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Kids Win Missouri: Analyzing the State’s Early Child Care Needs

Kids Win Missouri: Analyzing the State’s Early Child Care Needs

Research Type: Early Care and Education
Published: 2025

In communities across the country, the demand for early childhood education (ECE) exceeds the number of slots available for children, leaving parents and caregivers to navigate an unaffordable and inaccessible system that negatively impacts children, caretakers, ECE providers, and communities on the whole. This problem is particularly acute in Missouri, where approximately 200,000 children live in a community considered a “child care desert” — where there are more than three children five years old and younger for every available licensed child care slot.

Since 2023, IFF has partnered with Kids Win Missouri to provide both quantitative and qualitative research studying this ECE gap and its impact on various localities across the state. Kids Win Missouri is a coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to improving the well-being of Missouri children by increasing access to high-quality ECE and expanding health and family support services in the state. As part of this partnership, IFF’s Community Data Insights team has conducted both quantitative and qualitative research documenting ECE needs in 17 communities across the state. Quantitative research, such as supply and demand analyses, determine the affordability of and need for ECE seats in various communities, while qualitative information from interviews with parents, child care providers, and employers sheds light on the impact local ECE systems have on those communities.

Looking across a range of urban, suburban, and rural communities, IFF’s research has found a persistent gap in access to quality ECE across the state. On average, there are licensed child care slots available for 78% of children aged five years or younger, but the shortfalls in access are greatest for the youngest Missourians. Closing the ECE access gap for infants and toddlers (ages birth to two years) would require tripling capacity for that age group. Broadly, this research also led to four key conclusions:

  1. A limited supply of quality ECE seats in communities leads to long waitlists and high prices;
  2. Enrolling a child in an ECE program can pose a tremendous financial burden to families;
  3. A lack of quality ECE negatively impacts parents’ ability to work, leading to increased requests for time off and workers’ leaving their jobs altogether; and
  4. ECE providers struggle to remain fully staffed, further depleting their capacity to serve their communities.

IFF has conducted research in the following cities and counties across Missouri:

Graphic source: https://freevectormaps.com/united-states/missouri/US-MO-EPS-01-0002?ref=atr

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