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.
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Unmet Need for Child Care Across California Counties
- Overall, unmet need is high across the state.
- Rural parts of the state face greater gaps in child care access.
- Access to subsidized child care varies significantly across urban areas.
- Counties in the Central Valley face severe gaps.
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.
