This article identifies some factors that affect the type of work-related child care used by families for children under school age. The data are drawn from the Australian Living Standards Study (ALSS) conducted by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The analysis probes the relative importance of factors in determining the use of formal care rather than informal care and within household care. Formal care included family day care and long day care centres. Informal care included care by relatives, friends, neighbours or baby-sitters. Within household care was provided by people living in the child's own household. Because the sample was large and socio-demographically broad, it was possible to identify the sorts of factors influencing the type of work-related child care used by families. The analysis focuses on children of employed parents living in nine local government areas in three types of settings - inner urban, middle urban and outer urban. The areas covered are inner Melbourne, South Sydney, Box Hill, Ryde, Berwick, Werribee, Elizabeth/ Munno Para, Penrith and Campbelltown. Findings of the study concern: supply of formal child care places, types of child care used, and factors associated with choice of type of care, namely, parental background, proximity factors, employment commitments, and family income and expenditure. Tables summarising satisfaction with preschool work-related child care, and reasons for using formal or informal preschool work-related care are presented and discussed.