Practical solutions for Utah’s child care crunch

By strengthening the child care system in ways that support families, providers, and employers alike, the state can continue to grow its economy while ensuring parents are able to work and support the families they want to have. (Photo by Lourdes Balduque/Getty Images)

Imagine you are starting a family, and you and your partner both need to work to afford a growing household. Like most Utah families, you depend on steady paychecks to afford the cost of living. Fortunately, your employer participates in a federal tax policy (45F) — enhanced by Utah’s HB190 — that incentivizes businesses to help employees afford child care. Through this benefit, your employer covers half of your child care costs with a qualified provider of your choice.

Or imagine living in an area in the Beehive State without enough quality child care. Just down the street, a parent has opened a qualified home-based child care program to help care for neighborhood children. With help from a startup grant, she covered the up-front costs of launching her business — childproofing her home, purchasing equipment, completing training, and participating in the state’s quality rating system. Her program now offers safe, reliable care that meets quality standards and your needs. 

These scenarios should not be exceptional. With the right policy choices, they can be routine.

Utah’s economy depends on working families. Yet, many parents struggle to find child care that is available, affordable, and compatible with their work schedules. This challenge affects rural and urban communities alike, limits family economic security, and pressures employers trying to recruit and retain workers.

The child care challenge is not driven by a lack of effort from families or providers. It reflects structural gaps in supply and cost that public policy can address.

That’s why The Policy Project is championing two bipartisan policy solutions: expanding access through home-based child care (SB214 Home-based Child Care Solutions) and improving affordability by strengthening incentives for employer-supported child care (HB190 Child Care Business Tax Credit).

Expanding access where Utah families need it most

In many parts of Utah, child care options are limited or nonexistent — particularly for infants and toddlers, families in rural areas, and parents working nontraditional hours in industries such as health care, manufacturing, construction, and tourism. These shortages persist even as demand remains strong.

Home-based child care providers are a critical part of the solution. They are often best positioned to serve families who need flexible schedules or live far from larger child care centers. However, starting a licensed home-based program requires up-front costs for safety improvements, training, and equipment — costs that can prevent otherwise qualified providers from entering the market.

Utah can address this gap through targeted startup grants for home-based child care and grants for current providers to expand access. These grants would prioritize providers who operate in child care deserts, offer care during nights or weekends, or commit to participating in the state’s quality rating system. This approach expands supply efficiently, supports small businesses, and raises quality without imposing unfunded requirements on providers.

By investing in home-based child care, Utah can grow capacity faster and at lower cost while meeting families where they are.

Making child care more affordable by partnering with employers

Even when care is available, cost remains a major barrier. Child care expenses compete with housing, transportation, education, and health care, leaving many parents with difficult choices about work and caregiving.

At the federal level, Section 45F of the tax code provides employers with a tax credit for helping employees access child care. This includes contributions toward child care costs or investments in child care services. Utah can build on this framework by offering a complementary state tax incentive. A state-level “sweetener” would make it more practical for employers — especially small and mid-sized businesses — to offer child care assistance as a benefit. This reduces out-of-pocket costs for families, supports workforce participation, and helps employers remain competitive in a tight labor market. 

Importantly, this approach leverages private-sector investment rather than relying exclusively on public funding, aligning with Utah’s tradition of public-private collaboration.

A practical path forward

Startup grants for home-based providers and enhanced incentives for employer-supported child care address the two most persistent child care challenges: access and affordability. They are targeted, cost-effective, and adaptable to Utah’s diverse communities.

Child care is a workforce issue, a family issue, and an economic issue. Utah has a strong track record of pragmatic problem-solving. By strengthening the child care system in ways that support families, providers, and employers alike, the state can continue to grow its economy while ensuring parents are able to work and support the families they want to have. 

These solutions offer a path forward that respects fiscal responsibility, supports small businesses, and meets the needs of Utah families — exactly the kind of bipartisan progress Utah is known for.