Fast Facts: Child care (4)

Child care

Question:
What are the most prevalent forms of early child care and education environments for children before they enter kindergarten?

Response:

In 2019, approximately 59 percent of children age 5 and younger and not enrolled in kindergarten were in at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement, as reported by their parents. Among children in a weekly nonparental care arrangement, 62 percent were attending a day care center, preschool, or prekindergarten (center-based care), 38 percent were cared for by a relative (relative care), and 20 percent were cared for in a private home by someone not related to them (nonrelative care).

Percentage of children from birth through age 5 and not yet in kindergarten participating in various weekly nonparental care arrangements, by child and family characteristics: 2019
Characteristic	Weekly nonparental care arrangement				No weekly nonparental care arrangement
	At least one weekly nonparental care arrangement	Type¹
	At least one weekly nonparental care arrangement	Relative care	Nonrelative care	Center-based care²
Total	59	38	20	62	41
Child’s age
Less than one year	42	58	26	32	58
1 to 2 years	55	44	25	47	45
3 to 5 years	74	26	14	83	26
Child’s race/ethnicity
White, non-Hispanic	61	34	23	65	39
Black, non-Hispanic	63	45	13	59	37
Hispanic	56	44	16	57	44
Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	55	35	12	67	45
Other race, non-Hispanic³	59	32	23	62	41
Family type
Two parents or guardians	58	35	20	63	42
One parent or guardian	65	50	17	60	35
Highest education level of parents/guardians
Less than high school	43	49	18!	55	57
High school/GED	49	49	17	56	51
Vocational/technical or some college	56	43	17	58	44
Bachelor’s degree	64	34	21	64	36
Graduate or professional degree	75	29	23	70	25
Household income
$20,000 or less	51	43	17	64	49
$20,001 to $50,000	46	45	14	59	54
$50,001 to $75,000	55	46	22	50	45
$75,001 to $100,000	58	42	18	59	42
$100,001 or more	74	29	22	69	26

! Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
¹ Among children with at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement.
² Center-based arrangements include day care centers, Head Start programs, preschools, prekindergartens, and other early childhood programs.
³ “Other, non-Hispanic” includes American Indian/Alaska Native children who are not Hispanic and children who are Two or more races and not Hispanic.
NOTE: Estimates represent about 12,594,000 children who have at least one weekly nonparental care arrangement. Children may have multiple weekly arrangements across the three types of care; therefore, a single child may be represented in multiple columns of this table. Among all children from birth through age 5 and not yet in kindergarten, 11 percent of children’s parents reported having more than one type of regularly scheduled weekly nonparental care arrangement. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

The mean length of time that children had been in their primary care arrangement was longest for children cared for by a relative (19 months) and shortest for children in a center-based care arrangement (14 months). The most common location for children’s primary center-based care arrangement was a building of its own (42 percent). Other reported locations were a church, synagogue, or other place of worship (20 percent); a public school (19 percent), and other locations (19 percent).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Early Childhood Program Participation: 2019 (NCES 2020-075REV), Table 1.

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