Over the past two decades numerous states have released studies on the economic impact of child care, which you can access here. CED commends the efforts that have been made on this important topic.

Data Notes
Child Care in State Economies: 2019 Update uses a consistent data set for all states that reflects the use of paid,or market-based, child care services. The overall size of the paid child care industry (i.e., number of establishments, employment, and revenue) at the national and state levels is determined using U.S. Census Bureau Economic Census and County Business Pattern data, as well as Non-employer Statistics data reported by the Census Bureau for 2016.

The definition of child care varies greatly across the states (i.e., licensed care, registered care, listed care, certified care, license-exempt care, etc.). Therefore, industry estimates may vary state by state depending upon the data sources used. The U.S. Census Bureau data used in this report reflects data sets with regard to sole proprietors (businesses that have no paid employees and are subject to federal income tax who report child care income) and data related to child care centers (businesses with paid employees in the child care industry sector). Both nonprofit and taxpaying entities are reflected.