When your child can start kindergarten, from each state’s age-5 cutoff date in the Education Commission of the States’ September 2026 review, including states that leave it to districts
Updated October 2026
Each state sets the age a child must reach by a certain date to enroll in kindergarten that fall. The Education Commission of the States (ECS) compiled the rule in every state’s statutes and regulations in its September 2026 comparison. The calculator finds the child’s fifth birthday and compares it with the state’s date for the school year you choose.
Wording matters on the cutoff day itself. California says “on or prior to September 1,” so a September 1 birthday qualifies; Arizona says “prior to September 1,” so a child turning 5 on September 1 waits a year.
| State | Born | State rule (ECS 2026) | First kindergarten year |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | September 1, 2022 | Age 5 on or prior to September 1 | 2027-28 |
| California | September 2, 2022 | Age 5 on or prior to September 1 | 2028-29 |
| Arizona | August 31, 2022 | Age 5 prior to September 1 | 2027-28 |
| Arizona | September 1, 2022 | Age 5 prior to September 1 | 2028-29 |
| Colorado | September 20, 2022 | Age 5 on or prior to October 1 | 2027-28 |
| Hawaii | August 1, 2022 | Age 5 on or prior to July 31 | 2028-29 |
| Maine | October 10, 2022 | Age 5 on or prior to October 15 | 2027-28 |
| Kentucky | August 1, 2022 | Age 5 before August 1 | 2028-29 |
September 1 is the most common date, used by 22 states (on or before it in most, before it in a few). The first column is ECS’s September 2026 reading of current statute; the second is NCES’s 2020 table, which some sites still copy. Where they differ, the law has changed or the sources read it differently, so the ECS column is the one the calculator uses.
| State | Kindergarten entry rule (ECS, Sept 2026) | NCES Table 1.3 (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Alaska | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Arizona | prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| Arkansas | on or prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 8/1 |
| California | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Colorado | on or prior to October 1 | 5 on or before 10/1 |
| Connecticut | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 1/1 |
| Delaware | on or before August 31 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| District of Columbia | on or prior to September 30 | 5 on or before 9/30 |
| Florida | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Georgia | on or prior to September 1 | 5 by 9/1 |
| Hawaii | on or prior to July 31 | 5 on or before 7/31 |
| Idaho | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Illinois | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Indiana | on or prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 8/1 |
| Iowa | on or prior to September 15 | 5 by 9/15 |
| Kansas | on or prior to August 31 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| Kentucky | before August 1 | 5 on or before 7/31 |
| Louisiana | on or prior to September 30 | 5 by 9/30 |
| Maine | on or prior to October 15 | 5 on or before 10/15 |
| Maryland | on or prior to September 1 | 5 by 9/1 |
| Massachusetts | Local control: Each district may establish its own minimum permissible age for school attendance | Each district may establish its own minimum permissible age for school attendance |
| Michigan | on or prior to September 1 | 5 by 9/1 |
| Minnesota | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Mississippi | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Missouri | prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 7/31 |
| Montana | on or prior to September 10 | 5 on or before 9/10 |
| Nebraska | on or prior to July 31 | 5 on or before 9/30 |
| Nevada | on or prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 9/30 |
| New Hampshire | Local control: Not specified in statute or regulation | Not specified in statute or regulation |
| New Jersey | on or prior to October 1 | District option |
| New Mexico | prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| New York | Local control: Age set by the school district | District option |
| North Carolina | on or prior to August 31 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| North Dakota | prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 7/31 |
| Ohio | by the first day of school | District option |
| Oklahoma | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Oregon | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Pennsylvania | Local control: Districts may set their own entry age as long as it is more than 4 years old prior to the first day of school | District option |
| Rhode Island | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| South Carolina | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| South Dakota | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Tennessee | on or prior to August 15 | 5 on or before 8/15 |
| Texas | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Utah | on or prior to September 2 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Vermont | before January 1 | 5 (district may set a date from 8/31 to 1/1) |
| Virginia | on or prior to September 30 | 5 on or before 9/30 |
| Washington | on or prior to August 31 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| West Virginia | prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 8/31 |
| Wisconsin | on or prior to September 1 | 5 on or before 9/1 |
| Wyoming | on or prior to August 1 | 5 on or before 9/15 |
Connecticut is a good example of why the date matters: NCES’s 2020 table lists January 1, while ECS’s 2026 review lists September 1. In Ohio the rule is age 5 by the first day of school, which varies by district; in Vermont, NCES notes that districts may set a date between August 31 and January 1.
Some families of children with birthdays near the cutoff choose to wait a year, often called redshirting. Brookings’ Richard V. Reeves (September 2022), using NCES’s 2010-11 kindergarten data, puts it at about 6% of first-time kindergartners: 7.3% of boys and 5.2% of girls, and more common among families with a college-educated parent.
NCES’s long-term study of the class that started in 2010-11 shows the head start fading. Delayed entrants scored higher than on-time entrants in the fall of kindergarten (math 40.1 vs 36.1; reading 55.9 vs 54.6), but by spring of fifth grade the gaps were about a point (math 121.5 vs 120.3; reading 137.7 vs 137.1). Those are averages, not a prediction for any child; teachers and pediatricians know the individual.
It applies the statewide statutory cutoff. Early-entrance testing, transitional kindergarten and pre-K programs, private schools, charter and district exceptions, and military-family transfer rules can change the answer; confirm with your school district before you plan around it.