NSECE Data Users Page
The National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) is the only nationally representative survey that provides comprehensive datasets for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners studying early childhood education and care systems in the United States. NSECE provides critical insights into both the demand for and supply of early care and education across America, supporting evidence-based policy development and research advancement.
New 2024 NSECE Resources
Resource Roadmap: This handout provides an overview of data files, analytic products, documentation, and trainings that users may find useful when working with NSECE data. It highlights available materials to support data analysis, interpretation, and application in early care and education research. This resource summarizes existing content and guidance for NSECE users.
Data File Overview: The 2024 NSECE data is available in two different configurations and at two different restricted levels. Users can reference the 2024 NSECE Data Files Overview to determine which level of access is right for them.
Join the Data User’s Group
Are you interested in joining the data user's group? Sign up for the mailing list.
Insights & Updates: Community Characteristics
Did you know? The NSECE datasets come loaded with community level variables—like community poverty density and urbanicity and employment rates. These measures are derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) and can help researchers explore how child care and early education (CCEE) varies across different kinds of communities.
These variables allow researchers to link to local contexts that otherwise would require access to restricted-use data and labor-intensive variable construction and linkage. See the Data File User’s Guides to learn more about these variables and how to work with them.
Highlights from the NSECE
Subsidies from the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) such as vouchers, certificates, or state contracts, help children and their families afford CCEE.
In 2019, 47 percent of all centers serving children age 5 and under reported receiving CCDF subsidies. Centers include child care centers, private nursery schools, Head Start programs, public pre-kindergarten, etc.
Learn more about center-based CCEE providers sources of revenue and participation in public programs from 2019 NSECE!
NSECE in Action: User Spotlight
Using the NSECE to Examine Access to Early Care & Education
Researchers Gerilyn Slicker, Alex Faucheux, and Alain Bengochea used data from the 2019 National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) to examine how early education programs meet families’ needs for access - including affordability, availability, support for child development, and alignment with family preferences. Focusing on early education centers that serve 4‑year‑olds, their analysis identified four distinct groups of centers (or “access profiles”) based on the features of access they met: Most Features of Access, Limited Features of Access, Most Affordable, and Available for 4‑Year‑Olds.
These findings highlight that programs often meet some, but not all, dimensions of access. Using regression analysis, the researchers also examined how enrollment patterns and policies were associated with these profiles. Results showed disparities in access related to children’s socioeconomic status and other characteristics, but also suggested that enrollment priority policies in publicly funded programs may promote more equitable access.
Slicker, G., Faucheux, A., & Bengochea, A. (2024). A Nationwide Multidimensional Examination of Early Care and Education Access: Links Between Access Profiles, Equitable Enrollment, and Public Funding Policies. Early Education and Development, 1–21.
Using NSECE Data in Your Research
Accessing Data Files
You can find 2012 NSECE, 2019 NSECE, and COVID-19 Longitudinal Follow-Up, and 2024 NSECE data at the Child and Family Data Archive (CFData).
June 2026 update: 2024 NSECE public-use and Level 1 restricted-use data are now available from CFData, including: Center-based Workforce data, Center-based Provider data, Home-based Provider data, and Household data.
Data users can also find extensive data file documentation on the CFData website, including a list of all of the variables contained in our Quick Tabulation, Main Public-Use, and Level-1 Restricted-Use files.
See the CFData overview of data levels to better understand which NSECE data files may be most appropriate for your research.
Restricted Use Data
Rich geographic information and other potentially disclosive information are available for researchers to use in Level-1 or Level 2 Restricted-Use files.
Level-1 Restricted-Use Data
Users interested in obtaining the Level-1 Restricted-Use data for the 2012, 2019, or 2024 NSECE or Level-1a Restricted-Use data for the NSECE COVID Longitudinal Follow-ups can contact CFData for those data. For Level-1/1a access, users agree to terms and conditions in a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request of each specific dataset, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Codebooks for these Restricted-Use data files are available on the CFData website.
Level 2 Restricted-Use Data
Files are available via NORC. For more information, please contact us at nsece@norc.org or view an information packet.
Survey Websites
The following official websites provide comprehensive information about each NSECE survey wave, including methodology, questionnaires, data collection procedures, and key findings.
For more information about the NSECE, please visit OPRE’s NSECE survey page or NORC’s official survey page.