AbstractMost state regulations do not adversely affect the availability of regulated day‐care services. However, regulations differ in their costliness, intrusiveness, and enforceability. Costly regulations may reduce the number of group day‐care centers, and intrusive regulations may reduce the number of family day‐care homes. Unenforceable regulations have no apparent effects. In some instances, regulators face trade‐offs between quality and availability. However, requirements for provider training and limitations on group size do not involve such trade‐offs. More broadly, improvements in the regulatory process may result in quality gains without reductions in ava