This report provides the results of surveys conducted in 1998 of child care centers and family home providers and is the base for subsidy rate adjustments which, according to federal regulations, must be tied to a recent local market survey of child care rates. Presented are findings about child care rates, the child care market, existing child care centers, licensed family homes, DSHS subsidized child care, and market demographics. Authors find that the number of children in child care centers grew by 38% in the eight-year period 1990 to 1998 with estimated total revenues for the entire child care industry (licensed and unlicensed) in Washington exceeding $1 billion dollars in 1998. Forty-one percent of children in child care centers in 1998 were preschoolers, 4% were infants, and 56% of the children received full-time care. State subsidies were provided for 104,500 of the children in child care in federal fiscal year 1998. This averaged to 54,500 children per month in either a licensed or exempt setting.
