Omaha Metro Child Care Gap Assessment

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Nebraskans are hard workers—75% of young children across the state have working parents.

In the Omaha metropolitan area, that translates to roughly 56,000 children from birth to 5 who live in households where all adults work.

Child care is foundational for working families, who need reliable, affordable care so they can show up for work every day. When child care isn’t easily accessible, parents may miss shifts, cut back their hours, or, in the case of women especially, drop out of the workforce altogether.

This analysis from the Buffett Early Childhood Institute details the current child care landscape in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area—the potential need among working families, the current supply of child care providers, the gap that exists between the potential need and supply, and where child care shortages are most pronounced.

The data shows the need for child care is spread across the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area, not concentrated in any one city or local community. That’s because of one important factor: how families frequently move across city and state lines to work and seek child care.

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