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Child Care and Early Learning in the United States

The Center for American Progress’ data dashboard allows users to explore national- and state-level data trends on a range of child care and early learning topics, including the cost of child care, the child care workforce, and Head Start program access.

Read the 2023 accompanying report, which provides narrative context on the indicators included in this dashboard, additional figures, and a discussion of key national-level trends.

  • Number of infants and toddlers 1

    10,658,295

    Number of children who are under age 3.

  • Number of preschool-age children 2

    7,688,007

    Number of children who are ages 3 and 4.

  • Number of children under age 6 3

    22,133,354

    Estimated total number of children who are under age 6.

  • Number of children under age 6 who are in poverty (OPM) 4

    3,784,124

    Number of children who are under age 6 and living in households below the federal poverty threshold, measured by the official poverty measure.

  • Percentage of children under age 6 who are in poverty (OPM) 5

    15.92%

    Percentage of children who are under age 6 and living in households below the federal poverty threshold, measured by the official poverty measure.

  • Percentage of children under age 6 who are in poverty (SPM) 6

    12.93%

    Percentage of children who are under age 6 and living in households below the federal poverty threshold, measured by the supplemental poverty measure.

  • Percentage of children under age 5 who have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences. 7

    n/a

    Percentage of children under age 5 who have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

  • Number of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce. 8

    14,415,594

    Number of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce.

  • Percentage of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce 9

    67.8%

    Percentage of children under age 6 with all available parents in the workforce.

  • Number of parents reporting job changes due to problems with child care 10

    2,662,070

    Number of parents reporting job changes due to problems with child care, based on the percentage of parents with children ages 0–5 who reported quitting a job, not taking a job, or greatly changing their job because of problems with child care for a child ages 0–5.

  • Average annual child care tuition for two children in center-based care (infant and 4-year-old) 11

    $23,639.16

    Sum of the average annual price of full–time, center–based child care for one infant and one 4–year–old child, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Average annual child care tuition for an infant in center-based care 12

    $13,166.82

    Average annual price of full–time, center–based child care for an infant, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Average annual child care tuition for a 4-year-old in center-based care 13

    $10,472.34

    Average annual price of full–time, center–based child care for a 4–year–old child, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Average annual child care tuition for two children in family-based care (infant and 4-year-old) 14

    $18,150.60

    Sum of the average annual price of full–time, family–based child care for one infant and one 4–year–old child, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Average annual child care tuition for an infant in family-based care 15

    $9,505.12

    Average annual price of full–time, family–based child care for an infant, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Average annual child care tuition for a 4-year-old in family-based care 16

    $8,645.48

    Average annual price of full–time, family–based child care for a 4–year–old child, based on Child Care Aware's survey of child care resource and referral state networks. Some states used the latest state market rate survey.

  • Percentage of qualifying low-income children under age 6 who receive child care subsidies 17

    n/a

    Percentage of eligible children under age 6 who receive child care subsidies.

  • Median hourly wage of child care workers 18

    $13.71

    Median hourly wage of child care workers.

  • Median hourly wage of preschool teachers 19

    $16.99

    Median hourly wage of preschool teachers, excluding special education teachers.

  • Average employment number in child care services 20

    956,900

    Average number of child care workers during the second quarter of the year (April–June). Average second quarter employment numbers for "child care services" were summed across public, federal government, state government, and local government ownership.

  • Number of 3-year-olds enrolled in public preschool 21

    245,194

    Number of 3–year–old children enrolled in state preschool.

  • Percentage of 3-year-olds served by public preschool 22

    6%

    Percentage of 3–year–old children enrolled in state preschool.

  • Number of 4-year-olds enrolled in public preschool 23

    1,258,885

    Number of 4–year–old children enrolled in state preschool.

  • Percentage of 4-year-olds served by public preschool 24

    32%

    Percentage of 4–year–old children enrolled in state preschool.

  • Percentage of population in a child care desert 25

    n/a

    Percentage of children under age 5 living in a child care desert. This value is representative of the 2018 landscape of child care supply.

  • Total cumulative enrollment of infants and toddlers served by EHS and AIAN EHS programs 26

    208,120

    Cumulative number of infants and toddlers served by Early Head Start and American Indian and Alaska Native Early Head Start programs, representing the actual number of infants and toddlers served throughout an entire program year. Calculated from EHS and AIAN EHS child cumulative enrollment, all ages eligible.

  • Total cumulative enrollment of preschool-age children served by HS and AIAN HS programs 27

    534,154

    Cumulative number of infants and toddlers served by Head Start and American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs, representing the actual number of infants and toddlers served throughout an entire program year. Calculated from HS and AIAN HS child cumulative enrollment, all ages eligible.

  • Total cumulative enrollment of children served by MSHS programs (all ages) 28

    19,343

    Cumulative number of children of all ages served by Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs, representing the actual number of children served throughout an entire program year. Calculated from MSHS child cumulative enrollment, all ages eligible.

  • Total funded enrollment of infants and toddlers in EHS or AIAN EHS programs 29

    184,137

    Funded enrollment of infants and toddlers in Early Head Start or American Indian and Alaska Native Early Head Start programs. Calculated from EHS- and AIAN EHS-funded enrollment by program option.

  • Total funded enrollment of preschool-age children in HS or AIAN HS programs 30

    592,045

    Funded enrollment of preschoolers in Head Start or American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs. Calculated from HS- and AIAN HS-funded enrollment by program option.

  • Total funded enrollment of children served by MSHS programs (all ages) 31

    27,742

    Funded enrollment of children of all ages in Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs.

  • Percentage of infants and toddlers in poverty served by EHS and AIAN EHS programs 32

    10.63%

    Percentage of children under age 3 in poverty who are served by Early Head Start in each state. Uses cumulative enrollment numbers and includes both EHS and AIAN EHS.

  • Percentage of 3-and 4-year-olds in poverty served by HS and AIAN HS programs 33

    34.2%

    Percentage of children ages 3 and 4 in poverty who are served by Head Start in each state. Uses cumulative enrollment numbers and includes HS and AIAN HS.

Share these data

Child Care and Early Learning: Explore State Data

Explore state data trends on a range of child care and early learning topics, including the child care workforce, Head Start program access, and state exclusionary discipline policies.

Read the 2023 accompanying report, which provides narrative context on the indicators included in this dashboard, additional figures, and a discussion of key national-level trends.

Child Care and Early Learning: Explore the Map

Use the national map to explore data trends in more than a dozen child care and early learning variables.

Read the 2023 accompanying report, which provides narrative context on the indicators included in this dashboard, additional figures, and a discussion of key national-level trends.

See The Data

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Endnotes

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, "B09001: Population Under 18 Years By Age," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B09001:+POPULATION+UNDER+18+YEARS+BY+AGE&g=010XX00US$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B09001&moe=false (last accessed September 2023). The authors used 1-year estimates for every year except 2020, and 5-year estimates for 2020 as 1-year estimates were not available for that year.
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, "B09001: Population Under 18 Years By Age," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B09001:+POPULATION+UNDER+18+YEARS+BY+AGE&g=010XX00US$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2021.B09001&moe=false (last accessed September 2023). The authors used 1-year estimates for every year except 2020, and 5-year estimates for 2020 as 1-year estimates were not available for that year.
  3. Center for American Progress calculation based on U.S. Census Bureau, "B09001: Population Under 18 Years By Age, 1-year estimates," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B09001:+POPULATION+UNDER+18+YEARS+BY+AGE&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B09001&moe=false (last accessed September 2023). The authors calculated the sum of population estimates for children under age 3, children 3 and 4 years old, and children 5 years old to obtain an estimate of the under-age-6 population.
  4. Center for American Progress calculation based on U.S. Census Bureau, "B17006: Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months of Related Children Under 18 Years by Family Type By Age of Related Children Under 18 Years," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B17006&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B17006&moe=false (last accessed September 2023). The authors calculated the number of children under age 6 in poverty by summing the estimated number of children under 5 years old and children 5 years old in each household type below the poverty level.
  5. Center for American Progress calculation based on U.S. Census Bureau "B17006: Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months of Related Children Under 18 Years by Family Type By Age of Related Children Under 18 Years," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B17006&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B17006&moe=false (last accessed September 2023). The authors calculated the percentage of children under age 6 in poverty by dividing the estimated number of children under age 6 who were below the poverty level by the sum of the estimated number of children under age 6 who were below the poverty level and the estimated number of children under age 6 who were at or above the poverty level. National-level estimates calculated separately based on data from the ASEC of the CPS. See Sarah Flood and others, "Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Current Population Survey: Version 11.0 (dataset)" (Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center, 2023), available at https://cps.ipums.org/cps/. The decision to use the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for state-level poverty estimates and the CPS ASEC for national-level poverty estimates was based on U.S. Census Bureau, "Which Data Source to Use for Poverty," June 21, 2023, available at https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/data-sources.html.
  6. Center for American Progress analysis based on data from the ASEC of the CPS. See Sarah Flood and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Current Population Survey: Version 11.0 (dataset)” (Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center, 2023), available https://cps.ipums.org/cps/. The data for 2017 and beyond reflect an updated processing system from previous years. The SPM estimates for 2019 and beyond reflect an updated methodology. Due to changes in data collection, direct comparison between data years before and after 2017 or 2019 should be made with caution.
  7. Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, "National Survey of Children's Health (2016-present): Interactive Data Query, Indicator 6.13," available at https://www.childhealthdata.org/browse/survey (last accessed September 2023). Authors obtained data exerpts by using two-year combined estimates and selecting for "All States" by "Age in 3 groups." Responses were self-reported by survey respondents, in response to a question about a list of events that may have happened during the child’s life, with the option to skip any question respondents did not want to answer. Due to some changes in data reporting and the methods for calculating this indicator, the authors caution against directly comparing estimates across years.
  8. U.S. Census Bureau, "DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics, 1-year estimates," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=DP03&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDP1Y2022.DP03&moe=false (last accessed September 2023).
  9. U.S. Census Bureau, "DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics, 1-year estimates," available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=DP03&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDP1Y2022.DP03&moe=false (last accessed September 2023).
  10. Center for American Progress analysis based on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, "National Survey of Children's Health (dataset)," available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/nsch/data/datasets.html (last accessed September 2023). The authors based analysis on indicator K6Q27 (percentage of parents with children ages 0–5 who had to quit a job, not take a job, or greatly change their job because of problems with child care for a child ages 0–5).
  11. Center for American Progress calculation based on Child Care Aware of America, "Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis," available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for center-based child care can be found in Table 1. Average annual child care tuition for two children was calculated by taking the sum of the averages of annual child care tuition for one infant and one 4-year-old. "N/A" is reported in cases where average annual tuition for either age group was not reported.
  12. Child Care Aware of America, "Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis,", available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for center-based child care can be found in Table 1.
  13. Child Care Aware of America, "Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis," available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for center-based child care can be found in Table 1.
  14. Child Care Aware of America, "Demanding Change: Repairing our Child Care System," available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/Demanding%20Change%20Appendices.pdf?utm_campaign=Budget%20Reconciliation%20Fall%202021&utm_source=website&utm_content=22_demandingchange_append (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for full-time, family child care can be found in Appendix II. Average annual child care tuition for two children was calculated by taking the sum of average annual child care tuition for one infant and one 4-year-old.
  15. Child Care Aware of America, "Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis," available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for full-time, family child care can be found in Table 2.
  16. Child Care Aware of America, "Price of Care: 2022 Child Care Affordability Analysis," available at https://info.childcareaware.org/hubfs/2022_CC_Afford_Analysis.pdf (last accessed September 2023). Average annual prices for full-time, family child care can be found in Table 2.
  17. Center for American Progress analysis based on data from the Office of Child Care, "Preliminary Data Table 1 - Average Monthly Adjusted Number of Families and Children Served,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 24, 2022, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/data/fy-2020-preliminary-data-table-1 (Note: analysis for 2015–2020 uses FY 2015–2020 tables); Office of Child Care, “Preliminary Data Table 9 - Average Monthly Percentages of Children in Care By Age Group,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, May 31, 2022, available at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/data/fy-2020-preliminary-data-table-9 (Note: analysis for 2015–2020 uses FY 2015–2020 tables); Steven Ruggles and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, U.S. Census Data for Social, Economic, and Health Research, American Community Survey: 5-year estimates” (Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center, 2023), available at https://usa.ipums.org/usa/ (Note: analysis for 2015–2020 uses 5-year estimates for 2015–2020 due to the unavailability of 1-year estimates).
  18. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "May Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics," available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm (last accessed September 2023). Median hourly wage is reported for workers under the occupation "childcare workers.
  19. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "May Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics," available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm (last accessed September 2023). Median hourly wage is reported for workers under the occupation "preschool teachers, except special education.
  20. Center for American Progress analysis based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages: NAICS 624410 Child care services," available at https://data.bls.gov/cew/apps/data_views/data_views.htm#tab=Tables (last accessed September 2023). Average employment numbers were averaged across the second quarter (which includes April, May, and June) for private, federal government, state government, and local government. Average estimates for each job ownership/employment source were summed to produce average employment in child care services across the second quarter of the year for each state. National estimates were calculated separately using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Employment Statistics Survey, "All employees, thousands, child care services, seasonally adjusted," available at https://beta.bls.gov/dataViewer/view/timeseries/CES6562440001 (last accessed September 2023). June employment numbers are reported for the national view of the data dashboard to most closely match state-level estimates. While the Current Employment Statistics Survey is more widely used for child care employment estimates, the survey is only available at the national level. The authors chose to report Current Employment Statistics national estimates and Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages state-by-state estimates.
  21. National Institute for Early Education Research, "State of Preschool Yearbook," available at https://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks (last accessed September 2023).
  22. National Institute for Early Education Research, "State of Preschool Yearbook," available at https://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks (last accessed September 2023).
  23. National Institute for Early Education Research, "State of Preschool Yearbook," available at https://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks (last accessed September 2023).
  24. National Institute for Early Education Research, "State of Preschool Yearbook," available at https://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks (last accessed September 2023).
  25. Rasheed Malik and others, “America’s Child Care Deserts in 2018” (Washington: Center for American Progress, 2018), available at https://www.americanprogress.org/article/americas-child-care-deserts-2018/.
  26. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total cumulative enrollment of infants and toddlers was calculated based on EHS and AIAN EHS programs. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  27. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total cumulative enrollment of infants and toddlers was calculated based on HS and AIAN HS programs. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  28. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total cumulative enrollment of children served by MSHS programs, which operate in some but not all states across the United States. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  29. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total funded enrollment of infants and toddlers was calculated based on EHS and AIAN EHS programs. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  30. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total funded enrollment of preschool-age children was calculated based on enrollment in HS and AIAN HS programs. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  31. Office of Head Start, "Program Information Report, Enrollment Statistics," available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023). Total funded enrollment of children served by MSHS programs was calculated using all eligible ages of children. MSHS programs operate in some but not all states. National counts are a sum of all state-by-state numbers reported and do not include separately reported enrollment numbers for territories.
  32. Center for American Progress analysis based on Head Start Program Information Report Enrollment Statistics data, available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023); U.S. Census Bureau, 'B17006: Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months of Related Children Under 18 Years by Family Type by Age of Related Children Under 18 Years,' available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B17006&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B17006&moe=false (last accessed November 2023); U.S. Census Bureau, 'B09001: Population Under 18 Years by Age,' available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B09001:+POPULATION+UNDER+18+YEARS+BY+AGE&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B09001 (last accessed November 2023). National poverty estimates were calculated separately based on data from the ASEC of the CPS. See Sarah Flood and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Current Population Survey: Version 11.0 (dataset)” (Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center, 2023), available https://cps.ipums.org/cps/. Authors divided the estimated cumulative enrollment of EHS children in poverty by the estimated number of children under age 3 in poverty. Methods are based on Allison H. Friedman-Krauss, W. Steven Barnett, and Jennifer K. Duer, 'The State(s) of Head Start and Early Head Start: Looking at Equity' (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2022), available at https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HS_FullReport.pdf. Cumulative enrollment of children in poverty was calculated based on children served by EHS and AIAN EHS who are eligible based on 'income below 100% of FPL,' 'receipt of public assistance,' or 'status as homeless.'
  33. Center for American Progress analysis based on Head Start Program Information Report Enrollment Statistics data, available at https://hses.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/auth/login (last accessed November 2023); U.S. Census Bureau, 'B17006: Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months of Related Children Under 18 Years by Family Type by Age of Related Children Under 18 Years,' available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B17006&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B17006&moe=false (last accessed November 2023); and U.S. Census Bureau, 'B09001: Population Under 18 Years by Age,' available at https://data.census.gov/table?q=B09001:+POPULATION+UNDER+18+YEARS+BY+AGE&g=010XX00US,$0400000&tid=ACSDT1Y2022.B09001 (last accessed November 2023). National poverty estimates were calculated separately based on data from the ASEC of the CPS. See Sarah Flood and others, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Current Population Survey: Version 11.0 (dataset)” (Minneapolis: Minnesota Population Center, 2023), available https://cps.ipums.org/cps/. Authors divided the estimated cumulative enrollment of HS children in poverty by the estimated number of children ages 3 and 4 in poverty. Methods are based on Allison H. Friedman-Krauss, W. Steven Barnett, and Jennifer K. Duer, 'The State(s) of Head Start and Early Head Start: Looking at Equity' (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, 2022), available at https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/HS_FullReport.pdf. Cumulative enrollment of children in poverty was calculated based on children served by HS and AIAN HS who are eligible based on 'income below 100% of FPL,' 'receipt of public assistance,' or 'status as homeless.'

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