Care.com studies and monitors the state of child care, special needs care, and senior care through ongoing surveys conducted in cooperation with the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) and the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA).

New! Care.com is pleased to present the State of Care^SM Rankings, a ranking of the availability, affordability, and quality of child care in every state and metro area in America.

We also invite you to download our State of Care^SM Reports, an ongoing series of surveys of American families caring for young children and elderly loved ones.

What's covered in the State of Care^SM Rankings:

The State of Care^SM Rankings use several criteria to compute the availability, affordability, and quality of child care:

Availability Criteria:

• Care.com child care providers per child under 10
• Care.com Child Care Center Directory child care centers per child under 10
• Number of Child Care Workers per child under 10

Affordability criteria:

• Care.com Babysitter Pay Calculator base pay as percentage of median household income
• Child care worker annual mean wage as percentage of median household income

Quality Criteria:

• Care.com child care provider's average number of years of experience
• Percentage of Care.com child care providers with first aid certification
• Percentage of Care.com child care providers with CPR certification
• State standards for family child care homes
• State standards for state sex offender registries
• Percentage of child care centers with accreditation
• Percentage of family child care homes with accreditiation

The top ten states are:

See how your state and metro area measure up by downloading the PDF file on the right!