How to Start a Daycare in Colorado: Licensing Steps, Costs and Staffing

Colorado licenses child care facilities — family child care homes and centers alike — through the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), Division of Early Learning, Licensing, and Administration.

The rules sit in one rulebook: the Child Care Facility Licensing Rules, 8 CCR 1402-1, whose current version on the Colorado Secretary of State site is dated 2026.

Every step on this page — orientation, application, fingerprints, inspection — runs through CDEC, so confirm current requirements with the agency before you apply.

Colorado writes home and center licensing into the same rulebook.

A family care home of up to four children (related or unrelated, with no more than two under age two) does not require a license, and neither does care for only related children plus one unrelated sibling group.

The home licenses above that line are the regular family child care home (up to six children birth to 18, plus up to two additional school-age children, with no more than two under 18 months), the infant/toddler home (one provider at least 21 caring for up to four children under 3, no more than two under 12 months), the large family child care home (up to 12 children including the provider's own under 10, still no more than two under 18 months) and the experienced provider license (up to 9 children, listed in the fee schedule, whose qualification requirements our research did not transcribe).

On the center side, the fee schedule bands small centers at 5–15 children and large centers at 16 or more, with the large-center fee a base plus $3 per child of capacity.

CDEC's guidance sets the calendar: submit an original license application 60–90 days before you plan to open, and the rules require application fees at least 60 days before the anticipated opening date.

The agency also says the entire licensing process, including inspection and background checks, can take up to 90 days.

Family child care primary providers must complete a Department-approved 15-clock-hour pre-licensing course before licensure, with an exemption for a director qualifications letter or an ECE or elementary education degree, and CDEC runs a free 1-hour family child care pre-licensing orientation.

Criminal record checks run through CBI and FBI fingerprints taken at a CBI-approved vendor and paid for by the individual, plus a separate child abuse and neglect check; in a licensed home, fingerprints reach each applicant and every adult 18 or older living there.

Staffing a center starts at the top: a large-center director must hold a current Department-issued director qualifications letter or a current PDIS early childhood professional credential Level III or higher before working as director.

Small-center directors have separate routes, including a CDA, a PDIS Level II or higher credential, a CDE teaching license with an early childhood or elementary endorsement, or experience-plus-coursework routes.

In the classroom, an early childhood teacher must be at least 18 and meet one of nine qualification options, among them a CDA, a PDIS Level II or higher credential, an ECE associate degree or 21 months (3,185 hours) of experience plus two ECE courses.

Staff aides can be 16 working directly under a director or early childhood teacher; infant staff aides must be 18.

All center staff who work with children complete at least 15 clock hours of professional development a year, including 3 hours on social-emotional development, and one staff member per 30 or fewer children in attendance holds current Department-approved First Aid and CPR while other caregivers take an introduction module within 30 days.

Directors, early childhood teachers and infant program staff must register in the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS).

Two numbers anchor center staffing: infants 6 weeks to 18 months are staffed at 1:5 with a maximum group size of 10, and 3- to 4-year-olds at 1:10 with a maximum group of 20.

Only staff qualified under the early childhood teacher rule who work directly with children count toward the ratio.

In preschool rooms the nap-time ratio may double for children 2½ and older when at least half the group is sleeping, group size is not exceeded and a qualified teacher or assistant teacher supervises.

The license fees are in the rule, in effect since July 1, 2020 for both the original application and the annual continuation: a family child care home of 1–6 children pays $65.

A large family home of 7–12 and an experienced provider of up to 9 each pay $100.

A small center of 5–15 children pays $200.

A large center pays a base plus $3 per child of capacity — $175 for 16–30 children or $300 for 31 or more — up to a $1,800 cap.

The clock runs alongside the money: application fees must be submitted at least 60 days before the anticipated opening date, CDEC advises applying 60–90 days out, and the full process including inspection and background checks can take up to 90 days.

The rule also prices operating without a license: an unlicensed child care facility can be fined up to $250 a day for the first day, $500 for the second and $1,000 a day from the third day on, to a maximum of $10,000 per violation.

Beyond the license fee, our research captured no Colorado startup-cost figures for a building, equipment or insurance, so ask CDEC what to budget for your setting.

Colorado Shines is the state's quality rating and improvement system for licensed programs serving children birth to five; every licensed program serving ages 0–5 enters at Level 1, and licensed family child care homes enrolling children five or younger are required to participate.

Colorado Shines quality funds are allocated by Early Childhood Councils based on program type (center or home), number of classrooms and program quality level, so your council is the body to ask what a new program can currently receive.

For staff qualifications, T.E.A.C.H.

Colorado is run by the Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance (ECCLA), per the TEACH Early Childhood National Center directory — ECCLA is the contact for what the program funds.

CDEC's free 1-hour family child care pre-licensing orientation is the other no-cost starting point.

The rulebook behind this page is the current one: the Child Care Facility Licensing Rules, 8 CCR 1402-1, whose version on the Colorado Secretary of State site is dated 2026.

The bigger change underway is on the quality side: Colorado is moving from its Colorado Shines QRIS to a refreshed Quality Improvement System over 19 months, May 17, 2026 through January 16, 2028, with ratings frozen from May 17 to September 20, 2026 while existing Level 3–5 ratings were maintained.

CDEC ties the refresh to proposed reductions to QRIS funding and higher CCCAP demand on CCDF resources, so confirm current quality-funding and subsidy details with CDEC and your Early Childhood Council rather than an older guide.