.Key takeaways
- Less than half (46%) of young children in California ages 0–5 had regular child care arrangements in 2023.
- 1 in 6 parents of children ages 0–5 could not find child care when they needed it for a week or longer in 2023.
- 7 in 10 households with children ages 0–5 spent $200 or more per week on child care in 2023, compared to 4 in 10 households in 2019.
Less than half of children ages 5 and younger in California had regular child care arrangements in 2023, with affordability, lack of available space or concerns about quality being the main reasons, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR).
The study, which is based on data from the UCLA CHPR's California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), found that young Latinx children, who make up 46.6% of children ages 0–5 in the state and young children from low-income households are less likely than the state average to have regular child care.
"Regular child care" is defined as equivalent to 10 or more hours per week, excluding child care provided by parents, legal guardians or stepparents.
"High-quality child care remains out of reach for too many families in California," said Nicole Lordi, project director at the Public Health Institute and lead author of the study. "A lack of regular child care acts as a drag on socioeconomic mobility and overall well-being for families."
California had 2.6 million children ages 0–5 in 2023. While the overall state average for young children having regular child care was 46%, CHIS data showed that differences in incomes corresponded to differences in a family's access to regular child care.
Based on the 2023 federal poverty level (FPL) of $30,000 for a family of four, families with lower incomes were less likely to have access to regular child care. The report showed:
- More than half (53.7%) of children living in households earning 300% or more of the FPL ($90,000 for a family of four) had regular child care.
- Less than a quarter (23.1%) of children living in households earning between 100–199% of the FPL had regular child care.
- Slightly more than a quarter (26.7%) of children living in households earning between 0–99% of the FPL had regular child care.
"As a state, we need data to inform smart and efficient solutions to urgent problems like access to child care," said Ninez A. Ponce, director of the UCLA CHPR and principal investigator of CHIS. "It's gratifying to work with partners like First 5 California that leverage publicly accessible CHIS data to help create a California where everyone has the opportunity to thrive."
Among young children with regular child care arrangements, nearly a quarter (24.4%) received services informally from someone like grandparents, other family or non-family members. About 1 in 4 received child care from a formal or public source, such as a state program or Head Start, preschool, nursery school or child care center. The report showed that half of young children received child care from more than one source.
In 2023, 17% of parents of children ages 0–5 years said they were unable to find child care when they needed it for a week or longer. Cost was the most frequent reason given (49.7% of those who said they couldn't find child care), though not the only reason, according to the report.
More than a quarter (26.1%) of those parents said the child care providers lacked quality or space. Eight percent of parents said there were problems with available hours or locations, and 16.2% listed "other reasons."
Examining the data by race and ethnicity also showed differences. In 2023, white children ages 0–5 years were more likely to have regular child care than the overall population of young children (56.7% vs. 46%). The figures were 34.3% of young Latinx children, 55.9% of young Black or African American children, and 53.5% of young Asian children.
"What's particularly concerning is that access to reliable, regular child care is getting more difficult," Lordi said.
CHIS data from 2019–2023 indicate that child care has become more expensive for a greater share of California households. In 2019, 40% of households with children ages 0–5 spent $200 or more per week, which equates to about $10,000 per year, on child care. That figure grew to 71% of households in 2023.
California ranked 35th in the United States in child well-being, according to "2023 KIDS COUNT" data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. That report links California's ranking in child well-being to the inability of many California households to access affordable and high-quality child care. The new report cites research showing that child care allows parents to work and to remain employed while supporting a child's development.
While California provides subsidies for child care to families across the state, only 11% of eligible California children, ages 0 to 12, received such financial assistance in 2022, according to a fact sheet from the California Budget & Policy Center.
"California is facing a child care crisis," said Jackie Thu-Hương Wong, executive director at First 5 California. "This report highlights the challenges of accessing stable child care for working families across the state, with a disproportionate impact on Latinos and low-income communities. When children are in safe, stable, and nurturing environments, they thrive, as do our communities. Investing in affordable care can generate more than $60 billion in economic activity and drive growth across our state."
