State of the Early Care and Education Workforce - California Regions

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James

2025 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study profiles early care and education programs serving children from birth to five across California regions. It describes how data were collected through online surveys in multiple languages, weighted by program type and region, and compares county findings within five region groupings. The profiles explain licensing definitions for ECE centers, family child care, transitional kindergarten, and associated staffing and license categories. Updates note missing small FCC estimates and a January 2026 revision to Table 12.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

About the Data

Survey collection and weighting

Missing small FCC estimates

Regional snapshot design

Key Terms

Early care and education (ECE)

Center type and teaching staff

Family child care (FCC)

Transitional kindergarten (TK)

State of the Early Care and Education Workforce California Regions © 2025 Center for the Study of Child Care of Employment. All rights reserved. The 2025 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study was funded by the HeisingSimons Foundation, the Blue Shield of California Foundation, and Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The views presented herein are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of the report’s funders or those acknowledged for lending their expertise or providing input. Suggested Citation Powell, A. , Muruvi, W. , Copeman Petig, A. , & Austin, L.J. E. (2025) . State of the Early Care and Education Workforce: California Regions. Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley. [https://cscce.berkeley.edu/publications/report/state-of-ece-california-2025](https://cscce.berkeley.edu/publications/report/state-of-ece-california-2025) Acknowledgements We are grateful to our colleague Yoonjeon Kim who contributed to the 2025 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study and related county studies. Thank you also to our research assistants, Leah Gutierrez, Kelly Loc, and Claudia Martinez. Additional thanks to Elise Crane and Angel Ramirez at the California ECE Workforce Registry for promoting survey outreach. Editor: Deborah Mecham Updated January 2026 About the Data The data in these profiles were collected as part of the 2025 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study. The study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) at the University of California, Berkeley. While most data were collected in spring 2025 , a small number of sites were surveyed in early fall 2025. The surveys took place online in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. CSCCE invited all available licensed early care and education (ECE) programs serving children from birth to five in California, using contact information from Community Care Licensing and California State Preschool. The survey received outreach support from local resource and referral agencies, professional associations, and the California ECE Workforce Registry. We reached transitional kindergarten teachers through school leaders and administrators. Data are weighted using a poststratification method by program type and region. These adjustments allow us to align the study sample with the full population of sites locally. Unfortunately, our request for a list of small family child care (FCC) providers from Community Care Licensing is still under review. As a result, small FCC data at the regional and state level are not yet available. These missing estimates are marked with a hashtag. Finally, Table 12 was updated in January 2026. In this snapshot, we compare county findings to the surrounding region and California as a whole. We group counties into five regions: | Northern Region Bay Area | | | Central Region | Los Angeles | Southern Region | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Alpine Amador Butte* Calaveras Colusa Del Norte El Dorado* Glenn Humboldt* Lake Lassen Mendocino
Modoc | Mono
Nevada
Placer
Plumas Shasta Sierra
Siskiyou Sutter* Tehama Trinity Tuolumne Yolo Yuba* | Alameda* Contra Costa* , ** Marin
Napa* San Francisco*
San Mateo**
Santa Clara
Santa Cruz Solano
Sonoma** | Fresno* Inyo Kern Kings* Madera*
Mariposa Merced Monterey* Sacramento*
San Benito
San Joaquin
San Luis Obispo* Stanislaus** Tulare | Los Angeles* , ** | Imperial Orange Riverside* San Bernardino
San Diego*
Santa Barbara* Ventura* , ** | | * Our study website includes a 2025 profile for this county. | | | | | | | ** We released a detailed report using 2023 or 2024 for this county. | | | | | | Key Terms Early care and education (ECE): By “early care and education,”we mean licensed programs that serve children under six years of age (less than 72 months) . While some children age four and older attend transitional kin

FAQs

What populations and settings are covered in the workforce profiles?

The profiles focus on licensed early care and education programs serving children from birth to five, primarily child care centers and family child care homes. Transitional kindergarten is referenced as part of the broader ECE age range, but the key focus is on these two main settings.

How were the survey data collected and prepared for regional reporting?

Most data were collected in spring 2025, with some sites surveyed in early fall 2025. Surveys took place online in English, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese, and results were weighted using a poststratification method by program type and region.

Why are some small family child care data missing at the state and regional levels?

A request for a list of small family child care providers was still under review, so small FCC estimates at the regional and state level were not yet available. These missing estimates are marked with a hashtag.

What is transitional kindergarten (TK) as used in this report?

TK is described as a grade level for four-year-olds that began as a pilot for school districts and expanded statewide by fall 2025. The report notes that private schools and child care centers may also use the TK label, but in this report TK is used to describe public school settings.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by James