Home / Child day care services / Iowa

Day care in Iowa

How many day care exist per person present (residents + daytime workers) across the 5 Iowa counties we cover, by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Data: Census ZBP 2023 + ACS 2024 + BLS QCEW.

Includes: Child day care centers · Preschools & pre-K · Family home day care · After-school programs. Counted together because official statistics use one 624410 code.

State verdict (covered counties): In line with the U.S. rate — 105% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in Iowa

Day care

330

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

2.1

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

2.0

per 10,000 present

State index

105%

vs. U.S.

Residents

1,236,667

in covered counties

Workers

620,484

jobs in covered counties

Coverage. This page aggregates only the 5 Iowa counties BizGapMap covers — not the whole state. Counts and the index reflect those counties. The aggregate index uses only ZIP cells Census published, so it is a lower bound. Density is a supply-side signal: it counts existing day care and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more.

Counties in Iowa

City	County	Day care	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
Coralville	Johnson County	65–79	153,959	67,063	3.5	171–197%	High density
Cedar Rapids	Linn County	81–119	230,982	103,114	2.9	141–190%	Range spans bands
Cedar Falls	Black Hawk County	30–48	130,172	58,636	1.9	93–136%	Range spans bands
West Des Moines	Polk County	131–167	546,696	305,833	1.9	92–109%	Range spans bands
Davenport	Scott County	23–55	174,858	85,838	1.1	52–111%	Range spans bands

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

171%

141%

93%

92%

52%

Most competitors per capita

52%

92%

93%

141%

171%

Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A county with few day care may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. Use the ranking to find where to look, then verify locally.

← All Child day care services markets nationwide · Methodology · Data sources

Check a ZIP or city · Search by radius · Answers · Data story · Methodology · Data sources · About · Privacy · Terms · Updates (RSS)

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.