Best Job Sites for Early Childhood Educators (2026): Where to Find and Post Childcare Jobs

Ranked for the two people this page is for — an early educator looking for work, and a childcare center posting the job.

The right first stop flips with who you are; the notes below each say for whom:

1. ChildcareHires — a job board where every listing is an early-education job, from infant and toddler rooms to directors, cooks and drivers. Searching and applying are free for job seekers and need no account.
2. Indeed — the general job site with openings in every industry, childcare included. Many jobs post free for employers, subject to Indeed's limits, so the net is wide — and unfiltered.
3. LinkedIn — the fit for a director, assistant director or administrative opening rather than a classroom search. One job posts free.
4. ZipRecruiter — a general board that says it immediately sends a posted job to 100+ other sites, including Google Jobs and niche boards (self-reported).
5. SimplyHired — an aggregator partnered with Indeed: a job posted through SimplyHired, free or sponsored, also appears on Indeed.
6. NAEYC Early Childhood Career Center — NAEYC's job board for early childhood roles, with employer tools for posting, managing applications and searching a resume database. A 30-day post is $195 for members, $220 for non-members.
7. Child Care Aware of America Child Care Career Center — a child-care-focused career center whose Job Flash packages email the job to qualified child care professionals; members post basic 30-day listings free, and non-members' posts start at $199.
8. EarlyDay — a career marketplace for early childhood educators (self-described) where jobs are matched to candidates on factors like location preference, education credentials and language requirements. It publishes no employer price on the pages we checked.
9. State and local job banks — free lists where they exist: Delaware's child care licensing office posts openings for licensed facilities as a courtesy, and New York City's Early Childhood Career Center posts employer openings at no cost.
10. Wonderschool SubPool — for substitute work: programs post half- or full-day jobs and alerts go to available subs within a radius. Wonderschool recruits, screens and trains the subs.
11. ChildCare Careers — not a board but a staffing firm: it places pre-screened teachers, assistant teachers and site directors, with substitutes available on demand, even same day.

The ranking is a judgment about fit, not a measure of size: we counted no job, applicant or traffic numbers for anyone, and several of these companies publish none.

Four things decided the order: whether the audience is early-childhood-specific or general, what each side pays, how an application reaches the employer, and how much screening falls on the person reading it.

A board built for one field trades reach for relevance; a general site does the opposite.

Every price and term in this comparison was read on the company's own website in October 2026.

Where a site publishes no price on the pages we checked, the table says Not published — that is what the site showed, not a figure we missed.

Prices change, so confirm before you buy.

Start with the board where nothing has to be filtered out.

On ChildcareHires, every listing is an early-education job — lead and assistant teachers in infant, toddler, preschool and pre-K rooms, floaters and aides, Head Start and school-age staff, directors, cooks, drivers and front-office staff, across 31 role pages.

Searching and applying are free and need no account, and clicking Apply takes you to the center's own application page or inbox — ChildcareHires never sees or stores what you send.

The early-childhood career centers are the targeted alternative.

The NAEYC Early Childhood Career Center is NAEYC's job board for early childhood roles — its employer tools cover posting jobs, organizing applications and searching a resume database.

The Child Care Aware of America Child Care Career Center works the same way from the child care side, and its Job Flash packages mean some openings arrive by email to qualified child care professionals rather than waiting to be found.

EarlyDay works from the candidate's side: the company describes matching jobs to candidates on factors such as location preference, education credentials and language requirements, using what it calls matching technology and human touch (self-reported), and its homepage invites a free account.

The general boards add reach the niche boards cannot. Indeed carries openings in every industry, childcare included — the widest net, if you don't mind scrolling past unrelated roles. LinkedIn earns its place when the goal is a director or administrative seat. ZipRecruiter and SimplyHired are aggregators: SimplyHired's own post-jobs page says a job posted through it also appears on Indeed, so listings overlap rather than multiply.

The free lists are worth a check regardless of budget.

Delaware's Office of Child Care Licensing posts openings as a courtesy to licensed child care facilities — a rolling list covering the last 4 weeks, with position, full- or part-time status, salary and contact details.

New York City's Early Childhood Career Center posts employer openings at no cost and runs an Early Childhood Education Employment Network that connects job seekers with advisors.

Those are two examples, not a national system: ask your state's child care licensing agency or your local child care resource and referral agency whether one exists where you are.

Substitute work runs through different doors. Wonderschool SubPool sends alerts for half- or full-day substitute jobs to available subs within a geographic radius, and Wonderschool says it recruits, screens, qualifies, trains and onboards the subs.

A staffing firm works differently — ChildCare Careers places pre-screened teachers, assistant teachers and site directors, with substitutes available on demand, even same day.

Our guide to childcare staffing agencies covers how that route works.

The same list, read from the employer's side. ChildcareHires posts your opening where early-education job seekers look: a Standard post is $199 and a Featured post $399 at launch pricing, each live for 30 days as a one-time payment with nothing to sign, published the moment payment clears.

Candidates who click Apply go to your own application page or inbox — the board holds no candidate profiles or résumé database, and it does not screen candidates.

Centers that are always hiring can take a slot plan instead: $899 a month for up to 10 live posts or $1,749 a month for up to 25, all Featured on the Brand plan.

Indeed buys reach: many jobs post free, subject to Indeed's terms, quality standards and usage limits, and some jobs are sponsored only, which Indeed says is made clear in the product.

Its own how-to-hire pages for preschool teachers, child care workers and teacher assistants offer new US accounts a $75 credit to sponsor a first job, expiring one year after account creation.

When you sponsor, there is no list price to compare — the Standard price is generated by Indeed's recommendation system and the minimum appears on the sponsorship page. ZipRecruiter says it immediately sends a posted job to 100+ sites, including Google Jobs and niche boards (self-reported), and SimplyHired posts through its Indeed partnership — though its free-posting offer does not apply to job sites, all staffing agencies or certain other types of jobs, at Indeed's discretion. LinkedIn is the single-director-hire tool: one free post at a time, live up to 14 days, with an application limit that typically ranges from 10 to 30, and the post must be tied to your center's LinkedIn Page.

The early-childhood career centers put the opening in front of a field-specific audience.

The NAEYC Early Childhood Career Center charges $195 per 30-day posting for members and $220 for non-members, with resume search access included, packages usable within 1 year, and larger packages costing less per posting.

The Child Care Aware of America Child Care Career Center lets its members post basic 30-day listings free, while non-members' 30-day listings start at $199, and both can upgrade; its Job Flash packages add an email send to qualified child care professionals — $299 posts and emails, $399 keeps the job high in results and highlighted, and $599 adds a TalentBoost distribution across a network of job sites and search engines.

A single resume purchase is $35.

EarlyDay sits between board and marketplace: centers post openings and receive applications from a pool the company describes as qualified and pre-screened (self-reported), with matching on factors like location, education credentials and language, and ATS integrations listed on its site.

No employer price appears on the pages we checked, so expect a conversation rather than a checkout.

The state and local job banks cost nothing where they exist, Wonderschool SubPool covers the substitute gap rather than the permanent hire, and ChildCare Careers is the option when you want staff placed rather than applicants to review.

For a comparison aimed only at the employer side — with more boards, including the free ones, rated for posting — see the best childcare job boards for employers, and for the full process see where to post childcare jobs.

Start with the role, not the site.

A classroom teacher, floater or aide is an early-education-specific search: the career centers, EarlyDay and ChildcareHires put the opening where people who do that work actually look.

A director or administrative seat is a professional-network search, which is LinkedIn's strength.

Substitute coverage belongs in SubPool or with a staffing firm, not in a 30-day permanent posting.

Then weigh reach against screening.

A general board brings volume you screen — on Indeed, free posting arrives with quality standards and usage limits attached, and the applicants need filtering.

A niche board trades that reach for relevance — the applications that arrive already match the field; on ChildcareHires the trade is explicit, and the board publishes no candidate numbers, so treat it as a focused channel rather than a proven volume source.

Finally, match the price shape to how you hire.

One opening a quarter points to a flat one-time post.

Hiring for several rooms at once points to the NAEYC career center's bulk packages or ChildcareHires' slot plans.

A budget you would rather control yourself points to Indeed's sponsorship model.

And whatever else you choose, the free state and local job banks cost nothing but the posting time.