Since 2015, South Dakota has lost half of its in-home day cares, with around 350 registered with the state in 2024.
The lack of staff has repeatedly plagued the child care industry. With an average hourly wage of $12.67, child care providers are among the lowest wage-earners in South Dakota.
The state does not require in-home day cares with fewer than 13 children to register unless they receive government funding. Its unknown how many unregistered day cares are in the state. A 2021 study estimated there were 2,200 in-home providers.
While larger licensed child care centers have grown slightly, the total number of licensed or registered child care providers is still down a third in the past decade.
This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- South Dakota KIDS COUNT, Data Center
- South Dakota News Watch, Child care policy proposals return to Pierre
- South Dakota Child Care Task Force, Sustainable solutions for transforming childcare in South Dakota.
- Committee for Economic Development, South Dakota home-based child care businesses
- Early Learner South Dakota, Learning environments data
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This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they’re published. Contact Megan Luther at [email protected].
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