The State of Iowa receives federal funds through the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to assist low-income families with accessing quality child care when they are attending school, working, or a combination of both. In Iowa, this program is known as Child Care Assistance (CCA), which is administered by the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS). A federal requirement of obtaining and utilizing these funds is to periodically evaluate the market rate of child care services throughout the State so that CCA reimbursement rates can be adjusted to ensure equal access to care for children on the CCA program. The DHS must do this by conducting a Market Rate Survey (MRS) or other methodology that is statistically valid, no less often than every 3 years. In addition to the MRS, federal regulations require that the DHS estimate the cost of care necessary to support 1) implementation of regulatory requirements (including health, safety, quality and staffing requirements) and 2) higher quality care at each level of quality. (author abstract)