Child Care Centers NAICS 624410
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Industry Summary
The 63,023 Child care centers in the US provide care for infants and children, and offer services out of dedicated facilities (private centers) or residences (home-based centers). Most child care centers are small, independent operations – 79% have a single location and 78% employ less than 20 workers.
Potential for Liability
Providing care for children is a high stakes operation, where even small accidents and errors can have severe consequences.
High Turnover
Finding and retaining permanent staff is a problem for the child care industry due to low wages, lack of benefits, long hours, and challenging work.
Recent Developments
Jun 1, 2026 - Child Care Deserts Still Common Post-Pandemic
- About 51% of people live in a childcare desert, meaning there aren’t enough facilities that people can afford, according to the Center for American Progress. Rural communities are the most affected. The most remote areas faced the greatest rural penalty, with more than 70% of young children in a licensed child care desert. Deserts affect nearly half of all children living in poverty.
- Home-based child care programs are struggling to survive, according to the Hechinger Report. Small programs are uniquely vulnerable to economic shocks because they enroll fewer children than center-based programs and have less access to grants and resources than other child care settings. Efforts like modest cash bonuses and stipend programs for providers in states like California and Virginia have improved chronically low early provider retention rates, according to Hechinger. Child care employment increased 7% within two years when the District of Columbia offered a wage supplement of $10,000 to $14,000 per year to home and center-based providers beginning in 2022.
- Child care costs for parents with two kids exceed housing rental costs in 85 of the country's largest metro areas, according to personal finance site LendingTree. In Omaha, NE; Milwaukee, WI; and Buffalo, NY; which have the highest child care costs in the country relative to local rents, families with an infant and a 4-year-old under care on average pay more than double the cost of their rent. Child care expenses increased nearly 30% from 2020 to 2024, according to the nonprofit group Child Care Aware shows. The main drivers of increasing costs are a shortage of early education workers and available places at daycare centers, according to industry experts contacted by CBS News.
- Child care industry employment and average wages for nonsupervisory employees decreased slightly during the first two months of 2026, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Child care industry revenue increased 4% year over year and 5.5% quarter over quarter during the second quarter of 2025, according to the US Census Bureau. Child care center sales are forecast to grow at a 4.91% compounded annual rate from 2026 to 2030, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
Industry Revenue
Child Care Centers
Industry Structure
Industry size & Structure
A typical child care center operates out of a single location, employs 17 workers, and generates about $919,000 annually.
- The child care center industry consists of about 63,023 companies, employs about 1,091,900 workers and generates about $58 billion annually.
- Child care centers include nursery schools and pre-schools.
- Most child care centers are small, independent operations - 79% have a single location and 78% employ less than 20 workers.
- Pre-school age children of working parents average 36 hours of care from child care providers per week.
- Unlike other educational service providers, accreditation is not critical to operations: Less than 10% of child care centers are accredited.
- Large companies include KinderCare Education, Learning Care Group (La Petite Academy, Childtime, Tutor Time, Montessori Unlimited, The Children's Courtyard), and Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
Industry Forecast
Industry Forecast
Child Care Centers Industry Growth
Source: Vertical IQ and Inforum
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