Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 2
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
2
Local Center-Based Child Care Supply
Brief 1, Early Education for the Next Generation, examines the current supply and
availability of center-based child care.
Child Care Centers Have 22,184 Slots For Children Ages Birth to 5 Years Old
Based on responses of child care program directors from the Child Care Provider Survey, we
estimate that across greater Davidson County’s 246 child care centers, 19,183 full-day
equivalent child care slots are occupied by children under age 5, and an additional 3,001 are
open and available to families today (see Figure 1). Full-day equivalent child care slots are
defined as licensed child care slots that can either be allotted to one child using full-time care or
allotted to more than one child using part-time care.
Together, these occupied and open slots represent greater Davidson County’s full-day actual
capacity, or total child care supply, of 22,184 child care slots. Among slots occupied by children
enrolled in full-time care, approximately 15 percent are filled by children whose families use
child care certificates to pay for care.
Greater Davidson County has a local population of approximately 39,900 children under age 5
with all parents in the workforce.4 Therefore, current center-based child care supply can
accommodate just over half (56%) of local working families with children under age 5.
Figure 1: Greater Davidson County Center-Based Child Care Supply
Child Age
Total Occupied Slots
Total Open Slots
Full-Day Actual Capacity
Infants
1,816
304
2,120
Toddlers
5,890
789
6,679
Preschool
11,477
1,908
13,385
Total
19,183
3,001
22,184
Source: Davidson County Child Care Provider Experience Survey. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, 2025. Note: Directors
reported the number of occupied and open slots their programs could accommodate today given their current program structure,
resources, and staffing levels. Results were extrapolated to represent the estimated full population of available slots across greater
Davidson County’s 246 child care centers. All values are reported as full-day equivalent slots.
Infant Care Is Limited; Child Care Centers Can Serve Only 1 in 5 Infants
Infant care represents a small share of greater Davidson County’s child care capacity. Of
greater Davidson County’s current full-day actual capacity of 22,184 child care slots, just 10
percent (2,120 child care slots) are currently allocated to infant care (see Figure 1). In 2024,
10,645 infants were born in Davidson County, suggesting that the region’s center-based child
care system can only serve approximately 20 percent, or 1 in 5, infants born in the last year.5 In
other words, within the already limited local child care supply, infant care is especially scarce.
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2025
www.pn3policy.org
