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 U.S. children under 5 lived in a childcare desert in 2018
That figure is from the Center for American Progress's 2018 report — 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.