is anchored to Portland-metro labor costs, but families pay it under Washington's policy floor: 8% pre-K enrollment for three-year-olds, no Oregon-style per-child spending advantage. The result is a 24.1% income burden against the city's $78,156 median household income — heavier than either Portland or Seattle. The county licenses 32 slots per 100 working-parent kids under five and 3.3 establishments per 1,000 children — the lowest density in Washington's five-city cohort. Vancouver ranks 181st of 250.

Key highlights & actionable takeaways

181st nationally, score 44 (Strained) — Vancouver, Washington, not Vancouver, BC; Portland's primary cross-river suburb.
Infant care eats 24.1% of household income — heavier than either Portland or Seattle, despite Clark County prices running below both.
Clark County is formally a childcare desert; 32 licensed slots per 100 working-parent kids under five, lowest establishment density in the Washington cohort.

Actionable takeaways

This is Vancouver, Washington — not Vancouver, British Columbia. The distinction matters because the city sits inside the Portland metro labor market but under Washington's policy floor: Portland-anchored prices and wages, but no Oregon-style $18,637-per-pre-K-child investment. The cross-state geometry is the local angle.
Childcare and shelter are essentially the same line item. A Vancouver family pays $1,568 a month for one infant slot against a $1,632 median rent. That ratio reframes the affordability story past percent-of-income headlines.
Clark County has the lowest establishment density in Washington's five-city cohort. At 3.3 sites per 1,000 children under five — below both the national 4.21 and Washington's 4.9 baseline — local supply scarcity is sharper than King or Pierce counties' headline figures suggest.

Affordability — 39/100

A year of infant center care in Clark County runs $18,813 — about $1,650 above the $17,163 national figure and roughly $2,950 below the Washington state average of $21,767. Vancouver sits structurally below Seattle prices because Clark County is anchored more to the Portland metro than to King County. Even so, the city's $78,156 median household income is roughly $44,000 below Bellevue's, which turns the moderate price into a 24.1% income burden — heavier than Portland's 26.4% only because Portland prices run higher still.

Toddler center care drops to $16,101 and family-childcare-home rates run $14,001 — meaningful but not transformative discounts. Childcare to rent runs 0.96 here, slightly below the threshold where annual infant care would equal annual rent. For a Vancouver family with one infant in full-time center care, the math comes to roughly $1,568 a month in tuition against a $1,632 median rent — childcare and shelter are essentially the same line item.

Supply — 23/100

Clark County logs an estimated 11,853 licensed slots against 37,056 kids under five with working parents — 32 slots per 100 such kids, identical to the King County and Pierce County readings, well into childcare-desert territory. The county counts 96 licensed establishments, or 3.3 sites per 1,000 children under five — the lowest establishment density in Washington's five-city cohort and below both the national density (4.21) and Washington's statewide baseline (4.9). Statewide, Washington's supply-vs-demand gap runs 45.3% per the Bipartisan Policy Center; Clark County sits at the harder end of that picture, with cross-river commuter families competing for the same Portland-metro slots.

Workforce — 69/100

The median Clark County childcare worker earns $18.05 an hour — about $37,540 a year — equal to 64.1% of the local single-adult living wage of $28.17. The wage figure follows OEWS treatment of the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro as a single labor market, so the number is anchored more to Multnomah County than to anywhere east of the Cascades. The implication for Clark County families is straightforward: centers competing for caregivers face the same Portland-metro wage pressure but without Oregon's policy infrastructure, and turnover patterns track Portland's rather than Spokane's.

Family strain — 51/100

Mothers of kids under six work outside the home at a 69.1% rate in Vancouver — modestly above the 68.2% national figure and seven points above Washington's state average of 62.8%. Single-parent share runs 36.3%, well above the 31.8% US figure and the second-highest in the Washington cohort behind Tacoma. The reading describes a city where most mothers of young children are working, more than a third of those households are managed by a single parent, and the affordability picture above creates real pressure on family budgets.

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, including Vancouver despite the metro's economic and labor-market integration with Oregon.

In-home care in Vancouver

In-home care in Vancouver tracks the broader Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro nanny market, with full-time live-out rates running below central-Portland bands but above east-of-the-Cascades Washington. Nanny shares between two families on either side of the Columbia have become a workaround for the spread between center prices and single-family nanny rates, and family-childcare homes carry a meaningful share of formal capacity in Clark County's working-class neighborhoods. The au pair channel sees use among households needing live-in coverage tied to cross-river commuter 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.