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County childcare costs · DOL NDCP 2022

Childcare costs in Wayne County, MS

The standout signal in Wayne County, MS is sticker price: center infant care runs $6,171/yr (QUIET · quiet-price tercile · #380 of 2,661), 36% below the U.S. average.

Data updated 2026-09-24

$6,171
Center Infant/yr
N/A
Family Infant/yr
$34,875
Median Income
17.7%
% of Income (Infant)

The verdict

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

Top 14%
cheapest nationally
Heavy
income-burden tier
#380
of 2,661 priced counties
F
PlainChildcare Composite Score
19/100
Wayne 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 D
Center-based infant care costs 17.7% of median household income here (national median 14.6%)
Preschool care burden F
Center-based preschool care costs 16.1% of median household income here (national median 12.5%)
School-age care burden F
Center-based school-age care costs 15.3% of median household income here (national median 10.4%)
Economic hardship F
14.9% poverty rate here (national median 9.3%)
Price-change feed

Quiet-price tercile: center infant care is $6,171/yr (17.7% of median income), absolute stickers are low; capacity and waitlists still bind.

Quiet-book age ladder for Wayne County

Age Group Center-Based Family Childcare
Infant $6,171 N/A
Toddler $5,617 N/A
Preschool $5,617 N/A
School Age $5,339 N/A

Where Wayne County ranks on infant-care cost

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

$6,171 Among the most affordable more affordable than 86% 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

Wayne 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, Wayne County has lower income but higher 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).

Wayne County sticker reading

The standout signal in Wayne County, MS is sticker price: center infant care runs $6,171/yr (QUIET · quiet-price tercile · #380 of 2,661), 36% below the U.S. average.

Heavy-burden tercile counties like Wayne County put infant center care at 17.7% of a $34,875 ACS median, well above the HHS 7% line. Treat subsidy and family-setting trade-offs as first-order, not footnotes.

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)

Center-based infant care costs over 2010–2022 (13 years of NDCP data).

+97.2% since 2010
Infant center care: $3,129 → $6,171
$6,171/yr
Most recent annual cost (2022)
13 years
Data available (2010–2022)
2010
$3,129
2011
$3,491
2012
$3,930
2013
$4,369
2014
$4,067
2015
$3,764
2016
$3,462
2017
$3,914
2018
$4,365
2019
$4,817
2020
$5,269
2021
$5,720
2022
$6,171
View full data table (all care types) ▼
Year Ctr Infant
2008 N/A
2009 N/A
2010 $3,129
2011 $3,491
2012 $3,930
2013 $4,369
2014 $4,067
2015 $3,764
2016 $3,462
2017 $3,914
2018 $4,365
2019 $4,817
2020 $5,269
2021 $5,720
2022 $6,171

Nearest infant-price counties in Mississippi

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

Carroll County, MS
Infant: $6,169 · 14.6% of income
Yalobusha County, MS
Infant: $6,174 · 13.1% of income
Calhoun County, MS
Infant: $6,159 · 13.8% of income
Humphreys County, MS
Infant: $6,158 · 19.3% of income
Tishomingo County, MS
Infant: $6,158 · 13.5% of income
Issaquena County, MS
Infant: $6,190 · 34.6% of income

What to do with Wayne County

Infant center care here runs 17.7% of the local median income (HEAVY), check where your own household lands.

  • Wayne County spends 17.7% 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
  • $6,171/yr center infant sticker (QUIET) - see how Wayne 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 Wayne 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 →