About Us

Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2021

Established in 1965, Head Start promotes school readiness for children in low-income families by offering educational, nutritional, health, social, and other services. Since its inception, Head Start has served more than 38 million children birth to age 5 and their families. In 2020, Head Start was funded to serve 839,116 children and pregnant people in centers, family homes, and in family child care homes. The program is rooted in urban, suburban, and rural communities throughout the nation.

For term definitions and fact sheets from other years, see Head Start Program Annual Fact Sheets.

Download the PDF version.

Federal Budget

The U.S. Congress authorizes the amount of federal spending for Head Start each year. The Head Start program is administered by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Head Start awards federal grants directly to public agencies, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations, tribal governments, and school systems for operating Head Start programs in local communities.

Activity

Amount

Head Start Program, including Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships

$10,363,049,571

Training and Technical Assistance

$247,078,421

Research, Demonstration, and Evaluation

$19,950,756

Monitoring Support

$36,000,000

Program Support

$56,836,681

Designation Renewal System (DRS) Transitions Support

$25,000,000

Total

$10,747,915,429

Annual Federal Funding and Funded Enrollment by State

The Head Start program serves children, families, and pregnant people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and six U.S. territories. The table in this section presents the total actual funding awarded and funded enrollment of Head Start programs in each state and territory.

AIAN funding goes directly to AIAN tribal governments. AIAN programs operate in 26 states, and their services cross state lines in some cases. MSHS funding and funded enrollment are shown as one total, as this program supports children and families who receive services in various states during the year. Thus, federal funding and funded enrollment for these services cannot be attributed to individual states.

Annual Federal Funding and Funded Enrollment

 

Head Start (excluding AIAN)

AIAN1

State/Territory

Federal Funding

Funded Enrollment

Federal Funding

Funded Enrollment

Alabama

$156,825,889

13,438

 

 

Alaska

$20,579,547

1,348

$35,776,476

1,965

Arizona

$175,213,573

13,054

$35,818,987

2,726

Arkansas

$106,372,981

9,191

 

 

California

$1,320,500,737

87,819

$14,106,767

825

Colorado

$119,296,359

 9,489

$767,684

56

Connecticut

$73,144,144

 5,585

 

 

Delaware

$21,553,287

1,996

 

 

District of Columbia

$36,656,754

 2,370

 

 

Florida

$442,454,135

 40,319

 

 

Georgia

$258,763,401

 23,259

 

 

Hawaii

$31,997,148

 2,941

 

 

Idaho

$38,883,862

 2,908

$4,830,384

319

Illinois

$410,844,005

29,117

 

 

Indiana

$160,915,337

 13,327

 

 

Iowa

$80,666,369

 7,148

 

 

Kansas

$79,968,282

 6,809

$2,139,862

109

Kentucky

$180,999,075

 14,921

 

 

Louisiana

$209,932,116

 20,165

 

 

Maine

$43,094,677

 2,957

$982,196

60

Maryland

$121,176,389

9,192

 

 

Massachusetts

$162,250,043

 11,589

 

 

Michigan

$367,417,126

 29,085

$8,058,354

598

Minnesota

$125,893,518

 10,946

$15,722,681

1,080

Mississippi

$225,587,275

 21,622

$2,458,409

268

Missouri

$186,607,110

 13,916

 

 

Montana

$37,266,084

 2,916

$17,213,981

1,436

Nebraska

$61,472,858

 4,885

$5,704,645

349

Nevada

$41,621,944

 2,937

$4,466,309

362

New Hampshire

$21,040,873

 1,521

 

 

New Jersey

$193,901,043

 15,267

 

 

New Mexico

$77,925,474

 6,502

$27,297,406

2,098

New York

$626,590,038

 46,051

$1,560,466

143

North Carolina

$243,871,997

 20,822

$3,031,241

230

North Dakota

$25,014,453

 1,877

$10,491,826

819

Ohio

$383,581,783

33,303

 

 

Oklahoma

$137,635,270

 12,984

$31,468,794

2,701

Oregon

$105,339,943

12,899

$4,723,353

396

Pennsylvania

$355,878,475

35,372

 

 

Rhode Island

$34,309,953

2,592

 

 

South Carolina

$132,548,140

12,167

$1,825,269

112

South Dakota

$28,547,672

2,713

$24,612,785

1,883

Tennessee

$182,106,785

16,480

 

 

Texas

$719,676,508

 68,467

$1,325,722

134

Utah

$74,286,011

5,501

$2,290,027

230

Vermont

$24,372,338

1,419

 

 

Virginia

$151,962,333

 13,886

 

 

Washington

$174,784,499

11,145

$25,465,339

1,566

West Virginia

$75,200,678

 7,824

 

 

Wisconsin

$151,400,958

 13,050

$14,027,829

1,089

Wyoming

$21,166,369

 1,442

$3,089,685

261

American Samoa

$4,452,717

1,332

 

 

Guam

$3,744,033

534

 

 

No. Marianas

$3,627,943

460

 

 

Palau

$1,916,424

350

 

 

Puerto Rico

$325,872,430

28,318

 

 

Virgin Islands

$10,987,496

914

 

 

Subtotal:

$9,589,676,661

790,441

$299,256,477

21,815

MSHS

$455,143,869

26,860

 

 

Total2
Funding $10,344,077,007
Enrollment 839,116

Program Year Statistics

Each year, Head Start programs are required to submit Program Information Reports (PIR) on the services they provided to children and families throughout the program year. This report includes child, family, and staff demographics and program characteristics.

For a copy of the PIR form, detailed reports, instructions on how to access PIR data sets, and further information, visit the Program Information Report (PIR) page.

Note that many PIR measures, including the cumulative enrollment and health measures, look different than historic trends due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in program closures and impeded the ability to resume full program services across the country during the 2020-2021 program year.

Program Characteristics

Most grant recipients provided both Head Start and Early Head Start services during the 2020-2021 program year.

  • Head Start preschool services only: 27%
  • Early Head Start services only: 12%
  • Both: 61%

About 97% of funded Head Start preschool services were in center-based settings, and the majority were funded for 1,020 or more hours. This includes 15% to operate in center-based settings for 10 hours per day for the full calendar year. About 63% of funded Early Head Start services were in center-based settings, including about 29% operating center-based settings for 10 hours per day for the full calendar year. Additionally, about 32% of funded Early Head Start services were in home-based settings.

Graphic illustrating Head Start preschool program options.

 

Graphic displaying Early Head Start program options.

Child and Family Demographics

Head Start programs cumulatively served 756,000 children ages birth to 5 and pregnant people throughout the 2020–2021 program year.

Graphic displaying cumulative enrollment by age.

Head Start serves a diverse group of children, families, and pregnant people. During the 2020-2021 program year, 37% identified as Hispanic or Latino, and 27% identified as Black or African-American, non-Hispanic or Latino. Additionally, about 32% of children enrolled were dual language learners, of which two-thirds were in families that primarily spoke Spanish at home.

Graphic displaying cumulative enrollment by race and ethnicity.

Services to Children and Families

Head Start programs work with families to help ensure children have access to needed services and resources. The number of children who received immunizations increased from the beginning of the program year to the end of the program year. Also, more families had health insurance and medical and dental homes for their children at the end of the 2020-2021 program year than at the beginning.

Graphic displaying children's health measures.

Head Start programs work with families to ensure they have the means to obtain health insurance, services for children with disabilities, adequate housing, job training, and more.

During the 2020-2021 program year:

  • Most children had public health insurance. At the end of the program year, 95% of children had health insurance and were primarily enrolled in Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) program.
  • Children with disabilities made up 13% of Head Start cumulative enrollment. Children with disabilities are those who have special plans under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In comparison, about 4% of infants and toddlers and 7% of preschool-age children across the U.S. had identified disabilities in 2019. Head Start serves a greater proportion of children with disabilities than found in the overall population.
  • Among pregnant people enrolled in Early Head Start, approximately 79% received prenatal education on fetal development and 23% had medically high-risk pregnancies.
  • Head Start served about 681,000 families cumulatively throughout the program year. The number of families served is less than the number of participants served, since some families have more than one child enrolled.
  • Approximately 42,000 families served during the enrollment year experienced homelessness. Of those families, 25% found housing during the program year. Approximately 59,000 Head Start families received housing assistance, such as subsidies, utilities, and repairs.
  • Approximately 76,000 families, or 11%, received services related to job training and adult education, such as general equivalency diploma (GED) programs and college selection.

Program Staff

Head Start programs employed and contracted with 263,000 staff. Parents of current or former Head Start children made up 22% of Head Start staff.

  • Approximately 378,000 adults volunteered in their local Head Start program. Of these, 295,000 were parents of Head Start children.
  • About 121,000 staff members provided child development services to children, including teachers, assistant teachers, home visitors, and family child care providers.
  • Among child development staff, 30% were proficient in a language other than English.
  • Of all Head Start center-based preschool teachers, 72% had a baccalaureate degree or higher in early childhood education or a related field with experience. The Head Start Act specifies that 50% of center-based preschool teachers nationwide should have these credentials.
Graphic displaying center-based preschool teachers' degrees statistics.

1AIAN funding is awarded to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. For reference, the funding and enrollment has been split out by the state in which the tribe is headquartered. Some tribes serve children across state lines.

2In FY 2021, there were expansion Funding Opportunity Announcements posted in multiple states including for AIAN and MSHS programs. None of these funds nor funded enrollment are included in this table as they were not awarded by the end of FY 2021.