The Data: Early Childhood Education
High-quality early childhood care and education benefits children, families, and our economy. Rigorous longitudinal research has found that participants in high-quality child care are more likely than non-participants to:
Complete high school without suspension;
Never be addicted or arrested;
Be employed full-time or be self-employed; and
Have stable marriages and raise their children in two-parent households.
According to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank, cost-benefit ratios from quality early childhood programs for children from low-income families “range from $4 to as high as $16 for every dollar invested.”
In addition to the long-term benefits for children, high-quality early childhood education also allows the parents of young children to participate in the workforce. However, too many Milwaukee families do not have access to quality, affordable early childhood education. Click on the sections below to explore data related to early care and education in Milwaukee.
Child Care Providers in Milwaukee
The map below lists all current regulated child care providers in the City of Milwaukee. You can hover over each dot to get additional details about the providers, including name, provider type, zip code, rating and capacity.
The map is interactive, and the filters to the right of the map can be used to update the providers shown. For example, use the slider to adjust for provider capacity and the dropdown menus to select provider type, rating and zip code. Select the aldermanic district to just highlight providers in that district.
To clear your selection, use the eraser icon.
Child Care Counts Funding
The map below focuses on Child Care Counts funding received by regulated child care providers in the City of Milwaukee.
The map is interactive, and the filters to the right of the map can be used to update the providers shown. For example, use the dropdown menus to select provider Alder Person/District, funding period, provider type, rating and zip code. Select the aldermanic district in the map or any of the rows in the table to just highlight that information for the entire dashboard.
To clear your selection, use the eraser icon.
Child Care Costs Locally
Child Care Workforce
Enrollment in High-Quality Care
The following data sources were used in the dashboard:
Child care providers in Milwaukee: The provider directory map uses publicly available data from the Department of Children and Family’s licensed and certified provider directories. Please note that the aldermanic district refers to the provider’s most recent address.
Child Care Counts funding: The Child Care Counts maps uses publicly available data from the Department of Children and Family’s licensed provider directory, certified provider directory, and the Child Care Counts payment data. Data across the files were matched using the unique provider location number. Please note that the aldermanic district refers to the provider’s most recent address.
Child care costs locally: Infant child care costs for Milwaukee were calculated using the Department of Children and Families 2022 Market Rate Survey. Special request; data not publicly available. The average weekly price per slot for age group 0-1 in group regulation type was multiplied by 52. The average household income for Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin was from the United States Census Bureau 5-year estimate of the 2021 American Community Survey, Table S1901. Retrieved February 2023 from https://data.census.gov/table?q=S1901&g=0400000US55_1600000US5553000&tid=ACSST5Y2021.S1901.
Child care workforce: Turnover and staff wages for child care is from Wisconsin's Child Care Workforce, Wisconsin Department of Children and Family Services and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. Retrieved October 2019 from https://www.cows.org/wisconsins-child-care-workforce
Wisconsin Shares participation: Data is from a custom report from the Department of Children and Families.