Census data show 928 counties, home to about 496,000 young children, with fewer than three child care businesses that have paid staff.
In 928 of the country’s 3,144 counties, the Census Bureau found fewer than three child care businesses with paid employees in 2023. Each of those counties has one, two or none; Census doesn’t publish counts below three, so we can’t say which.
About 496,000 children under 5 live in those counties, or 2.6% of all young kids in the U.S. Most of these places are rural and small, but not all. The largest by number of young children:
- McKinley County, New Mexico: about 4,070 kids under 5
- Vernon Parish, Louisiana: about 3,760 kids under 5
- Apache County, Arizona: about 3,750 kids under 5
- Holmes County, Ohio: about 3,720 kids under 5
- LaGrange County, Indiana: about 3,550 kids under 5
Where these counties are
Texas has the most, with 100 counties, followed by Georgia (57), Kansas (57), Nebraska (50) and Kentucky (47). Oklahoma has 27 and Indiana 26.
That matters because both states are losing programs. A Sept. 30 letter from seven U.S. senators to the federal Administration for Children and Families cited reports of more than 400 day care closures in Oklahoma since November and more than 300 in Indiana since September 2025. Those closure counts come from news reports and cover a different period, so they don’t line up exactly with the Census figures.
What this does and doesn’t count
These counts cover child care businesses with at least one paid employee, including centers and larger home daycares with staff. They leave out one-person home providers with no employees, relatives and nannies, and most public school pre-K and Head Start programs run by schools or governments. So a county on this list may still have some care, just very little from businesses with staff.
What this means if you’re thinking of opening a daycare
A county with almost no child care businesses may have families who need care, but check local demand, licensing rules and whether you can hire staff before you commit. Our guides cover daycare insurance in Mississippi and daycare insurance in Wisconsin, and if you’re in one of Kansas’s 57 counties on the list, here’s how to start an LLC in Kansas.
How we got these numbers
Business counts come from the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns for 2023 (industry code 624410, child day care services). Under its disclosure rules, Census leaves out any county and industry with fewer than three businesses, so “fewer than three” is the most precise statement the data allows. Children under 5 come from the 2020-2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. We counted all 50 states and D.C. (Connecticut uses its nine planning regions). Data pulled October 17, 2026.