In order to understand the effective demand of residents for day care services and the development potential of day care in Dongguan, this study conducted an empirical study in X Town of Dongguan City from September to November 2022 by adopting convenience sampling method, and conducted a one-to-one questionnaire survey on the basic information, purchase intention and payment intention of home-based elderly people and adult children for day care services. Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of purchase intention, and U/H test and multiple stepwise regression analysis were used to analyze the influencing factors of payment intention. The results showed that 251 of the 392 respondents were willing to buy day care services, accounting for 64.03%. The average monthly payment value of day care services was about 2127.2 yuan. The purchase intention of residents is affected by education level, income and expenditure status and the number of children; Residents' willingness to pay for day care was influenced by education level, health status of the elderly, income and expenditure of the respondents and whether they had children to provide care. The study found that day care service has certain development potential in Dongguan, and is more suitable for urban development.