Research & Resources
These first 5+ years of a child’s life are crucial in building the foundation for how children learn, react, and interact with the world around them for the rest of their lives. Early learning helps children thrive.
Why ECE Matters
Long Beach Demographics and Early Childhood Statistics
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32,474
Number of children in Long Beach under age 5
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7
Number that Long Beach is in most populous cities in California
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10
The rank number of Long Beach across the nation in diversity
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40%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as Latino/Hispanic
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29%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as White
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13%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as African American
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>12%
of Long Beach’s 500,000 residents identify as Asian
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26%
Of Long Beach residents are immigrants
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44%
Of Long Beach households speak a language other than English
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7%
Of the Long Beach population is under 5 years old
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27%
Of Long Beach children under five years old live in poverty
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3.6%
Children under 18 in zip code 90808 who are living in poverty
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5.7%
Children under 18 in zip code 90803 who are living in poverty
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35.7%
Children who live in households with Supplemental Security Income (SSI), cash public assistance income, or Food Stamps/SNAP benefits
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23%
Children who are eligible for publicly funded EC services; they meet state and federal enrollment requirements for childcare subsidies.
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23%
of Long Beach children are of eligible preschool enrollment age but are un- or under-served by child care/early education (i.e. preschool) services
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13.9%
Of households in Long Beach are headed by a single parent
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Triple
The amount a child's brain increases in the first two years of life
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90%
Of a child’s brain has formed by the age of 5
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16,164
Eligible children who are left unserved
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18 mos
The age when a gap in early vocabulary development between children in poverty and their higher-income peers is evident
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7–10%
Return on the investment that every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education produces
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$8,000
Average annual child care cost for family childcare
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$13,000
Average annual child care cost for center child care
