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Minnesota's Child Care Deserts
Minnesota's child care shortage isn't evenly spread. This map shows the supply gap by county — children under 5 for every licensed child care center — built from public U.S. Census population estimates and our roster of every licensed center in the state. Darker red means far more young children than centers to serve them.
Hover a county for its name · click a county to see its centers.
The tightest supply
Counties where the fewest centers serve the most young children — the hardest places in Minnesota to find licensed care:
| County | Children under 5 | Licensed centers | Children per center |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | 301 | 0 | no centers |
| Traverse | 174 | 0 | no centers |
| Roseau | 866 | 1 | 866 |
| Nobles | 1,752 | 3 | 584 |
| Clearwater | 496 | 1 | 496 |
| Marshall | 496 | 1 | 496 |
| Murray | 417 | 1 | 417 |
| Mahnomen | 389 | 1 | 389 |
| Wilkin | 324 | 1 | 324 |
| Freeborn | 1,613 | 5 | 323 |
| Big Stone | 306 | 1 | 306 |
| Red Lake | 257 | 1 | 257 |
Find care near you
Wherever you are in Minnesota, you can look up every licensed center near you — with its full public licensing record in plain English — and get a free alert if anything changes.
Search centers near you → The full MN licensing report →
Methodology & sources
Demand: children under 5 by county, U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates (2023 vintage). Supply: licensed child care centers from Minnesota's open licensing roster, geolocated and assigned to counties. The ratio counts centers, not licensed slots (capacity isn't in the open dataset), so it's a supply indicator, not an exact seat count — a county with a few large centers can serve more children than the ratio alone suggests. Family child care (in-home) providers are not included. Childcare Alerts is an independent service, not affiliated with the State of Minnesota or DCYF.