Data
About Child Care Aware of Washington Data Reports
With about 130,000 children in licensed child care in Washington State on any given day, child care is a key component of the state’s economic and social picture. Parents and policymakers alike have a stake in ensuring that care is affordable, accessible and high quality. In terms of affordability parents still stretch to meet a cost of care that can amount to a quarter or a third of their income. Cost impacts providers as well, who must operate on the thinnest of margins in order for parents to afford their fees.
Child Care Aware of Washington tracks data on both child care providers and families that we assist in searching for care for their children. The two most important parts of our analysis are:
- Showing trends over time in child care capacity and prices.
- Comparing the characteristics of child care providers to the needs of the thousands of families we assist each year.
Much of our data is also available by county in the appendices of the reports.
If you have any questions about the data reports, please contact Karen Sampson at karen@wa.childcareaware.org.
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