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Where Are the
Child Care Deserts?

A child care desert (shown in orange) is any ZIP code with more than 30 children under age 5 that contains either zero child care centers or so few centers that there are more than three times as many children as spaces in centers.

Select a state

40% of Americans in the study
live in a child care desert.

AllWhiteBlackHispanic
01.50M3.00MRuralSuburbanUrban

Number of children under 5

Colorado
More than half of Colorado's children under age 5 live in a child care desert.
Georgia
More than 800,000 Georgians live in rural child care deserts, with nearly half living in ZIP codes with poverty rates higher than 20 percent.
Illinois
More than 8 million Illinoisans live in child care deserts. In Chicago, 5 out of 6 children under age 5 live in a child care desert.
Maryland
While only 31 percent of white, non-Hispanic Marylanders live in a child care desert, more than half of the state's Hispanic population resides in one.
Minnesota
Minnesota has the highest rate of child care deserts in this study. About 75 percent of Minnesota's young children reside in a child care desert.
North Carolina
North Carolina has the most child care centers per ZIP code in the study. Nonetheless, more than one-quarter of the state's young children live in a child care desert.
Ohio
Ohio child care deserts are a disproportionately rural phenomenon. More than 100,000 young children in Ohio live in the state's rural child care deserts.
Virginia
With nearly 3.3 million people living in child care deserts, Virginia has one of the highest child care desert populations in the study, especially in rural areas.
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