This dashboard suite illustrates the estimated need for Early Care and Education (ECE) in Washington State and how much of that need is currently being met by state and federal programs. There are four dashboards included in this suite showing need and supply across the state, the number and proportion of families eligible for Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) subsidies who are served, and the number of eligible families that take part in Early Child Education Assistance Program (ECEAP). Since the percent of children using an ECE service (the uptake estimate) for child care and early learning programs vary across the state, the dashboards showcase data by Counties, Legislative Districts, School Districts, and Zip Code Tabulated Areas (ZCTA). Some dashboards also disaggregate uptake rates by State Median Income (SMI) and child age groups.
Footnotes
"Need" estimates are from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, defined as children with all available parents in the labor force.
"Supply" estimates are from DCYF subsidy warrant data (including Family, Friends, and Neighbor care), ECEAP enrollment data, Head Start slot counts, and estimates of private pay child care participation. Supply estimates do not include Transitional Kindergarten programs operated by school districts.
Population estimates are from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey
Current WCCC Subsidy participation is from DCYF subsidy payment data (including Family, Friends, and Neighbor care), aged 90 days to maximize completeness.
ECEAP data originate from the Early Learning Management System (ELMS).
Masking - Due to data confidentiality, cell sizes <5 are masked (not visible) for the Need and Supply dashboard. The WCCC Subsidy Uptake and ECEAP Uptake dashboards mask cell sizes with <10 children served counts.
Data Source: DCYF Early Learning Data Store 2.0 (ELDS 2.0).
Attribution
 | In order to create this data dashboard, we partnered with Washington STEM to create a tool that reflects the current state of Washington's child care capacity and demand. This tool was made possible by combining data and expertise from DCYF's Office of Innovation, Alignment, and Accountability, and the technical expertise of Washington STEM. |
Data Files:
- Will be updated soon.
Questions? For questions about the maps or underlying data, email oiaa@dcyf.wa.gov.