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Day care in Delaware

How many day care exist per person present (residents + daytime workers) across the 3 Delaware 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): Above the U.S. rate — 130% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in Delaware

Day care

326

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

2.6

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

2.0

per 10,000 present

State index

130%

vs. U.S.

Residents

1,021,605

in covered counties

Workers

425,758

jobs in covered counties

Coverage. This page aggregates only the 3 Delaware 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 Delaware

City	County	Day care	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
Wilmington	New Castle County	218–256	573,431	285,874	3.0	150–162%	Range spans bands
Dover	Kent County	48–76	181,133	54,105	2.3	114–175%	Range spans bands
Lewes	Sussex County	60–82	267,041	85,779	1.9	95–127%	Range spans bands

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

Wilmington

150%

Dover

114%

Lewes

95%

Most competitors per capita

Lewes

95%

Dover

114%

Wilmington

150%

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.