If you are looking for Hawaii's daycare star ratings, here is the honest answer: Hawaii does not currently run a statewide quality rating and improvement system. The state piloted one from 2012 to 2014 but did not scale it, so there is no public star rating to look up today.
This guide explains what a QRIS is, what happened with Hawaii's pilot, and exactly how to judge a Hawaii daycare's quality without a state rating. The licensing and oversight framework comes from the Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS), with the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Child Care setting the broader structure states follow.
Not as an operating statewide rating. Hawaii launched a voluntary QRIS pilot in 2012 for DHS-licensed family child care homes, group centers, and infant and toddler centers, administered by the University of Hawaii Center on the Family and funded by DHS. The pilot rated participating programs on a 1-to-5 level using assessment scores, staff qualifications, and supporting evidence, per the pilot's published policies.
After the pilot wrapped in 2014 and the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant was reauthorized that November, Hawaii chose to focus on meeting the new health, safety, training, and monitoring requirements rather than scaling the QRIS statewide. As a result, there is no public statewide rating for Hawaii parents to look up in 2026.
The Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS) is the agency that licenses and monitors child care in Hawaii. It sets the mandatory floor every legal program must meet — health and safety rules, staff-to-child ratios, and background checks — and is the place to confirm a program's license status, per DHS and the federal ACF Office of Child Care.
Licensing is not the same as a quality rating. A license tells you a program clears the legal minimum and is being monitored; it does not rank one licensed program against another. In a state without an active QRIS, that ranking job falls to national accreditation and to you, on a tour.
Use a three-layer check. Confirm the license with the Hawaii Department of Human Services, look for national accreditation such as NAEYC (the National Association for the Education of Young Children), and then tour in person to see ratios, warmth, and turnover yourself. The table below maps the signals a state rating would normally bundle together.
| Quality signal | How to check it in Hawaii |
|---|---|
| Licensing & health and safety | Confirm an active license in good standing with the Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS), and ask to see recent monitoring history. |
| Accreditation | Look for NAEYC accreditation or another recognized national accreditor, which independently reviews curriculum, ratios, and staff qualifications. |
| Ratios & group size | Ask the program's actual infant, toddler, and preschool ratios, and compare them to the Hawaii licensing minimums. |
| Staff qualifications & turnover | Ask about lead-teacher credentials and how long current teachers have stayed; high turnover is a quality risk no rating captures. |
| Your own tour | Watch a drop-off, see how teachers speak to children, and trust what you observe over any label. |
Honest tradeoff. The absence of an active Hawaii QRIS cuts both ways. There is no quick public rating to lean on, which makes comparison harder, but it also means you are not misled by a stale or voluntary score. The work shifts to you — and a careful tour beats a years-old pilot rating anyway.
Quality and price are separate questions, and Hawaii has no rating tied to either. For families who need help paying, Hawaii's child care subsidy programs, administered through the Department of Human Services, help eligible working households cover licensed care. For national context, ChildCare Aware of America's 2024 Price of Child Care report put center-based care at roughly $8,000 to $24,000 per year depending on age and state, with Hawaii's high cost of living pushing many families toward the upper end.
For Hawaii-specific figures, see our daycare cost guide and estimate your own with the cost calculator. If you may qualify for help, the Hawaii Department of Human Services is the place to start.
Not as a statewide rating today. Hawaii ran a voluntary QRIS pilot from 2012 to 2014 for DHS-licensed programs, administered by the University of Hawaii Center on the Family, but chose to focus on federal health and safety requirements rather than scaling it statewide. There is no public statewide star rating to look up as of 2026.
Confirm the license with the Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS), which licenses and monitors child care, then look for national accreditation such as NAEYC and tour in person. Licensing is the mandatory floor; accreditation and your own visit do the work a state rating would.
The Hawaii Department of Human Services (DHS) licenses and monitors child care centers and family child care homes, setting minimum health, safety, ratio, and background-check rules, per DHS and the federal ACF Office of Child Care.
Yes. Hawaii's child care subsidy programs, administered through the Department of Human Services, help eligible working families pay for licensed care. Center care nationally runs roughly $8,000–$24,000 per year, per ChildCare Aware of America's 2024 Price of Child Care report, and Hawaii tends toward the high end.
For the full picture in your state, see the Hawaii daycare guide, which covers licensing, subsidy, and pre-K. Our daycare quality and safety pillar explains accreditation, ratios, and what to look for on a tour.
Comparing how other states rate quality? Read our explainers on Colorado Shines, Learn & Grow, and Quality Counts California.
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