Every three years, the Child Care Affordability Program (CCAP) asks licensed child care providers across Maine about their costs and prices. This information helps ensure that CCAP reimbursement rates reflect Maine’s child care market and informs other child care policy decisions. The 2026 survey is being conducted in partnership with the Survey Research Center at the University of Southern Maine.

Every provider matters. The accuracy of this study depends on participation from providers in every region of Maine and every type of licensed child care program. Even if you serve only a few children or do not participate in CCAP, your responses are important to ensuring an accurate picture of Maine’s child care market.

Survey results help the State understand private-pay market rates; the cost of providing care across ages, program types, and regions; and the factors that affect the cost of providing child care. By completing the survey, you will help CCAP set fair rates across ages, program types, and regions. The results also inform other child care policy decisions.

Yes. Individual responses are kept confidential and stored securely. Results are combined with responses from other providers and reported only in summary form. Individual providers are never identified in reports or publications.

No. Survey responses are collected for research purposes only and will not be used to determine licensing status, Child Care Affordability Program participation, or regulatory compliance.

Completion time varies from 20-30 minutes depending on your program and the records you have available. Reviewing the Survey Preparation Checklist before you begin can help reduce the time needed to complete the survey.

Yes. You may save your progress and return later using your personalized survey link.

See Survey Preparation Checklist.

Please complete one survey for each licensed child care site identified in your survey invitation. Each survey should reflect the operations of that individual licensed location.

If multiple licensed programs share a building, staff, or operating expenses, report only the portion of shared expenses that reasonably applies to the program identified in each survey. This helps avoid counting the same expense more than once.

That’s okay. If possible, check your records or ask someone within your organization who may have the information. You may save your progress and return later after gathering the information you need. Also, in most cases we’re asking for estimates. It’s okay to make an intelligent guess.

Conducting a statewide survey requires significant time and resources from both the State and participating providers. Conducting the Market Rate Survey every three years provides updated information about Maine’s child care market while limiting the burden on providers. Because the survey is not conducted annually, it is especially important that providers of every type, serving every age group and region of Maine, participate when invited. Strong participation helps ensure that the results accurately reflect the current market.

This survey will help CCAP assess new market rates for the program. These rates will go into effect no later than July 1, 2027 and CCAP will give advance notice of the market rate changes ahead of implementation.

If you’ve misplaced your personalized survey invitation, need a replacement survey link, or have questions about the survey, call the Survey Help Desk Voicemail at 1-888-850-2266 for one-on-one assistance. Leave a voicemail and let us know the best time to reach you. We are available some evening and weekend hours as well as during normal business hours. A member of the Survey Research Center team will return your call promptly.