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1. Indicates whether the provider can serve (is within 3 miles of) one or more high-quartile SVI tracts.
2. This metric estimates the number of children in need in the provider's market, and can be thought of as the pool of families the provider has the potential to serve. This value changes when selecting different tabs: 'All providers' counts 0-3 with working parents, and 'Subsidy/Quality/High-Quality' count 0-3 with working parents 200% under the poverty threshold.
3. The '___ desert color' column reflects the provider's tract shading in the above map. This helps locate the provider, and informs whether its anchoring tract is a desert in the selected tabview. Note that the 'Quality desert' column always shows whether a provider is in a quality desert, even when the selected view is set to 'All providers' or 'Subsidy providers.' As an example, a tract can be a quality desert, but not necessarily an all-providers or a subsidy desert.
* Missing values in the 'Quality type & level' column indicates that the provider is not quality-rated. However, missing values in the 'Quality desert', 'Serves HQ SVI', 'Estimated children in market', and 'Desert color' columns indicate that the provider is not in the selected county, as these are market-level characteristics calculated only for tracts in the selected county. Additionally, missing values in the precinct column indicate the latitude/longitude was not provided in HHSC data.

What does child care supply and demand look like in Tarrant County?

Children per market

  • On average, each market contains ~4,600 children 0-3 with working parents and ~1,900 low-income children 0-3 with working parents.

Seats per market

  • On average, there are 41 providers per child care market and ~1,400 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for providers who accept children on subsidy is ~360 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for quality rated providers is ~200 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for high quality providers is ~120 seats per market

Child care deserts

Child care deserts are defined where demand exceeds supply by at least 3-to-1 ('child care deserts'). Four groups of child care providers are considered.

  • All providers
  • Subsidy accepting providers
  • Quality rated providers
  • High quality providers
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What are the highest-need zip codes in Tarrant County?

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The zip codes to the left each have at least one tract that has been identified as high-need. High-need is defined as less than 33 seats per 100 children

The estimated number of eligible children differs depending on the market:

  • The all providers market includes all children with working parents who live in high-need zip codes.
  • The other markets include low-income children with working parents who live in high-need zip codes.

It is important to note that since zip codes do not map perfectly to census tracts, children may be duplicated across multiple high-need zip codes.

The CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is included as another parameter to help identify vulnerable communities. SVI scores range from 0 (lowest vulnerability) to 1 (highest vulnerability). The table is subset to only include zip codes where median SVI is greater than 0.8.

In order to identify areas with a critical mass of children in need, only zip codes with more than 1000 children children are included in the table to the left.

Number of providers serving the zip codes above

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Providers

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Children in need of care

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Cities

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1. Indicates whether the provider can serve (is within 3 miles of) one or more high-quartile SVI tracts.
2. This metric estimates the number of children in need in the provider's market, and can be thought of as the pool of families the provider has the potential to serve. This value changes when selecting different tabs: 'All providers' counts 0-3 with working parents, and 'Subsidy/Quality/High-Quality' count 0-3 with working parents 200% under the poverty threshold.
3. The '___ desert color' column reflects the provider's tract shading in the above map. This helps locate the provider, and informs whether its anchoring tract is a desert in the selected tabview. Note that the 'Quality desert' column always shows whether a provider is in a quality desert, even when the selected view is set to 'All providers' or 'Subsidy providers.' As an example, a tract can be a quality desert, but not necessarily an all-providers or a subsidy desert.
* Missing values in the 'Quality type & level' column indicates that the provider is not quality-rated. However, missing values in the 'Quality desert', 'Serves HQ SVI', 'Estimated children in market', and 'Desert color' columns indicate that the provider is not in the selected county, as these are market-level characteristics calculated only for tracts in the selected county. Additionally, missing values in the precinct column indicate the latitude/longitude was not provided in HHSC data.

What does child care supply and demand look like in Harris County?

Children per market

  • On average, each market contains ~6,500 children 0-3 with working parents and ~2,900 low-income children 0-3 with working parents.

Seats per market

  • On average, there are 59 providers per child care market and ~2,500 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for providers who accept children on subsidy is ~710 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for quality rated providers is ~400 seats per child care market
  • Average estimated capacity for high quality providers is ~270 seats per market

Child care deserts

Child care deserts are defined where demand exceeds supply by at least 3-to-1 ('child care deserts'). Four groups of child care providers are considered.

  • All providers
  • Subsidy accepting providers
  • Quality rated providers
  • High quality providers
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What are the highest-need neighborhoods in Harris County?

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The neighborhoods to the left each have at least one tract that has been identified as high-need. High-need is defined as less than 33 seats per 100 children

The estimated number of eligible children differs depending on the market:

  • The all providers market includes all children with working parents who live in high-need neighborhoods.
  • The other markets include low-income children with working parents who live in high-need neighborhoods.

The CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is included as another parameter to help identify vulnerable communities. SVI scores range from 0 (lowest vulnerability) to 1 (highest vulnerability). The table is subset to only include neighborhoods where median SVI is greater than 0.8.

In order to identify areas with a critical mass of children in need, only neighborhoods with more than 1000 children children are included in the table to the left.

Number of providers serving the neighborhoods above

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The map to the right shows quality rated deserts in Harris County. Deserts are computed using the ratio of estimated supply of licensed child care seats to estimated demand for child care.

Child care deserts are organized at the market level for each county. To see market definitions please reference the Definitions tab. To zoom to a specific market, click on a census tract. This will zoom the map to show the market around the census tract.

The map to the right shows what Harris county tract 100000 (outlined in black) looks like when clicked on. The red circle shows an approximate market radius. All tracts are within 3 miles of the center tract.

To show providers, geographic landmarks, neighborhoods, or cities use the toggle buttons to the left-hand side.

To zoom out, click anywhere in the white space outside of the map.

For additional assistance or clarification about the application or estimates, please email texaspolicylab@rice.edu.

Definitions

  • Child care desert: a child care market where there are fewer than 33 seats per 100 children. This methodology comes from the Children at Risk Project.
  • Children in need of care: the estimated number of children ages 0-3 with working parents
  • Low-income children in need of care: the estimated children ages 0-3 with working parents whose income is at or below the 200% federal poverty threshold

Provider types

  • TRS providers participate in the Texas Rising Star (TRS) quality improvement program
  • NAEYC providers participate in a national early child care improvement program
  • Head Start are federally funded early child care programs which promote school readiness for low-income children

Seat estimates

  • Subsidy provider seats: the estimated number of child care seats from a Head Start or licensed home or center provider which accepts child care subsidies
  • Quality rated provider seats: the estimated number of child care seats from a provider which is a TRS, Head Start, or NAEYC provider
  • High quality provider seats: the estimated number of child care seats from a provider which is a TRS 4-star, Head Start, or NAEYC provider

Markets

  • All providers market: the ratio of children in need of care to provider seats
  • Subsidy providers market: the ratio of low-income children to subsidy provider seats
  • Quality rated providers market: the ratio of low-income children to quality rated provider seats
  • High quality providers market: the ratio of of low-income children to high quality provider seats

Child care deserts estimates

The deserts are constructed as a ratio between the total supply of child care seats from licensed providers to the total demand for those seats. We compute the analysis at the child care market level. A child care market is defined by an anchoring census tract and its neighboring tracts within a 3-mile radius. Literature suggests that typical low-income families utilize child care within 3 miles of their home address. Research by the Texas Policy Lab, for families in Harris and Tarrant County, supports this finding.

Supply

To compute the supply of all providers at the market-level, we sum the estimated capacity of home and center providers for all providers within 3 miles of each anchoring tract. To compute the supply of all subsidy providers at the market-level, we sum the estimated capacity of home and center providers for all providers who accept the subsidy within 3 miles of each anchoring tract. To compute the supply of all TRS providers at the market-level, we sum the estimated capacity of TRS accredited home and center providers within 3 miles of each anchoring tract. To compute the supply of all high quality providers providers at the market-level, we sum the estimated capacity of TRS 4-star accredited home and center, NAEYC, and Head Start providers within 3 miles of each anchoring tract.

Demand

To compute demand for all providers at the market-level, we sum the total number of children, ages 0-3, from families with working parents for all tracts that are within 3 miles of each anchoring tract. To compute demand for subsidy and Texas Rising Star (TRS) providers, we sum the total number of low-income children, ages 0-3, from families with working parents.

The Children in need of care visual aims to illustrate high-demand markets. Markets which have demand in the top 75% of markets in the county are indicated with a dot.