Home / States / Mississippi /

County childcare costs · DOL NDCP 2022

Childcare costs in Sharkey County, MS

The standout signal in Sharkey County, MS is sticker price: center infant care runs $6,122/yr (QUIET · quiet-price tercile · #351 of 2,661), 36% below the U.S. average.

Data updated 2026-09-24

$6,122
Center Infant/yr
N/A
Family Infant/yr
$41,000
Median Income
14.9%
% of Income (Infant)

The verdict

Sharkey County pairs top-quartile cheapest infant care nationally with a moderate income burden on families.

Top 13%
cheapest nationally
Moderate
income-burden tier
#351
of 2,661 priced counties
D
PlainChildcare Composite Score
31/100
Sharkey County, MS

A center-based childcare affordability composite (infant, preschool, and school-age price burden relative to local median income) plus poverty rate, benchmarked against every other tracked county nationally. Not a rating of childcare quality, safety, or availability. Dimensions with no data on file are excluded and their weight redistributed, never counted as zero.

Infant care burden C
Center-based infant care costs 14.9% of median household income here (national median 14.6%)
Preschool care burden D
Center-based preschool care costs 13.6% of median household income here (national median 12.5%)
School-age care burden D
Center-based school-age care costs 12.9% of median household income here (national median 10.4%)
Economic hardship F
21.2% poverty rate here (national median 9.3%)
Price-change feed

Quiet-price tercile: center infant care is $6,122/yr (14.9% of median income), absolute stickers are low; capacity and waitlists still bind.

Quiet-book age ladder for Sharkey County

Age Group Center-Based Family Childcare
Infant $6,122 N/A
Toddler $5,572 N/A
Preschool $5,572 N/A
School Age $5,297 N/A

Where Sharkey County ranks on infant-care cost

Center-based infant care, every U.S. county with reported prices

$6,122 Among the most affordable more affordable than 87% of 2,661 US counties

This county $2,500 $32,500 every U.S. county, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $2.5K-wide band; taller bars hold more US counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Department of Labor, National Database of Childcare Prices · 2022

Sharkey County vs. every other Mississippi county: income vs. infant-care cost

Median household income (x) vs. average center-based infant care (y) across 30 Mississippi counties with reported prices. Crosshairs at the Mississippi median.

Median household income vs Avg. annual infant care 2×2 strategic matrix plotting 30 entities by Median household income (X) and Avg. annual infant care (Y), with a crosshair dividing the plot into four quadrants. High income, high costLow income, high costHigh income, low costLow income, low cost $0$20,000$40,000$60,000$80,000$100,000 $5,500$6,000$6,500$7,000$7,500$8,000$8,500 Median household income Avg. annual infant care

Within Mississippi, Sharkey County has lower income and lower infant-care cost than the typical Mississippi county (its national standing, top-quartile cheapest infant care nationally, is a separate comparison against every U.S. county, not just its own state).

Sharkey County sticker reading

The standout signal in Sharkey County, MS is sticker price: center infant care runs $6,122/yr (QUIET · quiet-price tercile · #351 of 2,661), 36% below the U.S. average.

Mid-burden tercile: Sharkey County spends 14.9% of a $41,000 median on infant center care (HEAVY). Pair the QUIET sticker with the age-group table before treating any single cell as the household story.

For how to vet a licensed provider (inspection reports, QRIS ratings, CCDF subsidy intake), see Choosing Quality Childcare. Rate methodology: how these numbers are computed.

Historical Price Trends (2008–2022)

Here's how center-based infant care priced out from 2010 to 2022, across 13 years of NDCP survey data.

+108.1% since 2010
Infant center care: $2,942 → $6,122
$6,122/yr
Most recent annual cost (2022)
13 years
Data available (2010–2022)
2010
$2,942
2011
$3,428
2012
$4,012
2013
$4,596
2014
$4,300
2015
$4,006
2016
$3,710
2017
$4,112
2018
$4,514
2019
$4,916
2020
$5,318
2021
$5,720
2022
$6,122
View full data table (all care types) ▼
Year Ctr Infant
2008 N/A
2009 N/A
2010 $2,942
2011 $3,428
2012 $4,012
2013 $4,596
2014 $4,300
2015 $4,006
2016 $3,710
2017 $4,112
2018 $4,514
2019 $4,916
2020 $5,318
2021 $5,720
2022 $6,122

Nearest infant-price counties in Mississippi

Ordered by ABS(center_infant) to Sharkey County's QUIET NDCP sticker - not A-Z chrome.

Choctaw County, MS
Infant: $6,126 · 14.6% of income
Noxubee County, MS
Infant: $6,126 · 14.5% of income
Smith County, MS
Infant: $6,126 · 11.8% of income
Quitman County, MS
Infant: $6,116 · 19.6% of income
Greene County, MS
Infant: $6,112 · 12.2% of income
Prentiss County, MS
Infant: $6,109 · 11.8% of income

What to do with Sharkey County

Infant center care here runs 14.9% of the local median income (HEAVY), check where your own household lands.

  • Sharkey County spends 14.9% of median income on infant center care, above the HHS 7%-of-income affordability line. See exactly where your own household income lands. Affordability calculator
  • $6,122/yr center infant sticker (QUIET) - see how Sharkey County compares against the full national ladder. National rankings
  • If care is straining the budget, federal and state programs (CCDF, Head Start) can cut it sharply. Check whether Sharkey County families are likely eligible. Check subsidy eligibility

Figures are NDCP county-level survey medians for 2022 - your local providers set the actual price.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, National Database of Childcare Prices (2022); median household income: U.S. Census ACS. See methodology for how costs and affordability are computed. As-of September 2026.

Disclaimer: informational only, not professional advice. See full disclaimer.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Report a data error on this page

Verify with DOL Women's Bureau NDCP →  ·  Verify with U.S. Census ACS →  ·  Verify with HUD →