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Yakima County, WA — Day care Saturation

How many day care exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 22 ZIP codes analyzed.

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

Measured density: High density — 1.76× the U.S. rate (between 1.76× and 2.10× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 12 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 10 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

High density   Yakima County day care — 176–210% of the U.S. rate

105 day care are counted in Yakima County — 3.6 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 176% of the U.S. rate of 2.0.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 52% between 2015 and 2023 (67 → 102). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 98902 (Yakima), 98901 (Yakima), 98948 (Toppenish) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 98942 (Selah), 98930 (Grandview), 98951 (Wapato).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 113 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Yakima County sits at 176% of the U.S. rate for day care. 10 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 176% and 210% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 98902 and 98901; the lowest measured density is in 98942 and 98930.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing day care and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Day care
105–129
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (12 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
3.6
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
2.0
per 10,000 present
County index
1.76×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
113
2023 — $36M annual payroll
Residents
257,983
20 ZIPs with data
Workers
70,831
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
258,523
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+0.7%
+1,787 people
Net migration 2024
+432
international +1,803, domestic −1,371
Jobs located here
108,666
LODES 2022, +4.0% since 2019

Yakima County had an estimated 258,523 residents on July 1, 2024 — 0.7% more than in 2020 (+1,787). In the latest year it gained 1,330 people: births minus deaths +886, international migration +1,803, domestic migration −1,371. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

108,666 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+4.0% since 2019), and 105,801 employed residents lived there (+3.6% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
98903 Yakima
+38.0%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change

No ZIP had a statistically significant decrease.

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses (no paid employees)

Nonemployer businesses
517
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$29.8M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$58K
gross, not profit

Census Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no paid employees — a separate universe from the employer establishments counted above; a business is in one or the other, never both. They are not storefronts by definition: many are home-based, mobile, or part-time.

We show them beside the density index, not inside it. In categories such as nail and beauty salons, child care, and pet care, one-person businesses can outnumber employer establishments, so the employer-only count understates how many businesses exist. That is not evidence of higher demand.

Receipts are gross revenue reported for these businesses — not profit, and not the size of the local market. Census publishes this only at county level, so it is not shown on the ZIP map. See methodology.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more day care in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — up 52% since 2015

Number of day care in Yakima County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

67
2015
75
2018
71
2020
86
2021
103
2022
102
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
98902 Yakima
366%
98901 Yakima
185%
98948 Toppenish
167%
98908 Yakima
166%
98903 Yakima
161%
98944 Sunnyside
152%
98951 Wapato
144%
98930 Grandview
114%
98942 Selah
96%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
98942 Selah
96%
98930 Grandview
114%
98951 Wapato
144%
98944 Sunnyside
152%
98903 Yakima
161%
98908 Yakima
166%
98948 Toppenish
167%
98901 Yakima
185%
98902 Yakima
366%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few day care may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = day care per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersDay care Per 10kIndexStatus
98902Yakima 46,49217,343 41 7.4 366% Very high density
98935Mabton 4,289368 3 6.7 330% Very high density
98901Yakima 31,36611,976 14 3.7 185% High density
98948Toppenish 12,6384,168 5 3.4 167% High density
98908Yakima 38,0607,018 14 3.4 166% High density
98903Yakima 19,44510,175 8 3.3 161% High density
98944Sunnyside 22,8176,144 8 3.1 152% High density
98951Wapato 12,5812,157 4 2.9 144% Above average
98930Grandview 15,7303,099 4 2.3 114% Above average
98942Selah 18,8713,155 4 2.0 96% Below average
98907Yakima —330 0–2 — — Not published
98909Yakima —470 0–2 — — Not published
98921Buena 12493 0–2 — — Not published
98923Cowiche 994294 0–2 — — Not published
98932Granger 5,742356 0–2 — — Not published
98933Harrah 1,23045 0–2 — — Not published
98936Moxee 8,7441,599 0–2 — — Not published
98937Naches 4,8331,155 0–2 — — Not published
98938Outlook 1,59161 0–2 — — Not published
98947Tieton 3,255394 0–2 — — Not published
98952White Swan 2,015242 0–2 — — Not published
98953Zillah 7,166989 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Yakima

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Yakima retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Yakima retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Yakima retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Yakima County and day care

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 624410 — child day care services. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 113 establishments and $36M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (2.03 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

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.