How to become a daycare provider in 2026

First decide: a home daycare or a center. A family child care home runs in the home you live in with a small group and one adult, sometimes two; a center is a commercial space with rooms by age, a director and staff at the state's ratio for every room. Most new providers start at home — Pennsylvania's toolkit draws the center line at seven or more unrelated children (Pennsylvania OCDEL toolkit) — and the rules below are the home's; the center's ratios and capital are in how to start a daycare and the daycare business plan.

The federal floor: five checks, for everyone who lives in the house. The child care law's rule covers each "child care staff member", which includes "Any individual residing in a family child care home who is age 18 and older". The check "shall include: (1) A Federal Bureau of Investigation fingerprint check using Next Generation Identification; (2) A search of the National Crime Information Center's National Sex Offender Registry; and (3) A search of the following registries, repositories, or databases in the State where the child care staff member resides and each State where such staff member resided during the preceding five years: (i) State criminal registry or repository … (ii) State sex offender registry or repository; and (iii) State-based child abuse and neglect registry and database." It is run "Prior to the date an individual becomes a child care staff member" and "Not less than once during each 5-year period", the state must answer "not to exceed 45 days after the date on which the provider submitted the request", and the fee "shall not exceed the actual costs for the processing and administration" (45 CFR §98.43, eCFR). childcare.gov adds the training floor — "Ongoing training for child care staff, such as CPR, first aid, and safe sleep for infants" — and the rule of this whole page: "Along with federal requirements, states and territories have additional child care licensing requirements that vary across the U.S." (childcare.gov).

Your state's rule — how many children before a license, what a licensed home holds, and what comes before you open. Each row is read from the state's own regulation, the same rows our daycare start guide prints:

• California: No license while you care only for your own children (or a relative's) plus children from one other family. Licensed, a small family child care home is licensed for up to 8 children and a large one for up to 14, counting your own children under 10. Before you open: a $25 orientation before you apply, a $73 license fee for a small home, and at least 15 hours of health and safety training — pediatric CPR and first aid and preventive health — plus an hour of childhood nutrition for licenses issued since 2016. (CDSS, Do I need a license?, Health & Safety Code §1596.866, Title 22 §102416.5, §101416.5, §101216.3, §101238.2–3, application steps)
• Texas: Up to 3 unrelated children as a listed family home — you list with the state rather than hold a permit. Licensed, a registered child-care home takes up to 6 children 13 or younger plus 6 more school-age children after school, never more than 12 in all including your own; a licensed child-care home takes 7 to 12. Before you open: a pre-application course certificate from the year before you apply, and pediatric first aid and CPR before the home is registered or licensed. (Texas HHS, types of operations, 26 TAC ch. 747 (homes), 26 TAC §746.1601 (centers))
• Florida: A home becomes a regulated family child care home once it regularly cares, for pay, for children from at least two unrelated families. Licensed, a family child care home registers each year (four counties license instead) and may take, for example, 6 children with no more than 3 infants, or 10 children if no more than 5 are preschool age — household children under 13 count; a large family child care home is licensed for up to 12. Before you open: a 30-hour family child care home course with a competency exam before you register. (Fla. Stat. §402.302, §402.305, §402.313, Florida DCF)
• New York: Up to 2 children — a family day care home starts at 3 children for more than three hours a day. Licensed, a family day care home is registered for 3 to 6 children (8 when at least two are school-age); a group family day care home is licensed for 7 to 12; centers in New York City answer to the city's health department instead. Before you open: a pre-application orientation and an approved health and safety course before registration, then 30 hours of training every two years. (Social Services Law §390, 18 NYCRR §417.8, §418-1.8, §417.14)
• Pennsylvania: Up to 3 unrelated children — the rules begin at four, five or six unrelated children, and care for your relatives doesn't count. Licensed, a family child care home holds a certificate of compliance (Pennsylvania's word for the license) for 4 to 6 unrelated children; a group child care home for 7 to 12; a center is 7 or more. Before you open: the state's orientation within the 12 months before you open; the operator must be 18 with a high school diploma or GED, and staff take 12 clock hours of training a year. (55 Pa. Code §3290.3, §3290.4, §3270.51, §3290.31, OCDEL toolkit)
• Illinois: Up to 3 children — a day care home starts at more than 3, and your own children under 12 count toward that number; care for one household's children alone is exempt. Licensed, a day care home run by one caregiver takes up to 8 children under 12 including your own, with limits on how many are under 5 and under 2; a group day care home with an assistant takes 12 — and since 1 July 2026 the Illinois Department of Early Childhood issues the license, not DCFS. Before you open: 15 hours of pre-service training in the year before you apply, then 15 clock hours a year. (89 Ill. Adm. Code 406, Part 407, Part 408, Illinois Department of Early Childhood)
• North Carolina: Up to 2 children — the state regulates care for three or more children under 13 who don't live with you, for more than four hours a day at least once a week. Licensed, a family child care home is licensed for more than two and fewer than eleven children in the operator's own residence (the state's overview page still says fewer than nine — the rule was amended in 2025). Before you open: the state's pre-licensing workshop before the first license is issued. (NC DCDEE, Getting a License, 10A NCAC 09 (Chapter 9 rules), license overview)
• Michigan: No license-free tier for unrelated children in regular care that the rules describe — the statute's exemptions aren't on a page we can link, so check them with the licensing bureau. Licensed, a family child care home is licensed for up to 6 unrelated children and a group child care home for up to 12; related children don't count toward the cap, though related children under 6 count in the home's 1-to-6 ratio. Before you open: 10 clock hours of training a year for the licensee, with CPR, first aid and infectious-disease training on top. (Mich. Admin. Code R 400.1908, R 400.1910, R 400.8222, R 400.1905)
• Nevada: The smallest licensed tier, a family home, begins at five children, so a home with four or fewer sits below the regulated tiers — the statute's exact exemption isn't on a page we can link, so confirm it with the licensing program before you open. Licensed, a family home is licensed for 5 to 6 children (no more than two under 1 or four under 2) and a group home for 7 to 12. Before you open: a written and oral orientation in the first two weeks of work, then set hours of training within 90 days — shaken-baby prevention, medication, building safety, emergencies. (NAC 432A.100, 432A.110, 432A.534, 432A.5205, 432A.320, 432A.323, Nevada Child Care Licensing)
• Virginia: Up to 4 children, not counting your own or any child who lives with you — a family day home serving five through twelve must be licensed, and one caring for more than four children under 2 (your own included) must be licensed or voluntarily registered. Licensed, a family day home is a program in the provider's residence for one through twelve children under 13, exclusive of the provider's own and resident children. (8VAC20-800-10, 8VAC20-780-350)
• Washington: No head count — a license is needed for any ongoing, regularly scheduled care of unrelated children run as a business; caring for a neighbor's or friend's child now and then, paid or not, is exempt, as is care by relatives. Licensed, a family home license covers up to 12 children in the provider's own living quarters, counting children related to the licensee. Before you open: the department's orientation for every applicant, and the Child Care Basics training before a license is granted. (RCW 43.216.010, WAC 110-300-0355, 110-300-0356, 110-300-0105, 110-300-0106, DCYF)
• Arizona: Up to 4 unrelated children — a child care facility is one that regularly cares, for pay, for five or more children not related to the proprietor. Licensed, a child care group home is certified by the Department of Health Services for five to ten children through age 12 in a residence; five or more anywhere else is a licensed child care facility. (A.R.S. §36-881, §36-897, A.A.C. R9-5-404)
• Massachusetts: No head count — regular care of children in your home, paid or not, up to ten, is family child care and needs a license from the Department of Early Education and Care; informal arrangements among neighbors or relatives and occasional care are exempt. Licensed, family child care is 6 or fewer children with one educator (no more than three under 2), or 7 or 8 when the extra children are school-age; large family child care is 7 to 10 children with two educators. (606 CMR 7.02, 606 CMR 7.10)
• New Jersey: Up to 5 children — only a child care center, which is six or more children under 13, must be licensed; a home with three to five children is a family child care home that registers voluntarily through a sponsoring organization. Licensed, a registered family child care home takes three to five children at a time for at least 15 hours a week, or up to eight when the extra children live with the provider and are under six; six or more children, not counting those who live in the home, is a licensed center. Before you open: eight hours of pre-service training from the sponsoring organization before registration. (N.J.A.C. 3A:52-1.2, 3A:54-1.2, 3A:54-6.1, 3A:52-4.3, 3A:54-5.2)

And the provider-side rules those rows don't carry, from the pages that open. Illinois checks "Federal Bureau of Investigation, State and National Sex Offender Registry, Illinois DCFS Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking System, and the child abuse and neglect registry of any other state of residence. There is no cost for this check", and a home applicant also submits "A medical examination, including TB, DPT, and MMR · Proof of high school diploma, GED, or other degree from an accredited university or vocational school · Affidavit that they are current with any child support owed · Proof of at least 15 hours of required pre-service training", and "Licenses are free, however there are expenses associated with medicals and vaccinations, inspections or testing, pet vaccinations, equipment and supplies, training, and other requirements" (Illinois DCFS, become licensed); a Springfield provider's timeline was "about six to nine months" (NewsChannel 20, October 31, 2024). California clears, "In addition to the applicant", "A person, other than a child, residing in the facility" (Cal. Health & Safety Code §1596.871), and protects the home itself: "The use of a home as a small or large family daycare home shall be considered a residential use of property and a use by right for the purposes of all local ordinances, including, but not limited to, zoning ordinances" (§1597.45), because "family daycare homes for children should be situated in normal residential surroundings" (§1597.40). Texas charges, from August 15, 2025, $35 to apply for a registered child-care home and $20 for a listed family home, $35 and $20 a year after, and "$2/background check" (Texas HHS child care regulation handbook, Revision 25-3); the check is "A name-based Texas criminal history check with a Texas sex offender registry check, except the person must have a fingerprint-based criminal history check if … The person has resided outside of Texas any time during the five-year period", plus "A Central Registry check" (26 TAC §745.615). Maryland: "The first step is to complete a FREE required orientation workshop" — "the 3-hour in-person orientation workshop" (Howard County, Maryland). Oklahoma, a question people ask by name: a family child care home "provides care and supervision for seven (7) or fewer children for part of the twenty-four-hour day", and the law exempts only "informal arrangements which parents make independently with neighbors, friends, and others" (10 O.S. §402, as reprinted in SB 1558, 2026); "Primary caregivers are at least 21 years of age" with a high school diploma or GED, one caregiver may have "seven children, with no more than two children younger than 2 years of age", an assistant may be "at least 16 years of age" but "The caregiver is prohibited from leaving children alone in the care of individuals younger than 18 years of age", and "Current CPR and first aid certification is required for … the primary caregiver, prior to permission to operate or initial permit issuance" (Oklahoma DHS, licensing requirements for family child care homes, effective November 1, 2024). Not your state? childcare.gov's state-by-state resources list every licensing agency, and the national yardstick for a small home is one caregiver to six children when none is under two, your own young children counted (Caring for Our Children standard 1.1.1.1, via Minnesota DHS). Google's "at least 18" is Pennsylvania's rule, not Oklahoma's — check your own state's licensing agency before the first family arrives.

How long it takes. Pennsylvania: "complete application to the mailing of the certificate is 100 days" (OCDEL toolkit). Wisconsin: "a license must be issued within 60 working days of receipt and approval of all application materials" (Wisconsin DCF licensing manual). Illinois, lived: six to nine months.

The training and the credential. No degree is required to run a home; the credential the field recognizes is the Child Development Associate: "Possess a minimum of high school diploma/GED", "Complete 120 hours of formal early childhood education", "Complete 480 hours of professional work experience", then "Submit $525 assessment fee and application" (Council for Professional Recognition, February 2026). The CPR card every state's row asks for: an "Adult and Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED course" with "a certificate … valid for two years. Price $75" at a university-run Red Cross class (UNLV, March 2026). Maryland's post-orientation list is the shape of it everywhere: a six-hour emergency-preparedness workshop, SIDS and breastfeeding training, and "24 hours of professional development in 6 four-hour workshops" (Howard County, Maryland).

You are self-employed from the first tuition check. In the US a home provider is a sole proprietor by default: "Use Schedule C (Form 1040) to report income or (loss) from a business you operated or a profession you practiced as a sole proprietor" (IRS, Schedule C instructions); "The self-employment tax rate is 15.3%" (IRS), and sole proprietors "generally have to make estimated tax payments if they expect to owe tax of $1,000 or more" (IRS). Get the free EIN — "Use this tool to get an EIN directly from the IRS in minutes for free" (IRS) — because parents claiming the child care credit must enter your number: "If the care provider is an individual, enter their SSN or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). Otherwise, enter the provider's employer identification number (EIN)" (IRS, Form 2441 instructions). The IRS flips its own home-office rule for you: "You do not have to meet the exclusive use test if … You use the part of your home in question as a daycare facility" — provided "You must have applied for, been granted, or be exempt from having a license, certification, registration, or approval as a daycare center or as a family or group daycare home under state law" — and "If the use of part of your home as a daycare facility is regular, but not exclusive, you must figure the percentage of time that part of your home is used for daycare" (IRS Publication 587). If you want an LLC: Texas $300 (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code §4.152); Florida $100 plus $25 for the registered agent and $50 a year (Fla. Stat. §605.0213); New York $200 (N.Y. LLC Law §1101) plus a notice "published once in each week for six successive weeks, in two newspapers of the county" (§206); California $70 (Cal. Gov. Code §12190) and "Every LLC that is doing business or organized in California must pay an annual tax of $800" (Franchise Tax Board). Confirm the details with your accountant.

Can you be paid to watch your own children? No — a relative, sometimes. The subsidy route in Texas is for "individuals who provide child care to a related child whose parent receives a child care scholarship from the state", and the relatives it names are the child's "Grandparent · Great-grandparent · Aunt · Uncle · Sibling (over the age of 18 and not living in the child's home)" — a parent is not on the list (Workforce Solutions Capital Area, June 2025); the federal rule's own definition leaves out anyone "related to all children for whom child care services are provided" (45 CFR §98.43). And once you are licensed, your own children live inside the rules: "Caring for our own children presents one of the biggest challenges in-home child care … our children must then follow program standards, even though this is their home" (Cyndi Cunningham, Minnesota Senate testimony, April 15, 2026).

The money to start. Our arithmetic from the pages that print each price, for a California small family home: the $25 orientation and the $73 license fee from the state's row, a $75 pediatric first aid and CPR class, a First Alert ten-year sealed smoke alarm at $29.95 on the maker's own store (First Alert Store) and a year of general liability at Insureon's $91-a-month median — $1,092 — come to $1,294.95. The fuller paperwork start — the same fees and class, a business owner's policy at Insureon's $135 a month instead — $1,620 a year — the CDA's $525 assessment fee and a $300 Texas LLC — is $2,647.95. Neither prices the gates, outlet covers, cribs and toys: every retailer's page refused to open the day we read them, so the honest line is Missouri's — "A Family Child Care Home often starts under about $2,000 for background checks, safety items, and inspections" (Child Care Aware of Missouri, June 2026) — and the daycare business plan lays out every line as a planning range. The insurance: "General liability: $91 per month · Business owner's policy: $135 per month · Professional liability: $99 per month", and "General liability insurance is required in 23 states for childcare centers and in 13 states for home-based care, while others require you to notify parents of your coverage status" (Insureon, daycare insurance). The step after this guide is how to start a daycare; the name comes from daycare business names, and the site from the daycare website builder or the daycare website design page.

In the UK: you register with Ofsted or a childminder agency to be paid to look after children under 8 for more than two hours a day (GOV.UK); the Early Years Register costs £35 a year (Ofsted fees, September 2026); and a childminder may care for at most six children under eight at once, no more than three of them young children and only one under one, own children included (EYFS framework for childminders, effective September 1, 2026). In Australia a new service needs provider approval and then service approval from the state regulator under the National Quality Framework — New South Wales decides a complete service application within 90 days (NSW Department of Planning, 2022) — and a family day care educator works under an approved service, as Western Australia's sector page sets out (WA Department of Communities). Check your own state's licensing agency before the first family arrives.