Affordability

Importance: This index shows the cost burden of ECE services. Childcare is a major expense, especially for low- and moderate-income families. Equitable access implies that no family will be priced out of the ECE market. For low-income households, the federal government defines affordable costs as no more than 7% of family income. Hawaiʻi’s goal is to cap childcare subsidy co-payments at no more than 10% of family income. Low scores are desirable on this index, meaning that ECE costs take a smaller share of family income.

How We Got This: The affordability index is calculated for each housing lot as the availability-weighted average tuition for nearby seats divided by the median income for families in the census tract where the house is located. This takes into account the number of nearby seats, the cost for different age groups, the number of nearby children, and income differences across communities. Tract-level scores are the average index score (weighted by the number of children estimated to live at each lot) for all housing lots located within that census tract. Tuition for free programs (Head Start, Early Head Start, public preK) is calculated as $0.