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

Texas child care operations are permitted by the Child Care Regulation (CCR) department of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Centers answer to the Minimum Standards in 26 TAC Chapter 746, whose current edition was revised in December 2025; homes fall under Chapter 747, and the statute behind both is Human Resources Code Chapter 42.

The Texas Workforce Commission's provider site names HHSC CCR as the permit issuer and says the first step for an applicant is deciding which type of operation to open.

Texas statute sorts the day-care operations below into four categories.

A family home that provides regular care for compensation in its own residence must list with HHSC when it cares for three or fewer unrelated children, and register at four or more; homes caring only for related children need neither.

A registered family home may care for no more than six children under 14, excluding related children, plus up to six after-school elementary children, with no more than 12 total at any time.

A licensed child-care home — the statute's group day-care home — is care in the operator's residence for seven or more children under 14, at least two hours a day, three or more days a week; a day-care center is the same care at a location other than the operator's residence.

Listed homes carry lighter obligations: a listed home is not inspected unless a complaint is filed, and it must carry $100,000 per-occurrence liability insurance or give parents written notice that coverage is not provided.

The registered- and licensed-home capacity charts in Chapter 747 are graphics our research could not read; confirm capacity for your tier with HHSC CCR.

The Texas Workforce Commission's provider site puts deciding which type of operation to open first; permits are issued by HHSC Child Care Regulation.

Every licensing application except a listed family home's and a compliance certificate's then starts with a pre-application interview that teaches applicants the process, the licensing requirements and the administrative procedures, and HHSC may hold it as an online group class.

The primary caregiver of a registered child-care home must also complete the Licensing pre-application course within one year before applying.

Our research captured the interview step and the permit issuer, but not a step-by-step account of HHSC's current inspection or a processing timeline; ask HHSC CCR what your operation type should expect.

In a center licensed for 13 or more children, the director must be at least 21, with a high school diploma or equivalent and one of seven education-and-experience combinations; one route is a CDA or Certified Child-Care Professional credential, six college credit hours in management and at least two years of licensed-center experience.

Centers licensed for 12 or fewer use a lighter director standard, such as 72 clock hours of child development training, 30 in management and three years of experience.

Directors complete 30 annual training hours.

Caregivers must be at least 18 with a high school diploma, equivalent or certificate of coursework completion; no college credits or CDA is required.

Caregivers complete 24 clock hours of pre-service training (8 before counting in ratio, 16 within 90 days of employment) plus 24 annual hours; every caregiver and the director hold pediatric first aid and CPR.

Every center employee must meet the Chapter 745 background-check requirements and sign Forms 2985 and 2912 before hire.

Registered and licensed homes require a primary caregiver of at least 21 who completes the Licensing pre-application course; registered homes also require a diploma or equivalent, licensed homes an education-and-experience combination.

Texas sets center ratios by age group.

When 13 or more children are in care at a center, one caregiver supervises four infants (0–11 months) at 1:4 and 18 four-year-olds at 1:18.

Maximum group sizes run alongside the ratios — 10 for infants and 35 for 4-year-olds and older.

The ratio follows the group's specified age: list the children youngest to oldest and take the age of the child at the midpoint, rounding .5 up.

Centers with 12 or fewer children in care use a separate mixed-age chart instead; one caregiver may supervise up to 12 children when none are under 18 months.

Texas statute requires HHSC to charge a nonrefundable application fee, an initial license fee and an annual license fee due each anniversary; listed and registered family homes pay an annual fee.

The dollar amounts sit in fee charts under 26 TAC 745 that our research could not read, so ask HHSC CCR for the current schedule before you budget.

HHSC does not charge a fee to process a director's certificate.

The annual fee is not optional paperwork: a license whose annual fee goes unpaid is automatically suspended, and the license is revoked if the fee is not paid within six months after the suspension begins.

Our research did not capture an HHSC processing timeline, and it found no Texas startup-cost figures.

For budgeting context, a September 2021 U.S. Treasury report described most for-profit child care facilities as operating on razor-thin profit margins usually below 1 percent, and — citing a Center for American Progress cost analysis — put wages at at least 50-60 percent of child care expenses on U.S. averages.

Start with the state's own provider site, childcare.texas.gov, where the Texas Workforce Commission publishes starting-a-child-care-business guidance and names HHSC CCR as the permit issuer.

One program with documented operating benefits is Texas Rising Star, TWC's quality rating and improvement system: since October 2, 2022, every program serving children in TWC's CCS scholarship program must participate at least at Entry Level and has up to 24 months to reach star-level certification.

Beyond Entry Level sit Two-Star, Three-Star and Four-Star certifications, tied to higher CCS payment rates, and TWC lists benefits including a Workforce Board-assigned mentor and preferred access to professional development, grants, stipends and materials.

For staffing, TWC's Early Childhood Professional Development Scholarships have funded the CDA credential, registered apprenticeship programs, associate's and bachelor's degrees; TWC was re-procuring a statewide administrator, with a grant agreement anticipated in June 2026 and educator applications expected in summer 2026, and it has funded early childhood Registered Apprenticeship Programs in three rounds since 2022.

Our research did not confirm a Texas startup grant for new operators; ask TWC and your local Workforce Board what is currently available.