State guide · 2022 official data
Childcare costs in Illinois
Compare a typical county, then find the county where care is provided.
A typical county in Illinois
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
- $288per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $234 / week58 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $214 / week · 2661 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Toddler · center
- $253per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $205 / week56 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $189 / week · 2663 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Preschool · center
- $212per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $172 / week63 reporting counties in this stateNational typical county: $178 / week · 2670 counties↑ Higher than the national median
- Infant · home-based
- $195per week · September 2026 CPI estimate2022 official data: $158 / week77 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.
Illinois county pages
17 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Cook County | $278 | $343 |
| DuPage County | $374 | $462 |
| Lake County | $305 | $377 |
| Will County | $304 | $375 |
| Kane County | $328 | $405 |
| McHenry County | $316 | $389 |
| Winnebago County | $282 | $347 |
| Madison County | $288 | $356 |
| St. Clair County | $238 | $294 |
| Champaign County | $309 | $382 |
| Sangamon County | $196 | $242 |
| Peoria County | $279 | $344 |
| McLean County | $314 | $387 |
| Rock Island County | $282 | $347 |
| Kendall County | $286 | $353 |
| Tazewell County | $280 | $346 |
| LaSalle County | $264 | $326 |
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