Where Childcare Teachers Work: Centers, Head Start, Public Pre-K and More

The independent center — one building or a small local group, run by an owner, a small organization or a nonprofit rather than a national brand — is the first of the main types of childcare centers.

BLS put 65% of preschool teachers in child daycare services in 2025 — an industry total, not a count of independent centers alone — and the industry covers center classrooms across the age bands: infant rooms, toddler rooms, preschool and pre-K rooms, plus the floaters, assistants and aides who move between them.

Preschool teachers, in BLS's definition, educate and care for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten.

Childcare workers — the second federal occupation that center job titles map to (more on that below) — spread across more ground.

In 2025, 29% 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.

One neighboring career sits outside the center entirely: family child care.

The family child care provider guide covers that career separately.

Job titles inside one center can point at two different federal occupation codes: O*NET lists "Daycare Teacher", "Infant Teacher" and "Toddler Teacher" among reported titles for Childcare Workers (SOC 39-9011) and "Pre-Kindergarten Teacher" among Preschool Teachers (SOC 25-2011).

Centers that add before- and after-school programs also hire school-age staff — the school-age teacher guide covers that wing.

Schedules run long: BLS describes centers as usually open year-round with long hours, some covering the day with full-time and part-time staff on staggered shifts, and notes that part-time work and irregular hours are common for childcare workers.

For center jobs, the qualifications — education, pre-service training, a background check — are set by your state's child care licensing agency.

Head Start programs also follow federal standards (more on that below), and school-based pre-K follows the state education agency's certification route.

The daycare teacher career guide covers the center role itself, and daycare teacher jobs show what centers are hiring for right now.

National brands run two different models, and they feel different from the classroom side.

Under the franchise model, the brand sells schools to local owners: The Goddard School is franchised and reports 665+ schools, The Learning Experience describes itself as a childcare franchise with approximately 850 centers open or in development, Primrose Schools sells franchises and says its owners build and run the schools, and Kiddie Academy says franchise owners do not need education-field experience but must meet minimum financial qualifications.

Under the corporate model, one operator employs teachers across its schools.

KinderCare, for example, says on its careers page that benefits, depending on eligibility and role, may include a child care discount, medical/dental/vision coverage, 401(k), paid time off and tuition reimbursement.

For a teacher, the practical difference is less the curriculum on the wall than who signs the offer: at franchised schools, pay and benefits can vary by owner.

Ask in the interview who employs you — the local school, the franchisee or the brand — and compare the benefits list, not just the hourly rate.

One thing does not change with the brand: staff qualification, training and background-check rules for center jobs are set by your state's child care licensing agency — the agency regulates the program you work in, not the franchisor's name on the door.

Head Start and Early Head Start are federal programs: grants are competed through Notices of Funding Opportunity posted by the Office of Head Start, and local grantees run the classrooms.

The scale is large — FY 2024 funded enrollment, excluding AIAN and Migrant/Seasonal programs, was 488,792 Head Start Preschool slots and 181,049 Early Head Start slots.

About 97% of funded Head Start Preschool services were center-based; Early Head Start was about 67% center-based and about 28% home-based in the 2023-24 program year, with the home-based option delivered through home visitors.

The federal teacher qualifications come from regulation (45 CFR 1302.91).

Each Head Start Preschool center-based teacher must have at least an associate or bachelor's degree in child development or early childhood education, equivalent coursework, or otherwise meet the Head Start Act's alternative.

At least 50% of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide must hold a bachelor's in ECE or a related field, and a related-field degree (psychology, for example) must come with experience teaching preschool-age children.

Assistant teachers can qualify with a CDA (or a state certificate meeting or exceeding it), or by enrolling in an associate or bachelor's program, or in a CDA program to be completed within two years of hire.

Early Head Start center-based teachers of infants and toddlers need at minimum a CDA or comparable credential plus training or coursework focused on infant and toddler development.

One timing note: an August 2026 federal proposal would keep the qualification standards for preschool teachers, assistant teachers and Early Head Start teachers — they rest on the Head Start Act itself — while dropping qualification rules for some other staff roles.

It is a proposal, not a final rule, so check the current standard with the Office of Head Start before you plan around it.

The Head Start teacher and Early Head Start teacher guides cover the roles in depth.

The same teaching work — and sometimes the same age-4 classroom — sits inside a public school district under a different rulebook.

Public-school preschool teachers generally need at least a bachelor's degree and must be licensed to teach early childhood education, which BLS describes as covering preschool through third grade; license names and grade bands vary by state, and the state education agency — not the child care licensing agency — runs the certification.

Public pre-K travels under other names too — in California, school districts must admit to transitional kindergarten (TK) every child who turns four by September 1 — and the school-system certification route is what separates it from center work.

The census shows the split.

BLS counted 16% of preschool teachers in educational services in 2025 — an industry bucket that spans public schools and private educational services — against 65% in child daycare services.

Childcare workers show up on school payrolls too: those employed by local elementary and secondary schools earned a May 2025 median of $18.15 an hour — the highest of the industry medians compared in this guide.

The schedule is the other signature: BLS notes preschool teachers in public schools generally work school hours, often on a 10-month year, while those in daycare settings may work year-round with longer hours.

If you hold — or want to earn — a bachelor's and a state teaching license, the pre-K teacher guide covers the school-based path.

Some classrooms organize the whole job around a method: Montessori, Reggio Emilia-inspired, play-based, Waldorf, HighScope.

The approach shapes the curriculum, the materials on the shelves and the training a school looks for in its teachers — and credentials vary even within one approach.

AMS does not require teachers at AMS schools to hold an AMS credential, but AMS-accredited schools must have lead teachers with Montessori credentials for the ages they teach, so ask any school you apply to which training organization stands behind its lead teachers' credentials.

Federal statistics fold the work into the ordinary occupation codes: O*NET lists "Montessori Preschool Teacher" among reported titles for Preschool Teachers (SOC 25-2011).

Regulation is the piece to check.

A Montessori or approach-based program may sit inside a licensed childcare center, inside a private school, or inside a public program, and how your state treats each one is a question for the state child care licensing agency — ask before you assume the job follows center rules, school rules or something else entirely.

The Montessori teacher guide covers the training path and what to look for in a program.

Church and other religious preschools — weekday programs, parochial pre-K, ministry-run early learning centers — hire teachers for the same classroom work as any center, with the program's religious curriculum woven through the day.

They register in the federal data too: 13% of preschool teachers worked in religious, grantmaking, civic and similar organizations in 2025, as did 8% of childcare workers.

That industry bucket also catches other nonprofits, so the label is wider than churches alone.

One thing genuinely differs from state to state: how a faith-based program is licensed, or whether it qualifies for a religious-exemption category at all.

That status decides which staff rules the program runs under, and it is set by the state child care licensing agency — so ask the agency how a specific program you're applying to is regulated rather than assuming the church down the road follows the same rules as the center across town.

When a hospital, a university or a large employer operates a center for its staff's families, the classroom job looks like center work — the differences run through the employer's HR office, the funding behind the program and the population it serves, not through the day spent with children.

Military child development centers (CDCs) on installations come with their own hiring system.

Hiring runs through USAJOBS: Child and Youth Program Assistant postings require applicants to submit proof of eligibility and documents — diploma or GED, resume — by the closing date, and many postings carry preferences such as military spouse preference.

Military programs also have a credential of their own for school-age staff and family child care providers on installations: the Military School-Age (MSA), administered by the Council for Professional Recognition after Foundation Level training.

It is a separate credential for military programs; there is no civilian school-age CDA setting.

On the federal numbers, the school-side settings pay the most of the settings compared on this page, in both occupations.

For preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011), the May 2025 median was $52,800 a year in educational services (state, local and private) against $36,850 in child daycare services.

For childcare workers (SOC 39-9011), the May 2025 median hourly wage ran $18.15 in local elementary and secondary schools, $16.43 in child daycare services and $16.23 in religious, grantmaking, civic and similar organizations.

Read those pairs for what they are: industry medians, each describing a mix of jobs and regions, not the same teacher in two buildings.

The trade is real, though — the public-school route carries the higher entry bar, a bachelor's degree plus a state teaching license, while center routes can run through the CDA — a credential with center-based Infant-Toddler and Preschool settings — alongside whatever your state's licensing rules ask for.

Benefits tilt with the employer rather than the setting label: an operator such as KinderCare lists medical/dental/vision, 401(k), paid time off, tuition reimbursement and a child care discount depending on eligibility and role, and at franchised schools pay and benefits can vary by owner.

Schedule is the other half of the comparison — school calendars often run on a 10-month year while centers are usually open year-round, some covering the day with staggered shifts — so the right setting depends on what you want the year to look like, not just the paycheck.

When you're ready to compare offers, daycare teacher jobs on ChildcareHires gather openings from every setting in one place.

This page is career information, not licensing or legal advice. Center staff rules are set by each state's child care licensing agency, school certification by each state's education agency, and Head Start standards by the Office of Head Start — confirm the current rule with the agency that governs your setting before you act on it.