2026 Head Start State Fact Sheet References

1. Office of Head Start: Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2024 (includes funding for Early Head Start, Head Start Preschool, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN)).
   • Note: Head Start was level funded in FY2025 by means of a continuing resolution in place through September 30, 2025. 
2. Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Head Start Service Location Datasets, 2026.
3. Ibid.
4. Office of Head Start, Performance Indicator Report, Program Year 2025 (A.12).
   • Note: This number includes children served in AIAN programs and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS). 
5. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 Table B17001 – “Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months by Sex by Age.”
   • Note on Methodology: Head Start eligibility is estimated using the best available data. The Census 2024 ACS 5-year estimate is the most recent and accurate population estimate for children under 6 in poverty.
6. Office of Head Start, Performance Indicator Report, Program Year 2025 (A.12).
   • Note: This number includes children served in AIAN programs and MSHS. 
7. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 Table B17001 – “Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months by Sex by Age.”
   • Note on Methodology: Head Start eligibility is estimated using the best available data. The Census 2024 ACS 5-year estimate is the most recent and accurate population estimate for children under 6 in poverty. Table B17001 disaggregates the data by age 0 to age 5, age 5, and age 6+. FFYF added the number of children in poverty ages 0 through age 5, and then divided by 6, evenly pro-rating this population of children into single-year age categories. Early Head Start eligibility is calculated as children ages 0 through 2 living in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.
8. Office of Head Start, Performance Indicator Report, Program Year 2025 (A.12).
   • Note: This number includes children served in AIAN programs and MSHS.
9. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 Table B17001 – “Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months by Sex by Age.”
   • Note on Methodology: Head Start eligibility is estimated using the best available data. The Census 2024 ACS 5-year estimate is the most recent and accurate population estimate for children under 6 in poverty. Table B17001 disaggregates the data by age 0 to age 5, age 5, and age 6+. FFYF added the number of children in poverty ages 0 through age 5, and then divided by 6, evenly pro-rating this population of children into single-year age categories. Head Start eligibility is calculated as children ages 3 through 5 living in families with incomes below the federal poverty level.
10. Child Care Trust, Head Start’s Impact on the Child Care Gap (June 2026) (Appendices B and C).
11. Office of Head Start, Performance Indicator Report, Program Year 2025 (C.34, C.37).
12. Ibid. (A.10).*
13. Ibid. (C.24, C.25).
14. Ibid. (C.48).
15. Ibid. (C.50).
16. Ibid. (A.12 – using AIAN HS, AIAN EHS filters).
    • Note: Programs are operated directly by tribal governments and Native organizations and are not available in all states.
17. Ibid. (A.12 – MSHS Children).
    • Note: Programs are designed for agricultural worker families to accommodate the mobile, seasonal schedules that come with farm work. These programs do not operate in all states.
18. Child Care Trust, Head Start’s Impact on the Child Care Gap (June 2026) (Appendix D).
19. Office of Head Start, Performance Indicator Report, Program Year 2025 (A.2-A.5).*
20. Ibid. (B.1.1).
21. Ibid. (D.7.a, D.8.a)
22. Ibid. (D.7.b).
    

*Percentages may add to more or less than 100% due to the rounding of decimal points.