Head Start and Early Head Start near you
Head Start is free preschool for 3- to 5-year-olds from families with low incomes. Early Head Start serves pregnant women, babies and toddlers. Here are all 14,198 centers the Office of Head Start lists, by state and city, with who qualifies and how to apply.
Center list as of October 2026 · Income limits in effect from January 2026
Short answer
Find Head Start in your state
Every state page lists its centers by town and the programs that take applications. 994 cities with 3 or more centers have a page of their own.
- Alabama202 centers
- Alaska89 centers
- Arizona334 centers
- Arkansas158 centers
- California1,661 centers
- Colorado247 centers
- Connecticut74 centers
- Delaware28 centers
- District of Columbia51 centers
- Florida758 centers
- Georgia298 centers
- Hawaii92 centers
- Idaho82 centers
- Illinois459 centers
- Indiana216 centers
- Iowa205 centers
- Kansas128 centers
- Kentucky339 centers
- Louisiana326 centers
- Maine76 centers
- Maryland171 centers
- Massachusetts133 centers
- Michigan514 centers
- Minnesota251 centers
- Mississippi205 centers
- Missouri307 centers
- Montana95 centers
- Nebraska142 centers
- Nevada48 centers
- New Hampshire33 centers
- New Jersey196 centers
- New Mexico162 centers
- New York596 centers
- North Carolina394 centers
- North Dakota53 centers
- Ohio586 centers
- Oklahoma321 centers
- Oregon282 centers
- Pennsylvania814 centers
- Rhode Island40 centers
- South Carolina198 centers
- South Dakota104 centers
- Tennessee343 centers
- Texas953 centers
- Utah135 centers
- Vermont60 centers
- Virginia298 centers
- Washington305 centers
- West Virginia372 centers
- Wisconsin219 centers
- Wyoming45 centers
Source: Office of Head Start service locations. Data as of October 2026.
Head Start or Early Head Start?
Same rules for who qualifies, different ages. Many centers run both, and a child can move from one to the other.
| Early Head Start | Head Start preschool | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it serves | Pregnant women, babies and toddlers | Children 3 and up who haven't started school |
| Ages | Pregnancy to age 3 | 3 until old enough for school |
| Cost | Free for families who qualify | Free for families who qualify |
| Where | Centers, home visits or family child care homes, depending on the program | Centers, home visits or family child care homes, depending on the program |
| Centers listed | 6,356 | 11,261 |
Sources: 45 CFR 1302.12; 45 CFR 1302.18; 45 CFR 1302.20; Office of Head Start service locations
Who qualifies
A pregnant woman or a child qualifies if any one of these is true:
Income
Your family's gross income is at or below the federal poverty line for its size (the table).
Public assistance
Your family gets TANF or SSI, or would qualify for public assistance.
Foster care
The child is in foster care.
Homelessness
The child is homeless, as federal education law defines it, which includes doubling up with others because you lost housing.
Programs may also fill up to 10% of their spots with families who don't meet these rules, and can take families up to 130% of the poverty line once they're serving eligible families first. If housing (rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities and property taxes) takes more than 30% of your income, a program can subtract the excess before it compares your income with the limit.
Sources: 45 CFR 1302.12; 45 CFR 1305.2
| Family size | 48 states and DC |
|---|---|
| 1 | $15,960 |
| 2 | $21,640 |
| 3 | $27,320 |
| 4 | $33,000 |
| 5 | $38,680 |
| 6 | $44,360 |
| 7 | $50,040 |
| 8 | $55,720 |
| Each extra person | +$5,680 |
Alaska and Hawaii have higher limits: $34,150 and $31,420 for a family of three.
Sources: HHS poverty guidelines; 45 CFR 1305.2. Data as of January 2026.
How to apply
Find the program that serves your area
Open your state or city page above. You apply to the program that runs the centers, using its enrollment line, not to one center.Do the interview
Staff interview you in person, or by phone if that's easier, to check whether you qualify.Show what they ask for
Pay stubs, tax forms or an employer's letter for income; a letter from the TANF or SSI office; a court order or payment record for foster care; a letter from a shelter or school, or your own signed statement, for homelessness.Get a spot or join the waiting list
Programs choose families by need, weighing income, homelessness, foster care, disability and age. They must fill an open spot within 30 days, so stay on the list.
Sources: 45 CFR 1302.12; 45 CFR 1302.14; 45 CFR 1302.15
Head Start questions
What's the difference between Head Start and Early Head Start?
Early Head Start serves pregnant women and children from birth to age 3. Head Start preschool serves children from age 3 until they're old enough for school. Both are free for families who qualify. Of the 14,198 centers listed here, 6,356 offer Early Head Start and 11,261 offer Head Start preschool; many offer both.
Who qualifies for Head Start?
A pregnant woman or child qualifies if the family's income is at or below the federal poverty line ($27,320 a year for a family of three in 2026, more in Alaska and Hawaii), if the family gets or could get public assistance such as TANF or SSI, if the child is in foster care, or if the family is homeless. Programs can also fill up to 10% of their spots with families who don't meet these rules, and some take families up to 130% of the poverty line once eligible families are served.
Does Head Start cost anything?
No. A program can't charge an eligible family to take part, field trips included, and can't make enrollment depend on paying a fee. It may charge for extra hours it offers beyond the Head Start day, such as before- or after-care, but it can't make enrollment depend on buying them.
How do I apply for Head Start?
Call a local program's enrollment line; there's no national application. The program interviews you in person or by phone and checks documents such as pay stubs or tax forms, proof of public assistance, or a letter from a shelter or school if you're homeless. If its centers are full, ask to join the waiting list.
Can I apply for Early Head Start while I'm pregnant?
Yes. Early Head Start serves pregnant women, and the income and other rules are the same as for children. On a city page, look for centers tagged Early Head Start, then call the program that runs them.
How old does my child have to be for Head Start preschool?
At least 3, or turning 3 by the date your local public schools use to decide school eligibility, and no older than the age required to start school. Younger children go to Early Head Start.
Do I have to qualify again every year?
Not usually. A child found eligible and enrolled in Head Start preschool stays eligible through the end of the next program year, though a program can decline to re-enroll a child for a compelling reason, such as a big rise in income when another child has greater need. Early Head Start children stay eligible while they're in the program; moving up to Head Start preschool means a new eligibility check.
Do children with disabilities get a spot?
Programs must fill at least 10% of their enrollment with children eligible for special education or early intervention services, and can't turn a child away because of a disability or chronic health condition.
How we built this list.We load the Office of Head Start's national file of service locations, which each program reports and updates itself. We leave out sites marked closed and the territories, and merge rows for the same address and program, so a site that runs Head Start and Early Head Start appears once. 14,198 centers from 1,873 programsremain. We don't rate or rank centers.
Sources
- 1.Head Start Service Location Datasets (national file) Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 2.45 CFR 1302.12, determining, verifying and documenting eligibility eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 3.45 CFR 1302.18, fees eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 4.45 CFR 1302.14, selection process eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 5.45 CFR 1302.15, enrollment eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 6.45 CFR 1302.20, program options eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 7.45 CFR 1305.2, definitions (poverty line, income) eCFR / Code of Federal Regulations. Accessed October 9, 2026.
- 8.Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines (91 FR 1797, Jan. 15, 2026) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Federal Register). Accessed October 9, 2026.