Childcare access in America, by state and county
A census-tract analysis of licensed childcare supply against child population, surfaced by county. Roughly half of U.S. children under 5 live in a tract that the Center for American Progress classifies as a childcare desert: either zero providers in a populated area, or more than three children under 5 per licensed slot.
Nationally
51.0% of Americans lived in a childcare desert in 2018
That figure is from the Center for American Progress's 2018 report, which found that more than half of Americans across all 50 states and D.C. live in a neighborhood classified as a childcare desert. It's the most-cited statistic in childcare-access research and the methodological anchor we adopt here. CAP's 2025 update finds the post-pandemic share roughly unchanged at 46% using a different (distance-based) methodology. Either way, the shortage is concentrated and persistent.
State pages (prototype)
This release covers three states as a working prototype: Georgia (urban-mixed), Kentucky (extreme rural deserts), and Washington (urban-suburban mix). Bulk coverage of all 50 states is the next expansion phase. Each state page lists counties ranked worst-to-best on under-5 children in desert tracts.
About the data
Childcare desert classification uses CAP's 2018 methodology, applied at the census tract level. A tract is a desert when (a) the ratio of children under 5 to licensed slots exceeds 3:1, or (b) the tract has zero providers and at least 30 children under 5. County-level statistics aggregate the tracts inside each county.
Children-under-5 counts come from U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-year estimates (2019–2023, table B01001). Licensed providers and capacity come from Childery's state-by-state licensing dataset, refreshed quarterly. The full methodology and links to CAP's reports are on each county page.