Child Trends’ interactive map shows the variation in how approximately 30,000 Maryland families used the state’s Child Care Scholarship (CCS) subsidy program to enroll in programs that have achieved higher ratings in Maryland’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). The map reflects enrollments in March 2025.
Families can use the scholarships (funded by the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant and the State of Maryland) to help pay licensed child care centers, registered home-based care programs, or informal relative care providers.
Providing access to high-quality care is a core feature of Maryland’s CCS program. All center- and home-based programs that serve children with a CCS participate in Maryland EXCELS, the state’s QRIS. Programs are rated (1 to 5) based on factors such as staff qualifications and professional development, developmentally appropriate practices, and administrative policies and practices. Programs that meet initial requirements are rated a 1, while those that meet the highest level of quality and are state- or nationally accredited are rated a 5. Regardless of their rating, all Maryland EXCELS participants go above and beyond basic licensing requirements.
This map shows CCS recipients’ enrollment in programs with quality ratings of 3, 4, or 5 as of March 2025. Additional information is also provided for each ZIP code. Note that children may be enrolled in care outside of their home ZIP code. In addition, the map was updated on September 29, 2026 to include the following:
- Metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, and rural classification of ZIP codes using Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes: ZIP codes are classified based on whether they are connected to or part of a metropolitan core. Additional information on RUCA codes can be found here.
- High-commute ZIP codes as defined by the RUCA high-commuting classification: ZIP codes in which more than 30 percent of daily work travel flows to nearby metropolitan, micropolitan, or small-town economic areas are classified as high-commute. These are ZIP codes where families may be using child care outside their ZIP code.
- Locations of all licensed child care providers
The individual ZIP code hover boxes also include the following information about the ZIP code to illustrate where access to highly rated care for children with CCS may be constrained by local child care supply:
- Number of licensed providers
- Percentage of licensed providers serving a child with CCS
- Percentage of licensed providers that are highly rated
We also include counts of school-based public Pre-K and Head Start locations by ZIP code, describing the supply of high-quality child care options other than licensed care.
Additional updates include identifying the ZIP codes for which data are rolled up to the county level to protect children’s identities and a flag for ZIP codes with a small number of children (10-20), indicating that the percentage enrolled in highly rated care should be interpreted with caution.
This map shows the percentage of children in each ZIP code in Maryland who are using CCS to attend a highly rated child care program, by child age.
Interact with the map: Hover over ZIP codes for additional information. Click the magnifying glass icon to search for a specific ZIP code. Click the house-shaped recenter icon, located in the menu at the top-left of the map, to reset the map. For additional information on how to navigate Tableau maps, see these instructions.
Filter by age: Use the drop-down menus to filter the data by age group.
Legend: Click legend items to highlight or isolate specific groups. Click again to return to the full view.
Additional layers: Use the provider type drop-down menu to layer locations of providers; use the highlighter tools to highlight small ZIP codes where CCS statistics are based on results combined across other small ZIPs in the county; metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, or rural ZIP codes; or high-commute ZIP codes.
Key findings
- On average, nearly half of CCS recipients in a given ZIP code attend a highly rated child care program (with a quality rating of 3–5). However, the share varies widely from one ZIP code to another.
- Fifteen ZIP codes have at least 500 children participating in CCS, accounting for roughly 25 percent of all CCS recipients in Maryland.
- A few of these ZIP codes have high usage of highly rated providers, reflecting strong local supply of such care. Specifically, three of the 15 ZIP codes with large numbers of children receiving CCS have at least half of children in highly rated care.
- However, most areas with large numbers of children receiving CCS have less than half of children enrolled in highly rated providers. This suggests a mismatch between need and availability of highly rated options.
- At least half of school-age children are in highly rated care in 39 percent of ZIP codes. In contrast, 25 percent of ZIP codes have at least half of children under age 2 in highly rated care, as do 34 percent for children ages 2–3 and 37 percent for preschool-age children (ages 3–6.5, not in kindergarten). Note that ZIP codes with fewer than 10 CCS recipients in a given age group were excluded from these analyses.
- In some regions, neighboring ZIP codes have similar rates of children enrolled in highly rated providers.
- Some clusters of ZIP codes have high rates of enrollment in highly rated providers. Talking with stakeholders in these areas could shed light on strategies that help providers achieve a high rating and help families access these highly rated programs.
- Conversely, some clusters of ZIP codes have low rates of enrollment in highly rated programs. By talking with stakeholders in these areas, such as staff at Child Care Resource Centers and families receiving a CCS, Maryland could better understand whether this is due to a low supply of highly rated programs or other factors.
- In some regions, neighboring ZIP codes show stark differences in use of highly rated care. These differences could be due to localized provider availability, transportation barriers, or differences in the need for nonstandard-hour care stemming from local occupational patterns.
- ZIP codes with a larger percentage of providers that are highly rated tend to have a larger percentage of children who use CCS to enroll in highly rated care (Spearman’s rho = 0.32, p < 0.001). Local supply of child care may constrain the ability of children using CCS to enroll in highly rated care.
Data sources
Child Trends’ analyses combined data from the five sources listed below. These data reflect Maryland’s CCS enrollment as of March 2025, representing 508 residential ZIP codes (excluding P.O. boxes) and 41,645 children. ZIP codes with fewer than 10 CCS recipients were masked and labeled “No information” to protect children’s identities.
- Maryland State Department of Education. (2025). [Unpublished raw data on CCS child enrollment].
- Maryland State Department of Education. (2025). [Unpublished raw data on licensed child care providers].
- Maryland State Department of Education. (2025). [Unpublished raw data on public PreK programs].
- Maryland State Department of Education. (2025). [Unpublished raw data on QRIS participation and ratings].
- Schroeder, J., Van Riper, D., Manson, S., Knowles, K., Kugler, T., Roberts, F., & Ruggles, S. (2025). IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 20.0 [dataset]. IPUMS. http://doi.org/10.18128/D050.V20.0
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2025). 2020 Rural-Urban Commuting Area Codes [dataset]. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/rural-urban-commuting-area-codes
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start. (2025). Head Start Service Location Datasets [dataset]. https://headstart.gov/about-us/article/head-start-service-location-datasets
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research. HUD-USPS ZIP Code Crosswalk, Q4 2024 [dataset]. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/usps_crosswalk.html
Notes and Suggested Citation
This map was created as part of a Child Care Policy Research Partnership between the Maryland State Department of Education and Child Trends, which is funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (Grant #90YE0288). Study findings are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, ACF/HHS or the U.S. Government.
For additional information on this partnership and Maryland’s CCS program, please see the following links.
- Child Trend’s CCS research partnership with Maryland
- Maryland State Department of Education CCS information
Suggested Citation
Maxfield, E., Madill,. R., & Gabriel, A. (2026). Map of Maryland families’ use of subsidies on highly rated child care. Child Trends. DOI: 10.56417/7638e5145h