Administered by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Head Start (OHS), Head Start aims to promote school readiness for young children in poverty. However, Head Start availability varies widely across states and counties and does not closely align with child poverty. GAO found that the number of Head Start seats for every 100 young children in poverty ranged from nine in Nevada to 53 in Oregon in 2022. This high degree of variability persisted even when accounting for state and county child poverty rates. Further, the Head Start statutory formula, by which annual funding is provided to grant recipients, is not responsive to changes in child poverty. As a result, grant recipients in states with rising child poverty can generally serve a lower proportion of income-eligible children. (author abstract)