Regular child care remains out of reach for nearly half of young children in California
New report finds that Latinx and lower-income families are more likely to have difficulties accessing child care.
Less than half of children ages 5 and younger in California had regular child care arrangements in 2023, with affordability, lack of available space, or concerns about quality being the main reasons, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR).
The study, which is based on data from the UCLA CHPR’s California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), found that young Latinx children, who make up 46.6% of children ages 0–5 in the state, and young children from low-income households are less likely than the state average to have regular child care.
"As a state, we need data to inform smart and efficient solutions to urgent problems like access to child care,” said Dr. Ninez A. Ponce, professor and endowed chair in the UCLA Fielding School's Department of Health Policy Management, director of the UCLA CHPR, and principal investigator of CHIS. “It’s gratifying to work with partners like First 5 California that leverage publicly accessible CHIS data to help create a California where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
Read the CHPR policy report:
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