Reports
Childcare Supply in Wyoming
Abstract
This white paper summarizes Growth Lab research on the childcare market in Wyoming, where supply of childcare slots systematically falls short of demand. This nationwide problem is prevalent across Wyoming, including in both its larger population centers and smaller communities. The low population of many Wyoming communities adds to the challenge. Research that is summarized in the white paper identify differential constraints affecting childcare centers and home-based childcare facilities. Centers make up most childcare slots in the state and are plagued by a staffing challenge derived from low business margins and low wages that centers can afford under “reasonable” fee structures for the market, which cause many to operate below capacity despite widespread wait lists and demand. Home-based providers, which are particularly important for lower-population settings in Wyoming that cannot support larger centers, face operational challenges typical of very small businesses and new providers face a few solvable start-up hurdles.
Through collaboration with an interagency working group in Wyoming, this white paper identifies a set of targeted initiatives for enabling business entry and childcare slots through both centers and home-based facilities. The focus of these initiatives is on expanding supply as opposed to subsidizing demand through subsidies to parents and families. Though an expansion of funding in this form would be useful, and the state government dramatically underspends on early childhood education in comparison to its longstanding focus on high K-12 spending, the focus is on low-cost and impactful ways to enable the market to better expand supply to meet high expressed demand.
The following diagram summarizes the diagnosis and key strategies. Over the second half of 2024, the interagency working group and partners across Wyoming have focused on implementing a subset of these action points.
