NAICS 624410 · California overview

Child Day Care Services in Del Norte County

Del Norte County had 5 Childcare establishments in 2023, ranking 51 of 53 California counties and accounting for 0.1% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
5
Rank 51 of 53 counties
Employees
25
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$568,000
All establishments
Per 10k residents
1.9
26,410 residents

More recent reading

BLS QCEW, 2026Q1

The figures above are County Business Patterns, which carries the size distribution but runs about two years behind. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes quarterly, so this is the same industry roughly 3 years later. The two count different universes, Census counts establishments with paid employees in the March pay period and BLS counts worksites covered by unemployment insurance during the quarter, so the numbers are not directly comparable and either can be the larger.

Establishments
4
2026Q1
Employment
22
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$656
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.41 location quotient. Childcare employment in Del Norte County is about 2.4 times less concentrated than in the United States as a whole.

Computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not derived here. Above 1.0 means the industry is a larger share of local employment than of national employment.

Establishments by size

Employee-count distribution for Childcare in Del Norte County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
5-9360.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net decline of 16.7% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20206n/a
20217+1
202270
20235-2

How this market compares

Del Norte County against every other county in California on the same measure. The median excludes places under 2,000 residents, where per-capita figures are arithmetically true but analytically useless.

Below average1.9 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 2.6

Fewer businesses per resident than the typical California market. Often an underserved market, though it can also mean residents buy this service in a neighbouring town.

Vs state median
-27%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#51
of 53 counties
Rank by density
#41
of 53 ranked
Since 2020
-17%
Change in establishments

Density compares child day care services provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Del Norte is more consolidated than California as a whole: fewer micro-operators and a larger share of businesses with real headcount. Fewer targets, but the ones that exist are more likely to be financeable.

Share of establishmentsDel NorteCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer0.0%53.2%-53.2%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target60.0%45.0%+15.0%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%27.3%-27.3%

What acquirers look at

License capacity is the asset and it does not transfer automatically in California. Staff-to-child ratio requirements cap margin structurally.

Cities in Del Norte

The figures above cover the county as a whole. These are the places within it.

Other industries in Del Norte

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns. Establishment counts, employment and annual payroll by NAICS. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (2026Q1). Quarterly establishment counts and employment for employers covered by unemployment insurance. Retrieved 2026-09-08.