State guide · 2022 official data
Childcare costs in California
Compare a typical county, then find the county where care is provided.
A typical county in California
Unweighted medians of available county medians across the full source. These are not the prices paid by a typical resident or pooled provider medians.
- Infant · center
- $436per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $353 / week58 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $214 / week · 2661 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Toddler · center
- $268per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $217 / week58 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $189 / week · 2663 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Preschool · center
- $235per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $190 / week58 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $178 / week · 2670 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Infant · home-based
- $304per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $246 / week58 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $177 / week · 2584 counties↑ Higher than the national median
Prices describe cost, not quality. Ask providers for current quotes.
California county pages
35 county pages in the national 500-county launch set, ordered by source-vintage population. The statewide benchmarks above use all available counties, not just these pages.
| County | 2022 official data | September 2026 estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | $257 | $317 |
| San Diego County | $379 | $468 |
| Orange County | $394 | $486 |
| Riverside County | $405 | $499 |
| San Bernardino County | $384 | $474 |
| Santa Clara County | $527 | $650 |
| Alameda County | $516 | $636 |
| Sacramento County | $347 | $428 |
| Contra Costa County | $482 | $594 |
| Fresno County | $416 | $513 |
| Kern County | $353 | $435 |
| San Francisco County | $607 | $748 |
| Ventura County | $425 | $524 |
| San Joaquin County | $387 | $477 |
| San Mateo County | $555 | $684 |
| Stanislaus County | $316 | $390 |
| Sonoma County | $243 | $300 |
| Tulare County | $240 | $296 |
| Solano County | $424 | $522 |
| Santa Barbara County | $453 | $558 |
| Monterey County | $403 | $497 |
| Placer County | $449 | $554 |
| Merced County | $245 | $302 |
| San Luis Obispo County | $361 | $446 |
| Santa Cruz County | $477 | $588 |
| Marin County | $548 | $676 |
| Yolo County | $387 | $478 |
| Butte County | $354 | $437 |
| El Dorado County | $450 | $555 |
| Shasta County | $248 | $306 |
| Imperial County | $222 | $274 |
| Madera County | $332 | $409 |
| Kings County | $261 | $321 |
| Napa County | $377 | $465 |
| Humboldt County | $366 | $452 |
What this means
Use the same age group and care setting when comparing costs. A statewide typical-county figure can hide substantial local differences. CPI-adjusted figures apply national inflation to 2022 prices; they are not new local observations.
Sources & data dates
- Prices
- DOL Women’s Bureau NDCP, study year 2022. County estimates from state market-rate surveys; some values are standardized or imputed.
- Inflation
- BLS day care and preschool CPI-U (not seasonally adjusted), September 2026. These are adjusted estimates, not new local observations.
- Income & population
- Census ACS fields distributed in the DOL workbook’s 2022 rows: MFI (family income, DP03) and TOTALPOP (DP05). Income share uses 2022 prices only.
- Retrieved
- 2026-11-03 (DOL); 2026-11-03 (BLS)
- Method
- Units, typical-county benchmarks, ZIP matching and limitations