By the Numbers: How pandemic pre-K enrollment varied by race, region

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, one of the earliest trends education experts noticed came from anecdotal evidence: It appeared parents were keeping their kids home instead of sending them to preschool.

Later, data would confirm this.

The National Center for Education Statistics reported a historic 3% decline in public school enrollment during the 2020-21 school year over the year before — concentrated primarily in prekindergarten, which fell by 22%.

Additional data from Head Start confirmed that between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 school years, their enrollment for preschoolers plummeted by 33%.

Recently, numbers suggest that enrollment among these youngest children has begun to rebound — albeit not entirely.

And while the pandemic's impact on preschool enrollment has been well-established, how its impact varied by state, student race and socioeconomic background is lesser known.

An analysis from the U.S.Census Bureau released this week seems to fill in those blanks. Here are highlights from the bureau's analysis of preschool enrollment between 2019 and 2021:

By the numbers

9.3 percentage points

The drop in 3- to-6-year-olds enrolled in preschool between 2019 and 2021, from 51.1% to 41.8%.

42 states and the District of Columbia

Experienced statistically significant declines in preschool enrollment.

8 states

Did not experience significant changes. They are: Alabama, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Alaska.

5 states

Experienced sizable declines, exceeding 13 percentage points: California, New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon and Washington.

18.6 percentage points

The steepest decline in preschool enrollment was recorded among Asian children — the racial group with the highest pre-pandemic preschool enrollment rates, falling from 56.7% in 2019 to 38.1% in 2021.

7.2 percentage points

The smallest decline in preschool enrollment came among White non-Hispanic children, dropping from 53.2% to 46%.

50%

The percentage of children enrolled in preschool in 2021 who were living with two working parents. This was the highest share when looking at household settings.

30%

The percentage of children enrolled in preschool in 2021 who were living with one non-working parent. This was the lowest share among household settings.