Family Child Care in Minnesota: The latest numbers.
Note: The information in this blog post is sourced from the following sources:
ChildCare Aware 2017 State Child Care fact sheet
ChildCare Aware 2016 State Child Care fact sheet
MN Dept. of Human Services Licensed Child Care Policy Brief- January 2017
FAMILY STATS
2017 report: There are over 348,000 children aged four and under in the state of Minnesota, and another 507,000+ aged 5-11. Nearly 207,000 children under the age of 6 in the state have two parents in the workforce, and another 98,000 live in single-parent families where the parent is in the workforce.
SUMMARY
Nearly 305,000 children under the age of 6 potentially need child care in Minnesota, which is an increase of 1.1% (3,051 children) over 2016.
FAMILY CHILD CARE STATS
2017 report: There are a total of 222,348 child care spots available in the state. 46% (102,280) are licensed family child care homes and 54% (120,067) are child care centers. According to the data, 13% of licensed spaces, or 28,905 spaces total, are for infants, however there are nearly 54,000 working mothers in Minnesota with children under one year old. For family child care, 13% is only a total of 13,296 spaces for infants.
Since 2016, the number of family child care providers in Minnesota has decreased from 9,249 to 8,852 (-4.4%).
SUMMARY
In the state of Minnesota, the number of infant spots in licensed family child care programs is severely limited, and the number of family child care providers has decreased. Family child care programs are closing faster than they are opening, however, child care centers are opening at a faster rate than they are closing.
Source: MN Dept. of Human Services Licensed Child Care Policy Brief
CHILD CARE DESERTS:
13% of children under 5 in Minnesota live in a child care desert, meaning the demand is at least 3 times greater than available child care spaces. Areas most affected in Minnesota are the Arrowhead region and pockets of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Source: MN Dept. of Human Services Licensed Child Care Policy Brief
FINANCIAL INVESTMENT: FAMILY CHILD CARE
2017 report: Compared to 2016, the cost of family child care for infants has increased slightly, from $8,033 per year to $8,320 per year, and for four-year-olds, from $7,295 to $7,540 per year.
Source: ChildCare Aware 2017 State Child Care Fact Sheet
FINAL WORD:
The state of family child care in Minnesota is a challenging landscape for multiple reasons:
- Declining number of family child care providers opening businesses
- Increasing number closing businesses, resulting in even fewer available spaces
- Increasing costs of child care
- Child care deserts across the state
With new focus on the crisis in the state of Minnesota, it will be interesting to see what will come out of the recent legislation changes and other initatives to help ensure children have they child care they need.
