Childcare Landscape Study - Flipbook - Page 46
Davidson County Child Care Landscape Study Results
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Additionally, we estimate that a total of 3,001 full-day equivalent slots are open, or
unoccupied, and similarly are primarily offered as full-time slots (see Figure 1). Full-day
equivalent child care slots can either be allotted to one child using full-time care or allotted to
more than one child using part-time care. To create a comparable measure of slots across child
care providers and across the region, we measure part-time slots as full-day equivalent slots.
Together, occupied and open slots represent the region’s full-day actual capacity, or the total
number of full-day slots available to children, as reported by child care directors on the survey.
In total, the greater Davidson County area has a full-day actual capacity of 22,184 child care
slots, with 86 percent of actual capacity currently in use (occupied slots) and 14 percent open to
families seeking child care (open slots; see Figure 1).
Survey responses indicate several reasons why child care programs have open slots. Most
commonly, programs report they have open slots because of short-term, expected turnover
between enrollments, indicating temporary gaps in enrollment as children move in and out
of care. See Figure 2 for the top four most commonly reported reasons programs say they
currently have open slots.
Figure 2: The Main Reason Why Programs Report Having One or More Open Slots
22%
15%
15%
12%
Expected, short
term turnover
between families
or age groups
Staffing
challenges
Low demand for
certain age
groups
Competition from
other child care
providers
Source: Davidson County Child Care Provider Experience Survey. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, 2025. n=85. Note:
The remaining 36% is comprised of other individual response categories that account for between 1 and 7% of the total.
Child Care Centers Operate at 78% of Their Licensed Capacity For Children
Ages Birth to 5
Child care programs often cannot or do not operate at their full licensed capacity. Licensed
capacity is a measure of the maximum number of children that can be present at a program at
one time, as determined by state regulations during the licensing process. For many programs,
licensed capacity functions as a regulatory ceiling rather than an enrollment target.
In greater Davidson County, child care centers are licensed to serve a total of 28,336 slots.
Today, however, based on Child Care Provider Survey data, we find that only 22,184 slots are
either currently enrolled by or open to children age birth to 5, meaning that the local child care
system currently operates at an estimated full-day actual capacity of 78 percent of total licensed
capacity for children up to Kindergarten. In other words, just over 6,000 licensed child care
slots are inaccessible to families with children under age 5 seeking center-based child care.
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center 2026
www.pn3policy.org
