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Day care in California

How many day care exist per person present (residents + daytime workers) across the 35 California counties we cover, by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Data: Census ZBP 2023 + ACS 2024 + BLS QCEW.

Includes: Child day care centers · Preschools & pre-K · Family home day care · After-school programs. Counted together because official statistics use one 624410 code.

State verdict (covered counties): In line with the U.S. rate — 98% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in California

Day care

9,085

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

2.0

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

2.0

per 10,000 present

State index

98%

vs. U.S.

Residents

38,319,676

in covered counties

Workers

15,030,202

jobs in covered counties

Coverage. This page aggregates only the 35 California counties BizGapMap covers — not the whole state. Counts and the index reflect those counties. The aggregate index uses only ZIP cells Census published, so it is a lower bound. Density is a supply-side signal: it counts existing day care and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more.

Counties in California

City	County	Day care	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz County	141–165	272,278	80,401	4.5	222–244%	High density
San Francisco	San Francisco County	482–510	830,479	727,248	4.0	199–201%	High density
San Rafael	Marin County	119–169	257,061	106,330	3.8	189–240%	High density
Menlo Park	San Mateo County	332–364	713,109	457,352	3.5	174–183%	High density
Fremont	Alameda County	712–740	1,655,008	750,285	3.5	173–175%	High density
Santa Clara	Santa Clara County	813–895	1,935,981	1,162,159	3.2	159–162%	High density
Eureka	Humboldt County	44–98	134,385	33,944	2.9	143–306%	Range spans bands
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo County	93–135	271,285	97,546	2.9	143–177%	Range spans bands
Concord	Contra Costa County	376–412	1,159,422	342,009	2.8	139–147%	Above average
Roseville	Placer County	138–170	422,233	166,507	2.7	135–166%	Range spans bands
Goleta	Santa Barbara County	138–188	443,781	158,550	2.6	130–153%	Range spans bands
Santa Rosa	Sonoma County	145–201	485,213	174,040	2.5	125–158%	Range spans bands
Chico	Butte County	59–87	207,286	61,889	2.5	122–168%	Range spans bands
Napa	Napa County	41–57	135,313	65,776	2.4	120–155%	Range spans bands
Fairfield	Solano County	115–127	449,663	122,066	2.3	111–121%	Above average
West Sacramento	Yolo County	58–84	222,458	74,293	2.2	110–152%	Range spans bands
San Diego	San Diego County	876–1,056	3,282,423	1,385,217	2.2	109–117%	Above average
El Centro	Imperial County	42–62	174,015	33,702	2.2	108–155%	Range spans bands
El Dorado Hills	El Dorado County	47–89	192,693	49,889	2.2	106–183%	Range spans bands
Redding	Shasta County	45–95	190,130	53,985	2.1	102–197%	Range spans bands
Ventura	Ventura County	202–246	841,297	285,173	2.1	101–108%	Above average
Folsom	Sacramento County	328–382	1,596,140	531,159	1.8	87–95%	Below average
El Segundo	Los Angeles County	1,947–2,299	9,801,306	3,924,098	1.7	82–86%	Below average
Irvine	Orange County	611–747	3,175,270	1,572,620	1.5	76–81%	Below average
Tracy	San Joaquin County	132–172	796,477	232,266	1.4	71–85%	Below average
Modesto	Stanislaus County	87–115	559,023	148,684	1.4	68–85%	Below average
Monterey	Monterey County	61–107	426,948	115,284	1.3	62–101%	Range spans bands
Bakersfield	Kern County	129–201	915,763	218,146	1.3	62–85%	Below average
Madera	Madera County	21–43	159,701	30,139	1.2	59–116%	Range spans bands
Hanford	Kings County	19–33	152,269	28,375	1.1	56–92%	Range spans bands
Merced	Merced County	35–61	288,279	48,681	1.1	55–93%	Range spans bands
Riverside	Riverside County	314–420	2,482,806	674,999	1.1	55–64%	Range spans bands
Fresno	Fresno County	115–213	1,021,317	301,306	1.0	48–80%	Range spans bands
Visalia	Tulare County	48–104	473,757	104,822	0.9	45–88%	Range spans bands
Ontario	San Bernardino County	220–382	2,195,107	711,262	0.9	42–65%	Range spans bands

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

222%

199%

189%

174%

173%

159%

143%

143%

Most competitors per capita

42%

45%

48%

55%

55%

56%

59%

62%

Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A county with few day care may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. Use the ranking to find where to look, then verify locally.

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BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.