Within-State Variation in Infant and Toddler Care Access: Availability, Affordability, and the Cost-Price Gap for Providers

Many families with infants and toddlers in the US face low access to high-quality, affordable child care. To enact policy solutions, policymakers need timely information on child care access and how that access varies within states. To understand the current landscape of access to child care for infants and toddlers, we leverage multiple data sources from a single state, Texas, to describe regional variation in infant and toddler care access across a range of access metrics. Research Findings: Most regions of Texas can be classified as infant-toddler child care deserts; availability of regulated care is especially low in regions with larger Hispanic populations and more community poverty. Typical unsubsidized families pay more than the federal affordability benchmark for care even for one child in all regions, and providers across the state lack sufficient resources to deliver high-quality care. Access to subsidized care is very low statewide. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that statewide expansion of subsidy reach and generosity is warranted to boost access to infant-toddler care, whereas compensatory approaches may be targeted regionally.