Access to affordable child care remains a challenge for families with low incomes in California. Despite decades of effort, a large gap between supply and demand persists. In 2015, 85% of eligible children lacked access to subsidized child care, a figure that grew to 89% in 2017 and remained the same in 2022. This means that in 2022, only 1 in 9 children eligible for subsidized child care programs received services.
These statewide trends are mirrored at a more local level. County-level trends reflect the same disparity, as shown in the map below, which highlights the unmet need for child care across California.1The following counties are grouped together due to small sample sizes when calculating the number of eligible children: 1) Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, Tuolumne; 2) Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou; 3) Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Trinity; 4) Sierra, Nevada, Butte; 5) Lake, Mendocino; 6) San Benito, Monterey; 7) Sutter, Yuba. This analysis focuses on programs administered by the Department of Social Services for children 0 to 12 and excludes programs overseen by the California Department of Education — the California State Preschool Program and Transitional Kindergarten — due to changes in program structure and eligibility.
Unmet Need for Child Care Across California Counties
The proportion of eligible children enrolled in a state-funded program remains low across nearly all counties, with the vast majority below 15%. This suggests substantial barriers to child care access, with the state struggling to provide needed resources coupled with county-level challenges.
Rural parts of the state face greater gaps in child care access.
Rural counties show some of the lowest rates of enrollment of eligible children — around 9-11% — which are at or below the statewide average of 11%. This highlights persistent challenges that may be unique to these areas of the state.
Access to subsidized child care varies significantly across urban areas.
Urban counties like San Francisco (27%) show relatively higher rates of enrollment, others like Los Angeles (11%) or Orange County (6%) have much lower enrollment rates. San Francisco’s above-average enrollment likely reflects local efforts, including funding boosts from Proposition C, enacted in 2018, to address early care and education funding gaps. These disparities highlight uneven access even within urban and highly populated regions.
Counties in the Central Valley face severe gaps.
Counties like Fresno (9%), Kern (9%), and Merced (4%), have some of the lowest enrollment rates in the state. Similar to rural counties, this underscores this region’s unique challenges that exacerbate the barriers to child care access.
Statewide Policy Implications
While the supply of subsidized child care has increased since the dramatic cuts made during the Great Recession over a decade ago, California is still a long way away from meeting families’ child care needs. In the current context, state leaders must continue to prioritize increasing capacity in subsidized care. This includes following through on the promise of 200,000 additional child care spaces by 2027 and ensuring resources are available to work toward ensuring that every eligible child has access, particularly in regions where unmet need is higher. The state can also help address challenges counties face with utilizing available slots by streamlining paperwork, improving outreach to families, adjusting rigid eligibility requirements, and improving facilities. Additionally, state leaders need to make robust investments in the child care workforce. This includes strengthening pathways into the child care field as well as ensuring providers are paid a fair wage so that the overall system thrives and is able to meet families’ child care needs. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive, sustained commitment from state leaders is essential to build a stronger, more equitable child care infrastructure for all California families.
The following counties are grouped together due to small sample sizes when calculating the number of eligible children: 1) Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, Tuolumne; 2) Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou; 3) Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Trinity; 4) Sierra, Nevada, Butte; 5) Lake, Mendocino; 6) San Benito, Monterey; 7) Sutter, Yuba.
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The most common way for Californians to shape state funding decisions and policy priorities is through the state budget process and the legislative (or policy bill) process.
The deadlines for the state budget process are established in California’s Constitution or in state law and rarely change.
In contrast, most of the deadlines for thelegislative process are jointly set by the leadership of the state Senate and Assembly. These deadlines are adjusted annually to reflect the amount of time the Legislature has to complete its business. Specifically:
In non-election (odd-numbered) years, the deadline for the Legislature to pass bills is typically set in September — on a date determined jointly by the Assembly and Senate.
In election (even-numbered) years, the Legislature generally must pass bills by August 31 — a deadline established in the state Constitution. There are a few exceptions to this deadline. For example, after August 31 the Legislature may pass bills calling for elections, bills that would increase or reduce state taxes, and bills that would take effect immediately (“urgency statutes”).
The dates in the table below reflect deadlines established in state law and the state Constitution as well as the joint rules set by the Assembly and Senate for 2025.
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key takeaway
California’s undocumented residents contribute nearly $8.5 billion in taxes, playing a crucial role in supporting public services while remaining excluded from essential programs.
All Californians should be able to live thriving lives and participate in their communities, regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or immigration status.
California is home to a sizable population of immigrants — with and without legal status — who are students, teachers, artists, chefs, business owners, religious leaders, colleagues, neighbors, family members, and more. Undocumented Californians pay billions of dollars in taxes and play a vital role in stimulating California’s economy. They help keep businesses running, put food on tables, care for children and loved ones, enrich communities through art and music, and much more.
Tax Contributions by Undocumented Californians
One contribution that is often overlooked or underestimated is the amount of taxes that individuals who are undocumented are paying into publicly-funded systems to support public services, even as they are excluded from benefiting from many of those same services.
Undocumented Californians paid nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). This includes the sales and excise taxes paid on purchases, the property taxes paid on homes or indirectly through rents, individual and business income taxes, unemployment taxes, and other types of taxes.
These tax contributions support the public services and infrastructure that benefit all Californians, such as education, roads and transit, emergency response, and the social safety net. However, despite recent progress in making some public supports more inclusive of Californians regardless of their immigration status, many programs continue to unjustly exclude undocumented individuals and families who pay into these systems and seek support in times of need.
California has taken steps in recent years that recognize the importance of supporting everyone regardless of status, including:
Expanding full-scope Medi-Cal health coverage to all eligible Californians regardless of immigration status. We are already seeing signs of benefits from making Medi-Cal more inclusive: After full-scope Medi-Cal was expanded to undocumented children, the share of non-citizen children reporting excellent health status increased by 10 percentage points while no changes were seen for citizen children not impacted by the expansion.
Taking the first steps to provide access to nutrition benefits through the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) for undocumented adults age 55 and older, who are excluded from receiving federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (CalFresh in California) benefits. However, the 2024-25 state budget delayed the implementation of this expansion until 2027.
Despite this progress, Californians without documentation remain excluded from many critical supports, jeopardizing their health and economic security. While many of these exclusions stem from federal law, state leaders can further support these Californians by using state resources to end the exclusions. State policymakers should:
Ensure undocumented workers have access to unemployment support when they lose a job by funding cash assistance for workers excluded from traditional unemployment insurance benefits. The Legislature recently passed a bill to require the Employment Development Department to develop a plan to establish an Excluded Workers Program, but the governor vetoed the bill citing concerns about the cost and the deadline set in the bill.
Address food insecurity in undocumented communities by expanding CFAP nutrition benefits to undocumented Californians of all ages.
Build on the success of ending Medi-Cal exclusions by expanding access to health coverage through Covered California to undocumented families whose income make them ineligible for Medi-Cal.
Expand the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) to undocumented older adults and people with disabilities whose immigration status disqualifies them from receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP).
Increase funding for free tax preparation services to enable more undocumented Californians to apply for and renew ITINs and file income returns — allowing them to pay the taxes they owe and receive the tax credits they are eligible for.
Exclusions from these vital services are one contributor to the higher rate of poverty among undocumented Californians. This results in unnecessary human suffering and additional strains on community services that people use as a last resort, such as emergency rooms.
Federal action is also needed, including ending unjust exclusions from federal safety net and financial assistance programs and providing an accessible path to citizenship for those who have been living, working, and contributing to their communities. Granting legal status to these individuals would provide them with greater economic security and stability, and allow them to make even more meaningful contributions to the state.
Furthermore, by allowing all workers to pursue legal employment, granting legal status could increase the state and local tax contributions of Californians currently lacking documentation from $8.5 billion to $10.3 billion, according to ITEP estimates. This would deepen their already significant contributions to California’s economy and public support programs.
Regardless of the prospects for federal action, California leaders have the tools to continue making the state’s services inclusive of all its residents and ensuring that no one is left out of critical safety net programs.
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key takeaway
California’s expansion of Medi-Cal to include all eligible residents, regardless of immigration status, has improved health outcomes for non-citizen children. However, gaps remain for undocumented adults who lack coverage, highlighting the need for continued efforts to promote health equity and economic stability for all Californians.
Immigrants are an integral part of California’s communities and the state’s social fabric. Over the years, California has set itself apart from other states by advancing inclusive policies that support immigrants while fostering economic growth. A key example is the state’s efforts to make coverage through Medi-Cal, California’s state Medicaid program, more accessible for immigrants. This year, California became the first state in the nation to expand comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage to all eligible Californians, regardless of immigration status. The timeline below shows the steps that state leaders have taken to end the unjust exclusions in Medi-Cal.
A look at reported health status shows promising signs that Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented Californians is positively impacting health.1Our analysis focuses on the Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented children. Data for the most recent Medi-Cal expansion are not yet available for analysis. Analysis for the 2020 expansion to young adults is excluded due to potential confounding effects stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Data show that the proportion of non-citizen children who reported being in excellent health after the expansion increased by 10 percentage points from 20% to 30%. In contrast, citizen children, who were not affected, did not experience any change in their reported health status. At a high level, this analysis suggests there is a link between access and improved health status.
While California has led the nation in closing health coverage gaps, access is still limited for undocumented Californians who do not qualify for Medi-Cal or lack employer-based health insurance. The percentage of uninsured Californians hit a record low in 2022 at 6.5%, but the gains are not distributed equally. Research suggests that over one in four undocumented immigrants under 64 will remain uninsured due to their exclusion from Covered California.
Ensuring that everyone has access to health care benefits all Californians, as health coverage is critical for preventing poverty and fostering economic stability. People without coverage are more likely to face high health care costs or medical debt and are less likely to receive preventive care or treatment for chronic health conditions.
Policymakers can continue to advance health equity by ending unjust exclusions in Covered California, our state’s health insurance marketplace. By building on the historic Medi-Cal expansions and investing in other equitable health policies, policymakers can ensure all Californians can be healthy and thrive.
Our analysis focuses on the Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented children. Data for the most recent Medi-Cal expansion are not yet available for analysis. Analysis for the 2020 expansion to young adults is excluded due to potential confounding effects stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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key takeaway
The wage gap for Latinas in California remains alarmingly wide. Systemic barriers in education, employment, and caregiving responsibilities contribute to persistent inequality.
When women thrive, their families and communities prosper. Despite decades of progress in job opportunities and earnings, working families still struggle to afford basic needs. This challenge is significantly worse for women, and specifically, Latinas. Systemic racism and gender inequities have contributed to California being the state in the nation with the worst wage gap between Latinas and white men.
In California, Latinas make 44 cents to every dollar that a white man earns. This wage gap is pervasive and persistent, with Latinas being paid less than white men in every state. If the current California wage gap trend continues, Latinas will not reach the same wages as white men within the lifetime of the state’s youngest children. While California has made progress toward creating the conditions for removing the structural barriers resulting in this wage gap, state leaders can do far more to ensure that Latinas no longer face this staggering inequity.
How Long Will it Take for Latinas to Close the Wage Gap — A Staggering 130 Years?
The data show that the wage gap will persist for generations to come, specifically:
It will take until the year 2153 for Latinas to close the wage gap.
The average gap between Latinas and white men’s median earnings from 2003-2022 was about $48,742. This wide gap indicates that Latinas will not see wage equality during their lifetime.
Latinas’ wages are growing, just not fast enough.
Latinas’ wages are growing at a rate that is two times faster than white men’s. Even at this doubled speed, though, it will still take about 130 years for Latinas’ wages to equalize with white men’s.
The California Women’s Well-Being Index
When women thrive, communities flourish. The Women's Well-Being Index reveals the challenges women — especially women of color — face in economic security, health care, safety, and political representation. It calls on all of us to act for a more inclusive California.
Explore how women’s well-being impacts us all and discover the steps we can take to create lasting change.
Latinas are more likely to work in unstable job markets, making them highly vulnerable to wage instability.
Latinas faced some of the worst unemployment spikes during COVID-19 and are recovering much slower than other racial and ethnic groups. In addition, female dominated industries faced the largest cuts during the pandemic and women of color are struggling the most to fight their way back into the labor force.
Latinas work in sectors that are traditionally unpaid, widening the already inequitable wage gap.
Women spend more of their time participating in unpaid care than men, which reinforces gendered and racial divides in labor and wages. Specifically, Latinas compose the majority of those who provide unpaid care, further driving down their wages relative to women of other racial and ethnic groups. The lack of policies surrounding unpaid labor and caregiving leave Latinas especially vulnerable to workplace discrimination and lower earnings.
Latinas face gender and racial discrimination in multiple areas vital to well-being.
In addition to the largest wage gap, according to the 2024 Women’s Well-Being Index, Latinas also have the highest percentage of women in low-wage occupations, the lowest proportion of women in managerial and professional occupations, and the lowest proportion of women with a bachelor’s degree. Even though California has a more recent history of progressivity, Latinas in the state continue to face barriers to education, workplaces free from discrimination, and access to the resources necessary for a fruitful existence.
Latinas are disproportionately impacted by wage discrimination as undocumented women are the least paid of any major demographic group.
California has the largest undocumented population and Latinas make up the majority of undocumented women. Of all undocumented women in California, 69% are Latinas. In California, undocumented immigrants contributed $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022. Despite this contribution to communities across the state, systemic barriers have resulted in ongoing wage inequities for this population.
What Can Policymakers Do to Address the Wage Gap for California’s Latinas?
In recent years, California’s policymakers have passed legislation that helps to identify and address the disparities in wages between Latinas and white men. This legislation includes:
California Equal Pay Act. Passed in 2016, this policy requires equal pay for employees who perform similar work.
California Pay Data Reporting Law. Passed in 2020, this policy requires private employers to submit annual reports of employees’ gender, race, ethnicity, pay, and hours worked to the California Civil Rights Department.
California Pay Transparency Act. Passed in 2022, this policy expands pay data reporting requirements to better identify gender and race-based pay disparities.
While these policies have promoted fairer conditions for pay equity, they have not been enough to meaningfully close the wage gap in California between Latinas and white men. The reasons behind this wage gap in California stem from a variety of structural barriers related to access to well-paying jobs, access to education, and racial and gender discrimination. Pay transparency and reporting requirements alone will not meaningfully address this issue. Policymakers must therefore take a multifaceted approach to addressing systemic barriers by fighting against persistent inequities in pay and benefits and strengthening supports such as:
Continuing to raise wages in occupations where Latinas are disproportionately represented;
Widening access to flexible and affordable child care to aid in alleviating poverty;
Increasing workers’ collective bargaining power;
Investing in community-based programs supporting Latinas; and
Promoting programs that improve the leadership pipeline for Latinas.
Focused efforts to address the wage gap can reverse current trends to ensure that Latinas reach pay equity well within a lifetime and have the resources they need to thrive in California.
Support for this piece was provided by the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
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The California budget process moves quickly after the governor releases the “May Revision” in mid-May. This revised budget proposal opens a crucial window for public engagement, but the tight timeline can make advocating for your priorities challenging.
Here’s a breakdown of the key stages:
May Revision: The governor releases an updated budget proposal on or before May 14. This is your chance to weigh in with, and express, your budget priorities to policymakers.
Budget Negotiations: Policymakers engage in intense negotiations to reconcile the governor’s budget plan with legislative priorities throughout May and June.
Legislative Budget Plan: Roughly 10 to 14 days after the May Revision (timing depends on when the revised budget is released), the Assembly and Senate release their own budget plans. Roughly 2 to 3 weeks after the May Revision, legislative leaders agree on a unified legislative budget plan. This plan forms the basis for the Budget Act. A deal with the governor at this stage is possible but not very likely.
Constitutional Deadline: The Legislature passes the Budget Act by June 15 — the constitutional deadline — and sends it to the governor, even as negotiations continue between legislative leaders and the governor on the full budget package.
Budget Deal Announcement: The “Big 3” — the governor, Assembly Speaker, and Senate President pro Tempore — typically announce a final budget deal by late June.
Budget Package Approval: In late June, all budget-related legislation (including trailer bills) is unveiled, voted on by both houses of the Legislature, and signed by the governor, potentially with line-item vetoes.
The June package isn’t the end of the story. In August, state leaders often revisit the budget, potentially adding to the size and scope of the original budget package enacted earlier in the summer.
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key takeaway
Closing California state prisons is a key underutilized tool that can provide the funds needed to offset cuts to vital safety net and health programs.
The governor’s 2024-25 May Revision includes deep cuts to critical programs and services that support California’s most vulnerable populations. The solutions the administration proposes for closing the May Revision’s projected $27.6 billion shortfall fail to utilize the full set of tools in the state’s toolbelt.
As a result, the governor proposes to dramatically cut safety net and health programs such as the CalWORKs family stabilization program, the Family Urgent Response System, the Indian Health Grant Program, in-home supportive services for undocumented Californians, among others. For CalWORKs alone, cuts amount to nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars — most of which are ongoing and completely eliminate essential programs designed to support families navigating domestic violence, mental health challenges, substance abuse, and other crises.
The proposed cuts, which disproportionately target foster youth, Californians with disabilities, immigrant communities, students, and families with young children, may further push many Californians into poverty, ultimately impacting their lifetime earnings, health outcomes, and more.
Closing California state prisons is a key underutilized tool that can provide the funds needed to offset these cuts. Specifically, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimates that California can safely close up to five prisons, given the enormous number of empty beds in the system (nearly 15,000). Closing five prisons equates to $1 billion in ongoing annual savings. This ongoing $1 billion may fund up to 13 safety net and health programs that the May Revision proposes to cut indefinitely.
While these prison closures would be rolled out across several years (up to 2028, as estimated by the LAO), creating a prison closure plan now would be a first step in imagining alternative solutions to the current cuts to critical programs. For example, state leaders could use the state’s rainy day fund to temporarily support these programs as the annual savings from closing five prisons grows to $1 billion over the next few years.
If the California budget truly reflects the state’s values and priorities, programs that support the health and well-being of Californians should be prioritized over empty prison beds.
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key takeaway
California was the first state to offer paid family leave, but workers cannot apply for benefits until after they have already started their leave, causing financial hardship.
California was the first state in the country to offer paid family leave for its workers, acknowledging the importance of giving workers paid time off to care for their loved ones or bond with a new child. Since then, 12 other states and Washington, D.C. have followed California’s lead. Despite California being the first to pass paid family leave, workers in the state cannot apply for benefits until after they have already started their leave. This may put workers in a distressing financial situation while navigating care for their loved ones. By allowing workers to apply for paid family leave before their leave has begun, policymakers can better serve Californians.
How does paid family leave in California work?
Under California’s paid family leave and state disability insurance programs, workers receive partial wage replacement when they are unable to work for various reasons. Paid family leave is available to workers who are caring for a seriously ill or injured family member, bonding with a new child, or addressing a military exigency. State disability insurance is available to individuals who are unable to work due to an injury or illness. Both benefits are fully worker-funded through a payroll tax. However, a worker cannot apply for their benefits until they have first started unpaid leave and their qualifying life event has already occurred. In other words, a worker has to stop working without confirmation of if they will receive pay and benefits, and without confirmation of how much money they will get.
For example, a worker who qualifies for paid family leave because they have welcomed a new child or who qualifies for state disability insurance to recover from their own serious health condition, including pregnancy, must first take unpaid leave from their job before they can apply for paid family leave or state disability insurance. They will not know if they will get approved, they will not receive pay, and they will need to apply for benefits while at the same time welcoming their new child. This leaves workers in a precarious situation where they must go days and sometimes weeks without pay at a time when they need it most.
This is especially harmful for workers with low incomes, who are disproportionately women and people of color, who face the impossible decision of going days or weeks without pay or taking time off to care for an ill loved one or a new child. For many workers, taking time off of their job without confirmation of benefits is not an option, as workers face expenses that they cannot cover without regular income. This makes workers less likely to take leave, which can have serious consequences to their health.
What are other states doing?
Some states are leading the way in this area and have addressed this gap in policy to ensure that all workers have equal access to paid family and medical leave and no one has to face these impossible choices. Out of the 14 states and D.C. that offer paid family and medical leave, eight allow workers to apply for benefits before their qualifying event happens, meaning they are not forced to take unpaid leave without confirmation of knowing if they will receive any benefits at all. This allows workers to mitigate their risk and reduce their stress during already demanding situations.
What can state leaders do to better support workers in California?
While California was a trailblazer in 2002 when it enacted the first paid family leave law in the country, it has now fallen behind. Workers should not have to take unpaid time off when they pay into and are eligible for benefits. It is time for California to catch up and give workers the security they deserve by letting them apply early for their benefits.
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