Daycare in California

Full-time infant care at a California child care center has a median price of $379 a week, about $19,719 a year; at a family child care home it's $284 a week. These are 2022 prices from the U.S. Department of Labor's National Database of Childcare Prices, not adjusted for inflation, so expect to pay more today. Prices for toddlers and preschoolers are lower, and they vary by county.

Apply to Subsidized child care (Child Care and Development programs), run by California Department of Social Services. A family of three can earn up to $93,420 a year to start (as of July 2025). Parents generally need to be working, in school or in job training. You pay a copay based on income, and the state pays the rest to the provider you choose. There's no statewide list; most local contractors and some counties keep their own waiting lists.

Head Start and Early Head Start are free for families who qualify. The Office of Head Start lists 1,661 centers in California; 803 serve babies and toddlers (Early Head Start) and 1,319 offer preschool for ages 3 to 5. You qualify with income at or below the federal poverty line, or at any income if you get TANF or SSI, your child is in foster care, or your family is homeless.

Look the program up in California's child care search before you visit. Childcare.gov's California page links to the state's search, its licensing rules and its inspection reports. The programs listed on our California city pages come from the state's own licensing list and show each license number.

A center runs in a commercial or school building with several classrooms and staff. A family child care home is licensed care in the provider's own home, usually for a smaller group of mixed ages, and in California it costs a median $284 a week for an infant against $379 at a center. Both are licensed and inspected by the state.

For 2026, a dependent care FSA through your employer can shelter up to $7,500 of child care costs from tax, and the Child and Dependent Care Credit pays up to 50% of up to $3,000 in expenses for one child or $6,000 for two or more. The same dollars can't count for both.