I sit here writing at Carey Grove park, somewhat ironically being tasked with writing about child care while watching my 5-year old play due to school closure for parent teacher conferences. With a 3-year-old and 5-year-old, my wife and I recently just went from two to one day care payment. Child care has been a blessing and a stress throughout the journey, as it is for many thousands of families throughout Hamilton County. Invest Hamilton County is close to publishing our full child care Action and Investment Plan and I am excited (and daunted) to share some of the challenges facing our community today.
Throughout this process we’ve taken concrete steps to assess the gaps our families, businesses, and communities face due to the lack of (and cost of) child care within the County. Here are some data points revealed in our report:
Watch the Child Care Action and Investment Plan Update
- The average cost of care per child in 2024 in Hamilton County is $20,478.64, compared to a 2024 state average of $14,636.44, and a County average of $15,470 in 2020.
- Total current child care capacity is 13,166, to meet demand by 2034 seats need to grow by 6% per year, to a total of 23,578 seats. This is a 10,412-seat increase.
- The child care industry (including households) employs 1,919 professionals in Hamilton County, a 26% increase since 2018.
- To meet unmet demand, the County will need to attract and retain approximately 1,500 additional child care workers within the next decade.
- Only 55% of parents/guardians surveyed were satisfied or greatly satisfied with their current child care coverage.
- There are 2,339 work-willing parents in Hamilton County who are ready and willing to return to the workforce should child care become affordable and/or available. This has the potential to generate $242.4-$316.5 million per year to the local economy.
- 49% of surveyed employers had employees list child care or pre-K issues as a reason for voluntarily leaving.
- 54% of surveyed employers had employees voluntarily reduce their work hours due to child care related reasons.
- 67% of surveyed employers said that when considering new hires, reliable child care or pre-K is raised as a concern by the candidate.
If you want to learn more, I heartily encourage you to check out the webinar recording attached to this newsletter, and reach out to our team. A special thank you to TPMA for their hard work on this report. There are a lot of potential solutions to child care challenges that show promise from around the state and country. The Invest Hamilton County team is excited to work with a diverse array of partners to accomplish real objectives and build solutions. More to come soon!