PA Pre-K Counts: who qualifies and where to find it

Who qualifies for Pre-K Counts

• Age: your child must turn 3 by your school district’s kindergarten cutoff date and can stay until they’re old enough for kindergarten, for up to two years. Cutoffs vary by district (many use September 1), and some programs take only 4-year-olds.
• Income: household income at or under 300% of the federal poverty level: $99,000 a year for a family of four in 2026–27 (chart below). Every child in Pre-K Counts must meet it.
• Priority, not a separate test: Pre-K Counts is meant for children at risk of school failure (“because of poverty, economic disadvantage, limited English proficiency, academic difficulties, or individual or community factors,” in the state’s rules), but the only rules every child must meet are age and income. When there are more eligible children than seats, programs choose by need, weighing factors such as a home language other than English, a teen parent or a family without a stable home; it isn’t first come, first served. Programs must be open to children with disabilities or delays.
• Where you live: your child must live in Pennsylvania. Programs may enroll children from outside their usual area, but many school district programs take only their own residents.

Pre-K Counts guidelines (effective July 1, 2026) and 22 Pa. Code chapter 405. Meeting the rules doesn’t guarantee a seat: of the 138,613 Pennsylvania 3- and 4-year-olds in families under the limit, 71,517 (52%) had no seat in high-quality, publicly funded pre-K (Pre-K for PA, April 2026).

Pre-K Counts income limits for 2026–27

The limit is 300% of the 2026 federal poverty guidelines. Programs check your family size and gross income (before taxes) before your child starts.

Add $17,040 a year for each person after 8. Figures are 300% of the 2026 HHS poverty guidelines for the 48 contiguous states (PA Keys 2026 income chart). As of October 2026, some pages, including the Department of Education’s own Pre-K Counts page, still show $96,450 for a family of four, the 2025 figure; programs must use the current year’s guidelines.

How programs count income

They look at your household’s gross income for the 12 months before the month you apply: wages, self-employment profit, child support or alimony you receive, unemployment, pensions and other benefits. They subtract child support you pay and medical bills not covered by insurance above 10% of your monthly income, and they don’t count tax refunds (including the Earned Income Tax Credit), loans, student aid, foster care payments or veterans’ service-connected disability benefits. A foster child counts as a household of one with no income, and a family with no income can explain in a signed statement how it gets by. Once your child is approved, you don’t have to requalify each year.

Pre-K Counts guidelines, effective July 1, 2026.

What Pre-K Counts covers

• Cost: free for families who qualify. Providers may charge for child care before or after the program day (wraparound care), but not registration, late pick-up or meal fees, except to families also enrolled in their wraparound care.
• Hours: half day (at least 2½ hours of instruction a day) or full day (at least 5 hours), five days a week, at least 180 days (or 900 hours) a year.
• Meals: at least one free meal a day; full-day programs serve a meal and a snack.
• Classes: no more than 20 children, with at least one teacher and one aide; the state recommends 17 or fewer.
• Teachers: must hold Pennsylvania early childhood education certification. Aides need two years of college, an associate degree or a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, or must pass an assessment.
• Busing: not required, so ask whether a program offers it.
• Who runs it: school districts, Head Start programs, licensed nursery schools, and child care centers and group child care homes rated STAR 3 or 4 in Keystone STARS. Of the 537 certified centers on Daycare Record listed as offering it, 494 (92%) are rated STAR 4 and 24 STAR 3 (what STARS means); the other 19 show STAR 1, STAR 2 or no STAR level in state data, so ask them about their Pre-K Counts classroom.

Pre-K Counts guidelines; 22 Pa. Code §405.43–405.44; PA Keys, who can provide Pre-K Counts. In 2024–25, 27,619 children were in Pre-K Counts at 972 locations (annual report). The 2026–27 state budget, signed July 12, 2026, added $3.75 million for a rate increase, and Act 20 of 2026 lets programs offer 900 hours of instruction instead of 180 days and makes every intermediate unit eligible to apply for future grants (Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children).

How to apply

1. Find programs near you

   Use the county lists below, the state’s list of Pre-K Counts providers (a spreadsheet that includes school districts and nursery schools) or COMPASS: choose Find Early Learning Programs and Child Care Providers, then Advanced Search, and select PA Pre-K Counts under Early Learning Programs. Your Early Learning Resource Center can help too.

2. Apply to more than one program

   Each program takes its own applications, and there’s no statewide application or waiting list, so apply to several. Most take applications in winter and spring for the next school year, choose children by need rather than first come, first served, and fill open seats during the year; some don’t tell families until summer.

3. Gather your documents

   Programs usually ask for proof of income for each adult (last year’s tax return, W-2s or recent pay stubs, or benefit and child support letters), your child’s birth certificate, proof of your address, your photo ID and your child’s immunization record, plus an IEP or IFSP and custody papers if you have them. Families in Child Care Works can ask whether their eligibility notice will do as proof of income.

4. Check the center’s record

   Open its page here to read its inspection history before you enroll.

5. Plan the rest of the day

   If you work, ask about wraparound care before and after the program. Child Care Works can pay for those hours if your family qualifies: income up to 200% of the poverty level ($66,000 for a family of four) and each parent working at least 20 hours a week (or 10 of work and 10 of school or training), with a co-payment based on income. Families between 200% and 300% of the poverty level usually pay for those hours themselves.

Certified centers that offer Pre-K Counts, by county

537 certified child care centers in 58 counties are listed as offering Pre-K Counts; Philadelphia (112), Allegheny (35), Delaware (27) and Luzerne (25) counties have the most. Statewide, high-quality child care programs are 46% of the 1,024 Pre-K Counts providers and Head Start locations 25% (Pre-K for PA). This list covers state-certified child care centers only, so most school district and nursery school classrooms aren’t on it; the state’s provider list has them. A center’s Pre-K Counts seats can change from year to year, so ask whether it has seats this year.

From COMPASS (the “PKC” program code) and the state’s monthly provider list. Each center’s rank compares its topic-weighted citations per inspection with all ranked Pennsylvania centers; how scores work. No county listed? School districts, Head Start programs or nursery schools may offer Pre-K Counts there; your Early Learning Resource Center can help you find one.

How Pre-K Counts centers’ inspection records compare

In state inspection records since August 2021, centers that offer Pre-K Counts have about 10% more core-safety citations per inspection than the 4,396 other certified centers on Daycare Record. But they are bigger (a median of 113 licensed spots, against 73), and bigger centers get more citations per inspection: compared with other centers of the same size, they have about as many. A Pre-K Counts contract or a STAR 4 rating doesn’t mean a clean record, so read each center’s own history before you enroll.

Core-safety citations per 100 inspections, by center size

Core-safety citations are for supervision, staff ratios, discipline, background checks, child protection and safe sleep. This compares groups of centers, not the Pre-K Counts classrooms themselves: state inspections cover the whole center. The size table leaves out the 780 centers without a listed capacity. How scores work.

Philadelphia: PHLpreK

PHLpreK is free pre-K for children who live in Philadelphia and are 3 or 4 by September 1, 2026, with no income requirement, while seats last (5,250 in 2025–26; City of Philadelphia). It pays for a 5½-hour day, 180 days a year (city figures); families who need more hours use Child Care Works or pay for them. Apply at the provider you choose, with proof of your child’s age and your Philadelphia address. The 2026–27 application opened January 20, 2026, and families can enroll during the year if there’s space; to find providers, call 1-844-PHL-PREK.

112 certified Philadelphia centers offer Pre-K Counts (in the list above); ask each center which programs it has seats in. Every Philadelphia daycare’s record →

Other free and low-cost options in Pennsylvania

• Head Start and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP): free preschool for 3- to 5-year-olds. Children qualify if family income is under the poverty line, the family gets TANF, SSI or SNAP, or the child is in foster care or homeless; programs can also fill some seats with children from families above the line, and at least 10% go to children with disabilities. HSSAP is state money that lets Head Start programs serve more children or longer days (6,988 children at 222 locations in 2024–25). Who qualifies for Head Start →
• School district pre-K: some districts run free pre-K with no income limit, through the state’s Kindergarten for Four-Year-Olds, School-Based Pre-K and Ready to Learn programs (17,694 children in 2024–25; NIEER). Ask your district.
• Child Care Works: the state child care subsidy, for working families with income up to 200% of the poverty level, pays for care, including the hours around pre-K; families pay a co-payment based on income. Apply through your Early Learning Resource Center or COMPASS; helpline 1-877-4-PA-KIDS. There may be a waiting list.
• Tuition preschool: most centers list their daily rates in COMPASS. Pennsylvania daycare costs by county → · Preschool costs and free pre-K by state →

Common questions

More guides

Changes

• Oct 18, 2026: First published, with the 2026–27 income chart and the 537 certified centers that offer Pre-K Counts.