As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, Wisconsin has 2 cities among the largest 250 in the nation.
A center-based infant in Wisconsin costs $18,301 a year — about $1,140 above the national average and roughly 50% more than the family pays in monthly rent, the widest childcare-to-rent ratio in the Midwest. The state also enrolls 63% of its 4-year-olds in 4K, one of the highest pre-K access rates in the country, on a program that meets just two of NIEER's ten quality benchmarks. The result is a state that finishes 29th nationally on a divided geography: the Madison-Dane corridor functions on one set of childcare arithmetic, the Milwaukee metro on another. The price burden anchors Wisconsin's overall score down; broad 4K access and reasonable subsidy reach are what keep it out of the bottom third.
Key highlights & actionable takeaways
- Strained (49/100), ranked 29th nationally — strongest of the four upper-Midwest states, on the edge of Moderate.
- Infant care eats 24.2% of median income; childcare-to-rent ratio hits 1.46, the highest in the Midwest.
- 4K reaches 63% of 4-year-olds — third-highest pre-K access nationally — but the program meets only 2 of 10 NIEER quality benchmarks.
Affordability — 12/100
A center-based infant slot in Wisconsin runs $18,301 a year — about $1,140 above the $17,163 national figure and consuming 24.2% of the state's $75,670 median household income. The childcare-to-rent ratio reaches 1.46 — Wisconsin families with one infant in center care spend nearly 50% more on childcare than on housing each month, the highest such ratio in the Midwest and well above the 1.06 national rate. The arithmetic works that way because Wisconsin rent is unusually low ($1,045/month) for a state with this income profile, while childcare prices have tracked closer to the higher-cost Upper Midwest pattern set by Minnesota. Toddler care runs $16,341; preschool, $16,341. Family child care offers some relief at $13,984 for infants — but not enough to bring the total bill into Moderate territory. Wisconsin's 12/100 affordability dimension is the second-worst in the Midwest after Indiana, and the dominant reason the state's overall score sits below where its workforce, family-strain, and policy metrics would otherwise place it.
Supply — 61/100
Wisconsin licensed 171,050 childcare slots against 276,610 children with potential need — a 37.9% gap, more than ten points wider than the 27% national rate. The state operates 1,511 licensed establishments at 4.72 per 1,000 children under five, above the 4.21 national rate. The 61/100 Supply score reflects an unusual divergence between the gap metric (which is wide) and the establishment-density metric (which is strong) — Wisconsin has a relatively dense network of licensed providers, but they're not absorbing the full demand because per-provider capacity has shrunk over the last several years. Staffing constraints, not facility constraints, are the binding factor in much of the state. The supply story is meaningfully better in southeastern Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Madison, the Fox Valley) than in the rural northern counties.
Workforce — 70/100
The median Wisconsin childcare worker earns $14.27 an hour — about $1.14 below the $15.41 national median but reaching 65.2% of the state's $21.88 living wage for a single adult, three points above the 62.6% national share. Annual median pay sits at $29,670 across just 3,910 workers in the occupation — a workforce smaller in absolute terms than Iowa's despite Wisconsin's larger population. The Workforce dimension scores at 70/100 because the wage stretches further locally than it does in higher-cost states, but the small workforce size signals that staffing is what's limiting the supply expansion that the establishment density would otherwise enable.
Family Strain — 65/100
Wisconsin mothers of children under six participate in the labor force at 74.1% — six points above the 68.2% national rate and one of the higher rates in the Midwest. Single-parent households make up 32.2% of families with kids under 18, just above the 31.8% national figure. The Family Strain dimension lands in solidly Moderate territory, with the high mothers' LFP partially offsetting the average single-parent share. The pattern reflects the Upper Midwest's dual-earner household norm rather than any state-specific intervention.
Policy Support — 67/100
Wisconsin's strongest dimension and one of the higher policy scores in the Midwest. The state enrolls 63% of 4-year-olds in state-funded 4K — the third-highest access rate in the country and the highest in the Midwest after Iowa. Per-child spending of $3,812 reflects a relatively lean per-pupil model, and the program meets just 2 of NIEER's 10 quality benchmarks — Wisconsin has prioritized broad access over rigorous quality standards in its 4K program design. The 3-year-old enrollment rate is essentially zero. CCDF subsidies reach 29.1% of eligible children (about 27,800 monthly), one of the higher coverage rates in the Midwest. The state has no paid family leave program. Head Start serves another 11,968 children. The 67/100 Policy Support score is what pulls Wisconsin's overall ranking above peer Strained-tier states — the universal-access 4K program reaches a meaningful share of the eligible cohort even if the quality benchmarks lag.
City spotlight
Madison scores 51/100 (Moderate, #119 of 250) — the higher-ranked of Wisconsin's two cities in the index, with Dane County's professional-services and university-anchored employment supporting both household income and a denser supply base than the state average. Milwaukee scores 43/100 (Strained, #193 of 250) — the lower-ranked of the two, where Milwaukee County's combination of moderate household income, higher single-parent share, and tighter supply produces a sharper effective burden than the Madison metro sees. The 8-point spread between the two captures Wisconsin's two-tier reality: the Madison-Dane corridor functions on a different childcare market arithmetic than the Milwaukee metro does.
In-home care in Wisconsin
Beverly Research perspective: Wisconsin's in-home care market is concentrated in the Milwaukee metro (particularly the North Shore and Waukesha County suburbs) and in the Madison-Dane corridor. Full-time live-out nanny rates in the Milwaukee metro typically run $20-28/hour for one child; the Madison market tracks similarly. The state's combination of high effective center prices and tight infant capacity in both metros has driven a measurable shift toward nanny-share arrangements in the inner suburbs over the last 24 months — particularly in households where both parents work for healthcare systems, the universities, or insurance-sector employers anchored to the Milwaukee corridor. Au pair placements appear in pockets but remain a small share of the overall in-home market.
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). State-level prices and supply use population-weighted county aggregates. 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).