Interactive Maps Demonstrate Unmet Child Care Needs at County Level

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children has created interactive maps and fact sheets demonstrating the unmet need and availability of high-quality child care to meet those needs at the state, county, and legislative district levels.

Allegheny County

Each county-level assessment examines workforce issues - such as average wages - as well as the amount of access to and quality of child care.

In Allegheny County, the median wage of child care workers using expired one-time federal relief funds was an hourly $15.15. The average wage required for one adult with one child in child care to afford the ALICE survival budget - the bare minimum cost of household basics necessary to live and work in the current economy - was $24.90. Additionally, there has been a net loss of 22 child care providers in the county since 2019. 

Allegheny County’s child population (under five years of age) is 62,818, of whom 13,600 are eligible for Child Care Works. A total of 4,776 eligible children in the county are enrolled, while 8,824 are eligible but unserved. The result is that 65% of the county’s eligible children are unserved.

The county’s infants and toddlers population is 37,138, of whom 8,040 are eligible for Child Care Works and 2,435 are enrolled. A total of 5,605 (70%) are eligible but unserved.

In terms of quality, 38% of Allegheny County children (under five years of age) are enrolled in high-quality programs, while 40% of licensed capacity programs are meeting high-quality standards. Only 35% of infants and toddlers are enrolled in high-quality programs.

Start Strong PA Campaign

The Start Strong PA campaign is asking the General Assembly to include in its 2024-25 state budget:

Support for the Shapiro administration’s proposal to increase subsidy rates to the 75th percentile of the current price families pay for child care services. This increase will help alleviate rising facility, food, utility, and supply costs for providers participating in Child Care Works.

A $284 million investment in new and recurring state funding to implement a child care teacher recruitment and retention initiative. This will help alleviate the ongoing staffing crisis that is causing classrooms and programs to close, leaving working families without access to child care.