Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 43
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
1
Early Education for
the Next Generation
Understanding Child Care Supply
in Greater Davidson County, TN
DAVIDSON COUNTY CHILD CARE LANDSCAPE STUDY RESULTS | BRIEF 1
Introduction
High-quality child care is an essential resource for families and children. Reliable child care
enables parental workforce participation, simultaneously providing children with a safe,
nurturing, and structured environment that promotes healthy development.1 Quality child
care also strengthens families' economic stability, improving child development outcomes
and promoting broader economic growth.2
Despite the essential need for child care, families across the United States face challenges
accessing it.3 Though the lack of access to child care is widespread across the country, the
key to implementing effective solutions requires understanding the specific local challenges
within states and regions.
United Way of Greater Nashville engaged the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center (Policy
Impact Center) at Vanderbilt University to conduct the Davidson County Child Care
Landscape Study. The purpose of the study is to collect localized data to understand the
strengths and challenges of the greater Davidson County child care system.
In Davidson County, TN, which includes the capital city of Nashville, center-based child care
is the most prevalent type of licensed care available to families with children under age 5.a, 4
This brief examines study findings related to the current supply and availability of centerbased child care in greater Davidson County. This brief is one part of a five-part series
presenting the findings of the Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study.
To gain insight into greater Davidson County’s child care supply, the Policy Impact Center
developed and fielded a survey to all 246 reachable center-based child care programs in the
region during the Summer of 2025. Of the reachable center-based programs, 47 percent
(n=116) responded to the Davidson County Child Care Provider Experience Survey (Child
a Greater Davidson County has additional licensed child care options (e.g., home-based child care, drop-in child care,
before and after school-only providers) that are excluded from the scope of this brief.
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2026
www.pn3policy.org
