NAICS 624410

Child Day Care Services in California

Establishments primarily engaged in providing day care for infants and children, including preschool education.

Establishments (2023)
9,670
Statewide, California
Employees
89,288
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$3.3B
All establishments
Avg. establishment size
9.2
Employees per establishment

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.

Childcare by county

Ranked by establishment count, 2023 County Business Patterns. For the crowded-versus-underserved reading, see the saturation ranking, which ranks by establishments per resident instead.

#CountyEstablishmentsPer 10k residentsShare of state
1Los Angeles County2,0072.120.8%
2San Diego County8832.79.1%
3Santa Clara County8034.28.3%
4Alameda County7104.37.3%
5Orange County6322.06.5%
6San Francisco County4895.95.1%
7Contra Costa County3853.34.0%
8San Mateo County3574.83.7%
9Riverside County3361.33.5%
10Sacramento County3352.13.5%
11San Bernardino County2581.22.7%
12Ventura County2062.52.1%
13Sonoma County1523.11.6%
14Santa Barbara County1473.31.5%
15Placer County1423.21.5%
16San Joaquin County1401.71.4%
17Fresno County1391.31.4%
18Kern County1391.51.4%
19Santa Cruz County1315.11.4%
20Marin County1305.11.3%
21Solano County1162.51.2%
22San Luis Obispo County1023.61.1%
23Stanislaus County941.71.0%
24Monterey County831.90.9%
25Butte County633.00.7%

Counties in California

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.