Hawai‘i’s Child Care Capacity, September 30, 2024

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Early Childhood Action Strategy developed this child care capacity dashboard to help track the status of the child care sector in Hawaii. Working families, local businesses and Hawaii’s economy rely on accessible, affordable and quality child care. Hawaii’s economy may continue to struggle long after the pandemic if essential services like child care do not survive.

In December 2019, before the start of the pandemic, there were 23,803 seats in center-based preschools, infant/toddler centers and family child care providers who offer care for young children between birth and 5 years of age. By comparison, there are 88,841 children under age five in Hawaii and 64% of those children (56,858) live in families where all adults were working. During the pandemic, and related shut-down orders, child care capacity fell dramatically in all three of these child care settings.

Today, thanks to the hard work of child care providers and the intervention of federal, state and local agencies and private foundations, the capacity of the child care industry has improved dramatically. At the end of June, 2024, child care providers reported that they had the capacity to care for 19,678 children between birth and age 5. Still, this remains 17% below pre-pandemic levels. Our current capacity is also 305 seats below what we saw in September, 2023, in part due to the fires on Maui, a loss of child care provider staff statewide, and more consistent provider reporting.

expanding opportunity & protecting the access of all children to early learning

Today Hawai‘i is engaged in an incredible effort to ensure that all 3 and 4 year olds in the state have access to preschool. Estimating that there are 35,272 3 and 4-year-olds statewide, how close are we to having the capacity we will need to provide preschool opportunities to those keiki? The Lieutenant Governor’s Ready Keiki initiative estimates that there are 18,921 preschool spaces potentially available for 3s and 4s. Currently, almost a third of those spaces are being used to provide care to younger keiki statewide. While we work to expand preschool opportunities for 3 and 4 year olds, we want to be careful to maintain child care capacity for younger children as well.

Visit Hawai'i's Capacity to Provide Care for Young Children, September 30, 2024 to learn more.

This overview is based on information that child care providers voluntarily share with PATCH. Not all providers update their data regularly. Before & After Care providers are not included in this overview because the children younger than 5 in their care are included in the group child care / preschool counts.

In December 2019, there were 23,803 seats in child care facilities regulated by DHS.

By the end of September 2024, 694 providers reported that they had the capacity to care for 19,678 children younger than 5.

These figures attest to the strength and perseverance of Hawaii’s child care providers. At the same time, they show that Hawai’i’s child care capacity remains 17.1% below where it stood before the pandemic.

Since the pandemic, providers have been squeezed by both reduced capacity and uneven demand.