“Child care is expensive, but those employees are doing some of the most difficult and most important work out there. I hate seeing a daycare or preschool employee making just over minimum wage.” — Knox County parent
There’s plenty of research out there on how a lack of quality, affordable child care is impacting parents, children and the economy. There are datasets that examine this issue on the state and national level.
But for our series, It Takes a Village, we wanted to dive deeper. So we created a survey that would allow us to hone in on what families are feeling and experiencing right here in north central Ohio.
More than 1,000 parents, grandparents, child care providers and community members weighed in.
“My children’s preschool teacher helped me understand my children better — why they act and react in the ways that they do.” — Knox County parent
“Due to cost and availability, my family chose for my wife to be a stay-at-home mom. It may not be for everyone, but it was what is best for us. We’ve sacrificed to make it work for us.” — Richland County parent
“My son got kicked out for behaviors related to autism so I lost my job.” — Richland County parent
“I work directly with homeless families. A lot of these families have struggled to find jobs or accept them because of lack of child care openings and the hours child care is available. This directly impacts their ability to gain self sufficiency and stabilize their families.” — Ashland County resident
“I work in a child care center and can barely afford care for my daughter.” — Knox County parent
“Getting a raise meant I lost child care assistance, but the raise didn’t cover the cost of care for four children.” — Richland County parent
“One thing I wish more people understood about child care is that it’s so much more than just ‘watching kids.’ When people undervalue child care, they overlook the critical role it plays in shaping not just individual children, but families and entire communities.” — Ashland County child care provider
“Working in child care for the past four years has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I have watched children grow from tiny babies into confident, kind and emotionally strong little people, and it fills my heart to know I had a small part in that journey.” — Richland County child care provider
These are just a fraction of the experiences, frustrations and reflections we received.
To those who took the time to answer these questions, thank you. I mean it. Your time is valuable and we appreciate you sharing it with us.
We gathered a ton of insight and we’re looking forward to sharing with you in the weeks to come. But in the meantime, here’s a big picture view of what we learned.
Who took this survey?
We received more than 1,000 responses, including 501 from Richland County, 278 from Knox County and 207 from Ashland County. We also received 28 responses from residents in surrounding counties, including Wayne, Morrow, Medina, Licking, Holmes, Delaware and Crawford.
For our final breakdown of the data, we chose not to include the rest of the responses, which came from outside north central Ohio, leaving us with a total of 1,014 respondents.
Of those respondents, 594 identified themselves as parents of children under six years old (372) school aged children (358) or both. Ninety eight respondents identified themselves as current employees in the child care sector, working either at a center, in-home provider or preschool.
There were 134 respondents who said they regularly provide unpaid care for a child who is not theirs; 370 said they have adult children. Fifty seven survey respondents said they do not have children.
The survey was designed to ask respondents questions that were most relevant to them based on whether they were parents, child care workers or both.
Thus, not every person who took the survey was asked every single question.
Price, choice and quality are hurdles for parents seeking care
We also asked parents and guardians about the obstacles that have made it difficult for them to access child care. Almost 700 people answered this question.
More than 78 percent of parents said the price of child care is a hurdle for them. Nearly 62 percent of families said issues with availability, such as a lack of spots or a long wait list, had been an issue.
Many parents said they believe there is a lack of quality child care options (58%). More than a third of parents said they’ve struggled with child care hours not aligning with their work schedule.
More than one in five parents reported transportation issues or the distance to their child’s provider as a hurdle.
Almost 16 percent of parents said they’ve had trouble finding child care that meets their child’s needs. Many of these parents cited special needs, but there some cited medical issues or extreme allergies.
The biggest hurdles child care providers face are financial
We asked child care providers to identify the challenges they faced at work and heard from 69 respondents.
Low pay (72%) was the most commonly-cited challenge, followed by staffing and retention (59%) and financial sustainability (51%).
Child care providers are some of the lowest paid workers in the state. The median wage for a full-time child care worker is just $28,230 a year — about $13.57 an hour.
Ohio’s early childhood educators have a poverty rate of 12.9 percent, while the poverty rate for elementary and middle school teachers is just 1.3 percent, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California Berkeley.
The same report found that 15 percent of Ohio’s early childhood educators are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and 27 percent are on Medicaid.
Despite these fiscal realities, Susan Martin of the YWCA of Northwest Ohio said many providers are hesitant to hike prices for fear of pricing themselves out of the market — even if that means what they are charging barely covers the cost of care.
Other hurdles cited by providers included lack of public support or recognition (36%) and meeting state regulations (20%).
Less common responses included lack of insurance or other benefits, lack of full time hours, cuts to state funding, the red tape families have to go through to qualify for assistance and behavior issues among children in their care.
We also asked child care providers, “What’s one thing you would change immediately about the child care system?”
We received 49 responses to this open-ended question, with some providers listing multiple changes they’d like to see.
The most common responses were higher pay for child care workers (53%), making child care more affordable for families (33%) and more training to support students with behavioral issues and/or special needs (18%).
Almost half of respondents said child care challenges have impacted their ability to work
Employers and economic development professionals have concluded a lack of accessible, affordable child care isn’t just a family issue — it’s a workforce one.
According to a 2025 report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation called “Untapped,” Ohio’s economy loses $5.48 billion each year due to insufficient child care coverage.
Our survey found these issues are alive and well at the local level, with almost half of respondents saying child care challenges have impacted their ability to work.
More than 31 percent said they’ve had to quit a job or reduce their hours. An additional 16 percent of people said they’ve turned down a job or promotion.
There were 694 respondents who took the time to answer this question for us, though about one in five said the question wasn’t applicable to their situation.
Respondents said they believe high quality child care is important
At first glance, it may seem like child care only impacts children and families. But in reality, there’s a butterfly effect.
When children have reliable child care, their parents enter the workforce and show up to their jobs more reliably.
Children are able to gain the skills they need to succeed socially, emotionally and academically in kindergarten — creating a positive impact for them, their teachers and their fellow classmates.
Survey respondents generally agree that access to high quality child care is important for children’s social and emotional wellbeing.
A majority of respondents (640 answered this question) agreed that child care is important for children’s academic well-being, family wellbeing and the local economy too.