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

Ohio licenses child care centers and family child care homes through the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY).

Centers answer to OAC Chapter 5180:2-12, most of which was re-effective July 1, 2026, and family child care homes answer to OAC Chapter 5180:2-13, whose Type A and Type B definitions changed July 1, 2026.

Ohio renumbered and moved its child care chapters to DCY, so checklists and forms that cite the old 5101 chapter numbers or the former ODJFS department name predate the move; the current regulator is DCY.

Ohio's current rules define three settings a new operator can license.

A Type B home is a provider's permanent residence caring for 1 to 7 children at one time.

A Type A home is also run from the provider's permanent residence and cares for 8 to 14 children, and it additionally needs building and fire inspections and written zoning approval.

Both home types are licensed under OAC Chapter 5180:2-13, and child care centers are licensed under OAC Chapter 5180:2-12.

These definitions took effect July 1, 2026, so read the current chapter when you pick your tier: older pages still show the previous Type A and Type B capacity ranges.

For a center, the owner creates an Ohio Professional Registry (OPR) profile, completes DCY's center prelicensing training (taken within the 5 years before applying) and files an online application with a $50 nonrefundable fee.

Before the license is issued, the owner submits a building inspection or certificate of occupancy, a fire inspection, a food service license or exemption, a labeled indoor and outdoor site plan, and proof that the named administrators meet their qualifications.

The application is deleted and the fee forfeited if the center is not ready to be licensed after 12 months.

Family child care applicants complete an OPR profile and the family child care prelicensing training, then apply online with a $25 nonrefundable fee.

Ohio calls the center director the administrator, and the role requires a high school education plus one of 12 education-and-experience options — an associate degree in a DCY-approved ECE-related field qualifies with no experience, while a CDA requires 2 years of experience.

Administrators complete DCY's rules review course within 6 months of appointment and a refresher every 5 years, and must be on site at least half of weekly operating hours or 40 hours a week, whichever is less.

Center staff members must be at least 16 with a completed high school education, or at least a high school junior in an ECE career-tech, CDA or ECE college-credit program.

Every staff member creates an OPR profile by day one, completes orientation training within 30 days, first aid and CPR within the first 90 days and at least 6 professional development hours each fiscal year, and clears a background check before their first day and every 5 years.

Family child care providers must be at least 18 with a high school education (Type B homes licensed after April 1, 2003), live in the home, and hold current first aid, CPR, communicable disease and child abuse prevention training before licensure.

Ohio sets center ratios and group sizes by age: young infants under 12 months are staffed at 1:5 or 2:12 with a maximum group of 12, 3-year-olds at 1:12 (group 24), 4-year-olds not yet kindergarten-eligible at 1:14 (group 28), and kindergarten-eligible children under 11 at 1:18 (group 36).

Mixed-age groups follow the ratio for the youngest child, although a center with 12 or fewer children may combine all ages.

In family child care, each staff member cares for no more than 7 children, with no more than 3 of them under age 2, and a Type A home may care for up to 14 children at once.

Ohio's application fees are set in rule: a center applies with a $50 nonrefundable fee and a family child care home with a $25 nonrefundable fee.

A family child care home must also carry liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $300,000 aggregate, or give every parent a signed DCY 01933 statement that the home has no such insurance.

The clock matters: a center application is deleted and the fee forfeited if the center is not ready to be licensed after 12 months.

Once issued, a center license is continuous with no annual renewal unless the center is in its provisional period, moves without an amendment, changes owner, surrenders the license or has it revoked.

Our research captured no Ohio startup-cost figures beyond these rule-set fees; ask DCY what your site type should expect.

Two Ohio early childhood workforce supports run through the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA): T.E.A.C.H.

Early Childhood Ohio and the Career Pathways Levels.

T.E.A.C.H. helps with tuition, books and related education costs; the employing program commits to raise pay as staff earn credentials or credits, and the staff member commits to stay at the program during and after school.

OCCRRA's Career Pathways Levels — six levels recorded in the Ohio Professional Registry — serve as an alternate route to meet licensing or Step Up To Quality (SUTQ) education requirements, and a revised CPL model took effect July 1, 2026.

OCCRRA also says it provides scholarships and wage supplements, but specific amounts were not published on the pages our research read, and our research did not confirm an Ohio registered ECE apprenticeship; ask OCCRRA and DCY what is currently funded.

Ohio renumbered and moved its child care rules to the Department of Children and Youth, so checklists and forms citing the old 5101 chapter numbers or the former ODJFS department name predate the move.

Most center rules in OAC Chapter 5180:2-12 were re-effective July 1, 2026.

The family child care definitions changed the same day, with Type B homes now covering 1 to 7 children and Type A homes 8 to 14 — pages still showing the older capacity ranges are out of date.

The administrator qualification options in Appendix A to OAC 5180:2-12-07 were enacted June 18, 2026, and a revised Career Pathways Levels model took effect July 1, 2026.