Universal Preschool
Program Overview
A comprehensive snapshot of all active UPK providers across Colorado as of March 2026, drawn from Bridgecare and Licensing CIM data.
| # | County | Providers | Gen Ed Seats | Seats Filled | Seat Capacity | Fill Rate |
|---|
64 counties total participate in Colorado's UPK program.
π Enrollment Landscape
Of 61,966 available UPK general education seats statewide, 40.9% remain unfilled (25,371 open seats). This is especially pronounced in home-based settings, where 82.6% of seats are vacant.
School district-based providers are closest to capacity at 66.1%, while community-based providers β which carry the largest seat share β sit at 56.3% fill rate.
πΊοΈ Geographic Concentration
The 8 largest metro counties β Arapahoe, Denver, El Paso, Jefferson, Adams, Weld, Douglas, and Larimer β account for 76.9% of all UPK seats while housing 62.6% of providers.
The remaining 56 counties share just 23.1% of available seats, highlighting rural access gaps in the UPK system.
ποΈ Provider Mix
Community-based providers dominate in provider count (49.4%) and total seats (54.6%). School district providers hold a disproportionately high seat share (41.9%) relative to their count (34.2%).
Home-based providers are the most numerous small-capacity operations: 349 providers collectively offer only 2,206 seats (avg. ~6.3 seats/provider).
β οΈ Enrollment Hardship Signal
This data was requested in the context of advocating against reducing UPK ratios, given enrollment hardships in the industry. The 40.9% vacancy rate across all settings provides concrete evidence of the enrollment challenge.
Values less than 6 representing individual children were suppressed (replaced with "*") to protect child privacy per CDEC de-identification standards.
