State Profiles

California

infant and toddler icon
2,711,800 Children age 0-5
early educator icon
205,500 Early childhood teaching workforce*

Early educators are engaged in incredibly difficult and complex work that has been recognized as essential to children’s learning and development, supportive for families, and foundational to the economy.

Nonetheless, no states paid early educators a living wage in 2022. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many states used time-limited federal relief funding to bolster supports for the workforce. As federal relief funds expire, there is a greater need to secure permanent public investment and adopt state policies that appropriately prepare, support, and compensate the early education workforce.

Educator Pay and Living Wages

Median Hourly Wage, By Occupation, 2022

OccupationMedian wage
ECE Workforce$15.66
Child Care Worker$13.67
Preschool Teacher$17.66
Elementary and Middle School Teachers$41.03
All Occupations$25.39
  • In 2022, the median wage for the ECE workforce was $15.66.**
  • From 2019 to 2022, the change in median wage for the ECE workforce was 9.6%, adjusted for inflation in 2022 dollars.
  • The living wage for a single adult was $19.97.
  • The living wage gap for the ECE workforce was 22% or $4.31.
Poverty Rates and Use of Public Safety Net

Poverty Rates Among Educators, 2022

OccupationPoverty Rate
ECE Workforce11.8%
Elementary and Middle School Teachers2.4%
All Occupations6.5%

The ECE workforce was 4.9 times more likely to live in poverty than elementary and middle school teachers.

  • Early educator households participating in one or more public safety net programs: 47%.
  • The cost of early educator household participation in public safety net programs: $600M.

Note: Public safety net programs include one or more of the following: Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid (Adult), and Medicaid/CHIP (Child).

Early Childhood Workforce Policy Indicators

In each of the five policy areas, the Early Childhood Workforce Index assesses states based on measurable policy indicators that represent state-level opportunities to enhance the lives of the many children and adults affected by ECE employment conditions.

To summarize overall state action in each policy area, states are assigned to one of three tiers, based on their performance on the indicators:

Stalled: The state is making limited or no progress;
Edging Forward: The state is making partial progress; or
Making Headway: The state is taking action and advancing promising policies.

Early Childhood Workforce Policies
Qualifications & Educational Supports:
Stalled
Pre-KBA minimum for lead teacher?No
CDA/equivalent minimum for assistant teacher?No
Licensed CentersBA minimum for director?No
BA minimum for lead teacher?No
CDA/equivalent minimum for assistant teacher?No
Licensed HomesBA minimum for lead teacher?No
CDA/equivalent minimum for assistant teacher?No
Scholarships to Support Educational PathwaysBA?Yes
AA?Yes
CDA or equivalent?No
Collects data on scholarship recipients?Yes
Work Environments:
Not Applicable or Not Available
QRIS standards: CentersPaid time in professional development?Not Available
Paid planning and/or preparation time?Not Available
Salary schedule/benefits?Not Available
QRIS standards: HomesPaid time in professional development?Not Available
Paid planning and/or preparation time?Not Available
Salary schedule/benefits?Not Available
Compensation & Financial Relief Strategies:
Stalled
Salary parity for publicly funded pre-K teachers?Parity (some)
Compensation standards required?No
Compensation guidelines or plans to develop?No
Dedicated public funding for compensation?No
Financial relief: Stipend or tax credit?No
Financial relief: Bonus?No
Workforce Data:
Making Headway
RegistryParticipation required of all licensed settings?Other
Collects wage data?Yes
Collects benefits data?Not Available
Collects race and ethnicity data?Yes
Reports data publicly?No
SurveySamples all licensed settings?Licensed +
Collects wage data?Yes
Collects benefits data?Yes
Collects race and ethnicity data?Yes
Reports data publicly?Yes
Public Funding:
Making Headway
State reported extra CCDF spending?Yes
Ratio of per-child pre-K to K-12 spending over 50%?Yes
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Notes

*Our workforce estimate includes child care workers in home- and center-based settings, nannies, self-employed child care workers, preschool teachers, teaching assistants, and administrators/directors. In order to provide an inclusive summary of the ECE workforce as a whole, we use the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS), which can support both national and state-level analysis to pool all individuals covered by the relevant occupation-industry pairings. For more information visit Appendix 1: Data Sources & Methodology.

**This edition of the Early Childhood Workforce Index uses data from the 2022 American Community Survey (ACS)—a departure from previous editions, which reported data from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). The most recent year for which detailed, state-by-state data are available from the ACS is 2022. Using the ACS is an intentional change to provide more inclusive wage estimates for the ECE workforce by using a data source that includes home-based providers. More recent data from OEWS 2023 are available, but this data source excludes self-employed workers like family child care providers. The OEWS also does not allow us to study the ECE workforce as a whole, since we are unable to parse or combine categories of workers. For instance, the national BLS OEWS estimates for median wages in 2023 were $14.60 for child care workers, $17.85 for preschool teachers, and $26.10 for directors or administrators.