What Jobs Can You Get with a CDA Credential?

The Child Development Associate (CDA) credential is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition, and it comes in five settings: center-based Infant-Toddler (birth to 36 months), center-based Preschool (ages 3 to 5), center-based Birth to Five, Family Child Care (birth to 5 in a home) and Home Visitor.

The setting you earn the credential in shapes which classrooms it fits — eligibility, the portfolio and cost are covered in our CDA credential guide.

Mapped to jobs, the settings line up like this:

• Center infant and toddler teacher — the center-based Infant-Toddler setting covers work with children birth to 36 months.
• Center preschool teacher — the Preschool setting covers ages 3 to 5, and the Birth to Five setting covers educators working with children from birth to 5 in a center.
• Family child care provider — the Family Child Care setting covers caring for children birth to 5 in a home.
• Home visitor — the Home Visitor setting fits roles that work with families in their homes, such as Head Start home visiting.

Where the credential is required rather than optional, BLS is the reference: some states and employers require childcare workers to hold a nationally recognized credential, most often the CDA, which must be renewed every 3 years.

The floor below it is low — BLS describes a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for childcare workers, and some states set no education requirement for entry-level positions.

Know the ceilings too.

Head Start preschool lead teachers need at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, and at least 50% of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide must hold a bachelor's — a CDA alone does not meet that bar.

Public-school pre-K generally requires a bachelor's in early childhood education or a related field plus a state early childhood teaching license.

And BLS says preschool teachers typically need at least an associate's degree, with requirements varying by setting and state.

There is no national daycare teacher license — lead-teacher qualifications come from each state's child care licensing agency, and the titles differ (lead teacher, teacher, caregiver).

The one national count in our research comes from the Bipartisan Policy Center, whose 2024 scan of center licensing rules in 50 states and DC found 8 states requiring a CDA for a child care teacher, 20 requiring a high school diploma, and 14 with no requirements for the role.

It is a secondary count, and BPC's companion publications slice it differently, so treat it as a 2024 snapshot rather than a rulebook.

Two state examples show how a CDA route is written.

Mississippi's center rule calls its lead-teacher role "caregivers": a caregiver must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or GED, or a CDA (or an MDHS Director's Credential), or three years of documented experience caring for unrelated children under 13.

In West Virginia, an assistant director or lead teacher must be at least 21 with one year of relevant work experience, plus one further qualification: a CDA or 12 early-education college credits (each paired with 300 hours), two years of relevant work experience, a Registered Apprenticeship Certificate for Child Development Specialist, or 28 college credits including 9 in early childhood development.

Even where the state rule sets no education requirement, the credential still matters — BLS counts employer requirements alongside state ones, so the posting you want may ask for a CDA the state never mentions.

Head Start staff qualifications come from the Office of Head Start's Program Performance Standards at 45 CFR 1302.91, and the CDA is written into them in three places:

• Early Head Start center-based teacher — must have at least a CDA or comparable credential, plus training or coursework in infant-toddler development.
• Head Start preschool assistant teacher — at minimum a CDA (or a state certificate that meets or exceeds it), or enrollment in an associate or bachelor's program, or enrollment in a CDA program to be finished within two years of hire.
• Head Start family child care providers and home visitors — providers must be enrolled in a Family Child Care CDA program (or state equivalent) or an early childhood degree program before serving and earn the credential within 18 months; home visitors need at least a home-based CDA or comparable credential.

A CDA does not reach Head Start preschool lead teacher: those teachers need at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education (or equivalent coursework), and at least 50% nationwide must hold a bachelor's.

For the role itself — duties, pay and how hiring works — see our Head Start teacher guide.

The Family Child Care CDA is the credential for home-based work: it covers caring for children birth to 5 in a home.

Licensing is a separate track — a family child care home falls under your state's child care licensing agency and its family child care rules, so confirm those rules with the agency before you plan a program around a credential.

The clearest CDA-linked family child care jobs are Head Start partnerships: under the current standards, Head Start family child care providers must be enrolled in a Family Child Care CDA program (or state equivalent) or an early childhood degree program before serving, and earn the credential within 18 months.

The August 2026 proposal noted above would drop that requirement if finalized — the Council specifically flagged family child care providers and home visitors in its statement.

Center director is the rung above lead teacher, and state licensing rules define who qualifies.

BLS notes one advancement route: childcare workers with a couple of years of experience and a bachelor's may advance to center director.

Some states also write a CDA into director qualifications, and three examples show the pattern:

• Texas — a CDA or Certified Child-Care Professional credential plus 6 college credit hours in management and at least two years of experience in a licensed center qualifies a director for centers with 13 or more children (26 TAC §746.1015).
• Utah — a new center director needs one of several listed credentials, and a CDA (or the Certified Childcare Professional) is on that list.
• New Hampshire — a director without a degree can qualify with a non-expired CDA plus an additional 3,000 hours of experience.

Director rules can scale with center size — Texas's CDA route, for instance, applies to centers with 13 or more children — and they are set by each state's child care licensing agency: the route that works in one state may not exist in the next.

If directing is the goal, read your state's director qualifications against the experience you already have and confirm them with the agency before you apply.

Honestly: no verified national figure exists.

BLS does not publish wages by credential status, so there is no measured CDA premium.

The closest data point is a modeling assumption — in the cost model for ACF's August 2026 proposed Head Start rule, ACF assumed a 9% salary difference between CDA and no credential for the positions affected.

That is an estimate built into a rulemaking, not a market wage figure.

What BLS does publish is pay by occupation: childcare workers (SOC 39-9011) earned a median of $16.82 an hour ($34,980 a year) in May 2025, and preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011) a median of $38,140 a year in the same release.

Which line a CDA job lands on depends on the role, the setting and the state rule behind it.

Two guides take the pay question further: our CDA salary guide focuses on pay for CDA-holding teachers, and pay by credential compares the associate and bachelor's ladders.

Three places to point the credential.

First, center jobs: the childcare teacher jobs board lists openings at centers and preschools — read each posting's requirements line, because employers set credential requirements job by job.

Second, Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which hire teachers and assistants directly and whose qualification standards name the CDA.

Third, your own program: the Family Child Care CDA is the credential for a home-based early education career, with licensing from your state.

Keep the credential usable once you have it: a CDA is valid for 3 years, and renewal has its own rules in our CDA renewal guide.

Career information, not licensing or legal advice. Qualification rules change — confirm current requirements with your state's child care licensing agency, and Head Start qualification standards with the program hiring or the Office of Head Start.