A daycare teacher is the educator who runs a classroom in a childcare center: planning the day, teaching early skills, and keeping infants, toddlers and preschoolers safe within the state's child care licensing rules.
This guide defines the role, walks through the daily work, the age groups and settings childcare teachers work in, what you need to get hired, what the pay data shows, and the career path from aide to director.
What is a childcare (daycare) teacher?
A childcare teacher is the lead educator in a daycare or preschool classroom.
The teacher prepares the room, plans the day, teaches early skills, and supervises the children in the class, working with the center's assistant teachers and aides.
The lead carries the classroom-level responsibility: the plan for the day, the materials on the shelves, and the record of how each child's day went.
Assistant teachers and aides support that work — preparing materials, helping with meals and cleanup, and adding a second pair of hands for supervision and care routines.
In federal employment statistics the title spans two occupations.
O*NET lists 'Daycare Teacher', 'Infant Teacher' and 'Toddler Teacher' among the reported job titles for childcare workers (SOC 39-9011), while preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011) is a separate occupation for people who educate and care for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten.
Job title alone does not determine the code — the same titles 'Infant Teacher' and 'Toddler Teacher' appear among reported titles for preschool teachers too.
The role is center-based.
It is not the same job as a family child care provider, who runs a child care program out of their own home, or a nanny, who cares for children in a private household.
What does a daycare teacher do all day?
The day runs on a cycle of care, teaching and documentation.
O*NET's task list for childcare workers includes keeping records on individual children — daily observations, activities, meals served, medications given — dressing children and changing diapers, sanitizing toys, and communicating with parents about daily activities and behaviors.
In classrooms that deliver a preschool curriculum, the task list shifts toward instruction.
O*NET's tasks for preschool teachers include teaching basic skills — colors, shapes, numbers, letters, hygiene and social skills — serving meals and snacks following nutrition guidelines, meeting with parents about children's progress, and maintaining student records.
It is close, physical, interactive work.
In O*NET's work-context survey, 83% of childcare workers report constant contact with others, and 51% report working very close to others — near touching, by that survey's definition.
What fills the hours between those tasks — arrivals, meals, naps, outdoor play, diapering, pickups — follows the center's schedule and the age group.
An infant room day looks nothing like a pre-K day, which is one reason job postings often name the age band.
Which age groups do childcare teachers work with?
Centers divide children into age-group classrooms: infants, toddlers, twos, preschool, pre-K, and school-age groups in before- and after-school programs.
Job postings often name the band, so it is worth deciding which one you want before you apply.
Two of the bands have precise definitions from the Council for Professional Recognition, which issues the Child Development Associate (CDA).
Its center-based Preschool CDA covers children ages 3 to 5, and the Infant-Toddler CDA covers ages birth to 36 months.
BLS draws its own line for the preschool occupation: preschool teachers educate and care for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten.
The exact age bands a state uses — and the staffing rules attached to each band — come from that state's child care licensing rules, so a 'toddler' room in one state is not automatically the same band in the next.
Confirm the definitions your state uses with your state child care licensing agency before you apply.
Where do childcare teachers work?
The classroom is the constant; the building around it varies.
Childcare teachers work in:
- Independent childcare centers and preschools, including local chains
- National franchised brands of early-education schools
- Faith-based preschools run by churches and religious organizations
- Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which follow federal Office of Head Start performance standards
- Public pre-K and transitional kindergarten classrooms, where the state's pre-K or TK program rules can set their own teacher qualifications
- Montessori schools — O*NET lists 'Montessori Preschool Teacher' among reported job titles for preschool teachers
- Employer-sponsored child care centers
- Before- and after-school programs for school-age children
BLS's industry breakdown shows how split the field is.
In 2025, 29% of childcare workers worked in child daycare services, 24% were self-employed, 17% worked in private households, 9% in local elementary and secondary schools, and 8% in religious, grantmaking, civic and similar organizations.
For preschool teachers, BLS reports 65% worked in child daycare services in 2025.
At franchised brands, pay and benefits can vary by owner.
The setting you choose also shapes your pay, your schedule and which qualification rules apply to you.
What do you need to become a daycare teacher?
There is no single national answer: staff qualifications for center classrooms are set by each state's child care licensing rules.
What follows is the national picture the Bureau of Labor Statistics draws — your state's rulebook decides the rest.
BLS lists the typical entry-level education for childcare workers as a high school diploma or equivalent — a statistical label, not a legal minimum.
Requirements vary by state: BLS notes that some states require a high school diploma or equivalent for childcare workers, while others have no education requirement for entry-level positions.
Where a state does require a nationally recognized credential, BLS reports that it is most often the Child Development Associate (CDA) issued by the Council for Professional Recognition, which must be renewed every 3 years.
Licensing also touches the paperwork around you, not just your education.
BLS notes that to qualify for licensure, childcare staff often must pass a background check, have a complete record of immunizations, and meet a minimum training requirement — and that some states require CPR and first aid certification.
Confirm your state's requirements before you apply
How much do daycare teachers make?
Pay depends on which federal occupation the role maps to and on the setting.
BLS reports a May 2025 median of $34,980 per year, or $16.82 per hour, for childcare workers (SOC 39-9011) — the occupation that lists 'Daycare Teacher' among its reported titles.
For preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011), the May 2025 median was $38,140 per year, or $18.34 per hour.
Within the childcare-worker occupation, the May 2025 median hourly wage was $18.15 in local elementary and secondary schools, $16.43 in child daycare services, and $16.23 in religious, grantmaking, civic and similar organizations.
The setting moves the number for preschool teachers too: a May 2025 median of $52,800 in educational services (state, local and private) versus $36,850 in child daycare services.
Medians describe the middle of each occupation across the whole country, not any one center's payroll.
The state-by-state breakdown and the pay-by-setting tables sit on the daycare teacher salary page.
What is the career path from aide to lead teacher to director?
The ladder in a center runs from aide or assistant teacher to lead teacher, and then off the classroom floor into assistant director and director roles.
Experienced teachers also branch into family child care, running their own home-based program — a step with its own licensing rules.
Each rung can carry qualification requirements beyond the last, set by the state's child care licensing rules, so the licensing agency is the authority to check with as you move up.
The market behind that ladder is large but not expanding across the board.
Childcare workers held 1,010,300 jobs in 2025, and BLS projects employment in the occupation to decline 2% from 2025 to 2035 — yet it still projects about 150,300 openings each year on average over that decade, all from replacement needs.
Preschool teachers are the exception in the data: 583,200 jobs in 2025, projected 4% growth from 2025 to 2035, and about 66,700 openings a year.
Find childcare teacher jobs near you
ChildcareHires lists daycare teacher jobs at childcare centers and preschools.
The postings show which age bands, settings and requirements centers near you are hiring for.
Read the postings in your area with the sections above in mind: the age band named in a posting tells you the classroom you'd run, your state child care licensing agency tells you the staffing rules that shape it, and the setting — center, franchise, faith-based, Head Start — points to who sets the pay.
If you run a center instead, the hiring section is the place to start when you hire for your center.
This page is career and employer information, not licensing or legal advice. Confirm staff qualification rules with your state child care licensing agency.