New data reveals where the cheapest childcare is in Australia – and the answer will surprise you

New data has crunched the numbers and found out where the cheapest childcare is in the country – and the answer might surprise you.

Children play in a childcare centre. New data has revealed the 10 cheapest locations in Australia for childcare. Picture: Getty Images

Australia’s most affordable childcare is in the heart of the country, new data reveals.

Costing on average only $8.32 an hour, Alice Springs has the cheapest childcare in the country, according to a new index published by iSelect.

The index crunched the numbers countrywide, with the Red Centre capital beating out second placed south Canberra by $7.35.

According to the index, childcare in both Alice Springs and South Canberra had 20.5 per cent of income weekly cost.

Alice Springs town centre. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Higher incomes in Canberra compared to Alice helped offset the increased cost of $15.67 per hour in the nation’s capital, according to the index.

Katherine also made the top ten, coming in at seventh, with a cheaper average cost of $7.43, but a higher percentage of weekly income spent on the service – 22.9 per cent – meant it feel further down the index.

The Pilbara in WA, both east and west, took the third and fourth spots on the cheapest childcare index, while Manly, NSW, come in at fifth.

Pilbara residents spend and about 21 per cent of their income on childcare, which according to the index costs $14.70 in the east of the region and $15.32 in the west.

Two towns in the Northern Territory had some of the cheapest childcare in Australia, according to data from iSelect. Picture: Getty Images,

People in Manly are paying $16.54 per hour and using 22.4 per cent of their weekly income to pay for childcare, according to the index.

Rounding out the list was Cottesloe-Claremont in WA, Leichhardt in NSW, inner Hobart, and North Canberra, which all had childcare averaging under $20 per hour, with residents spending less than 25 per cent of their weekly income on it.

The index was sourced from data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, iSelect stated online.

Originally published as New data reveals where the cheapest childcare is in Australia – and the answer will surprise you