Affordable, conveniently located, and high quality early childhood care and education (ECE) supports the well-being of children, families, and communities.
Working parents need childcare, while strong ECE programs give young children a solid foundation for healthy development and lifelong learning.
ECE More Information
Affordable, conveniently located, and high quality early childhood care and education (ECE) supports the well-being of children, families, and communities. Working parents need childcare, while strong ECE programs give young children a solid foundation for healthy development and lifelong learning.
Equitable deployment of ECE resources requires an accurate understanding of where needs are greatest. This is even more important now, as Hawaiʻi moves towards universal access to ECE by 2032, starting first with children in underserved communities. This web tool provides the fine-grained data needed to inform the planning and strategic expansion of ECE services. Policymakers, advocates and ECE providers are among the intended users.
This web tool uses maps to tell the story of Hawaiʻi’s ECE landscape. Where are ECE seats located? Are there enough seats? Are they affordable? And are they of high quality?
User-selected maps show information about ECE providers, three different access indexes, and a combined index.
Providers
Nearby Seats
Affordability
Quality
Combined
The ECE access indexes are family-centered, i.e., they show different aspects of ECE services within a set commuting time or distance from a typical family home. The indexes also adjust for supply and demand: calculations include both the number of ECE seats and the number of young children living nearby.
Instructions for Navigation
To use the map interface:
- Choose the map type or index from the left sidebar using the accordion.
- Select whether to view data at the tract or housing lot level by clicking the top center buttons.
- Pick your desired catchment area and age group from the top bar using the dropdown menus.
- Set the cross-index and demographic filters at the top of the map window to customize the data display.
- Adjust the map layer opacity using the slider at the bottom left of the map window for better visualization.
Hawaiʻi at a Glance
There are 4 children under age six for each ECE seat located within 5 miles of their home.
The average cost of a nearby seat is 10% of the area’s median family income.
On average, 40% of nearby seats are high quality.
Data Sources
- Executive Office on Early Learning. (2022). Public prek classroom location and capacity. [Unpublished data].
- State of Hawai‘i Department of Human Services, Child Care Office. (2022). Licensing and market rate survey, October 2022 update. [Unpublished data].
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table B09001: Population Under 18 Years by Age. [Dataset]. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table B01003: Total Population. [Dataset]. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table B23008: Age of own children under 18 years in families and subfamilies by living arrangements by employment status of parents. [Dataset]. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table B19125: Median family income in the past 12 months (in 2016 inflation-adjusted dollars) by presence of own children under 18 years. [Dataset]. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
- U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table B17024: Age by Ratio of Income to Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months. [Dataset]. Available at https://data.census.gov/cedsci/
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2021f). American Community Survey 5-year estimates, Table C16002: Household Language by Household Limited English Speaking Status. [Dataset]. Available athttps://data.census.gov/cedsci/