After nearly 10 years, the Center for American Progress, in partnership with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Stanford University, has published new analyses of licensed child care access across the country. In 2025, nearly half of young children in the United States lived in a child care desert, where demand for care outpaced supply by 3-to-1. Rural areas, particularly hard hit by supply shortages, remain most plagued by licensed child care deserts; 70 percent of young children in the most remote rural areas live in a child care desert. Disparities by race and ethnicity also deepen issues with access, and Head Start—a critical early education program for some of the nation’s most vulnerable families—faces a near universal shortage.

Amid broader discussions about the high and rising cost of living in the United States—with affordability issues touching families at the intersection of housing, health care, food, and energy—the dual crises of high prices and inadequate supply in the nation’s child care system leave far too many families behind. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened funding for the child care system; enacted massive staffing cuts to the programs that support that system; and introduced new regulations that would undermine efforts to make child care more affordable and accessible and to support early educators.

Policymakers must embrace bold solutions to bring down costs, invest in the workforce, improve data collection and infrastructure, and move the country in the direction of a universal child care system that can meet the developmental and educational needs of all young children. Join CAP to discuss this new research, the impacts on families and communities, and the actions that leaders in Congress are taking now to build toward a child care system for the future that supports the nation’s youngest learners.