Why is This Important?
The quality of child care and early childhood education influences emotional and cognitive development, including language learning, problem solving, self-control, social skills, and school readiness. San Mateo County's high cost of living makes the availability of affordable and quality child care extremely
important as many families have two working parents. Many of the county's middle- and low-income families do not qualify for state or federal child care subsidies as they earn too much based on guidelines that do not account for regional differences in cost of living.
What is a Sustainable State?
A sustainable state is one where there are a variety of child care options available to parents that supply enough diversity, flexibility, and affordability to meet most parental needs.
How Are We Doing?
Supply and Demand
• In 2009, just over 86,000 San Mateo County children (ages 0-13) lived in households where either both parents worked or, in the case of single-parent households, the children lived with a working parent. There were 22,378 licensed child care spaces available providing room for about 26 percent of the total population of children potentially needing care. This percentage has remained essentially unchanged since 2006.
• It is unknown to what extent the gap in licensed care is met by unlicensed or informal child care arrangements (such as those with extended family members or siblings).
• The supply and demand of licensed child care spaces are unevenly distributed among age groups. For infants (ages 0-2) the supply of spaces was suffi cient for only 14 percent of those needing care, and for school age children (ages 6-13) the supply met the needs of only 10 percent. The supply of spaces met the needs of 83 percent of preschoolers (ages 3-5).
Cost
• Between 2004 and 2009, most child care costs have increased in infl ation adjusted dollars. The largest increase was seen in care for preschoolers in child care centers, which increased approximately 18 percent since 2003 in infl ation-adjusted dollars.
• The estimated cost per hour of school age family child care in 2009 was $8.25, a 25 percent increase from 2003 in inflationadjusted dollars.
• In December 2009, 4,458 children were on the county's Centralized Eligibility List, a 46 percent increase from last year. The Eligibility List is a countywide list of children from low-income families who are eligible and waiting for subsidized care. This increase is likely a direct result of increased unemployment and lower wages.
