Michigan Daycare Ratios: Staff-to-Child Ratios and Group Sizes by Age

Michigan sets center ratios in R 400.8222 of the child care center rules, effective May 7, 2025.

One staff member cares for up to 4 children from birth to 30 months, up to 8 children from 30 months to 3 years, up to 10 three-year-olds, up to 12 children from age 4 to school age, and up to 18 school-age children.

The center rules also define school-age center and outdoor nature-based center licenses; our research did not confirm which ratio table those license types use, so check with the Child Care Licensing Bureau.

Small capacity centers, the license type for centers with 20 or fewer children, follow their own rule instead: 1:6, or 1:10 when serving only Great Start Readiness Program preschool children.

Each ratio band carries its own maximum group size: 12 children from birth to 30 months, 24 from 30 months to 3 years, 30 for 3-year-olds, 40 from 4 years to school age, and 54 for school-age.

Small capacity centers cap group size at 20.

The ratio and the group size are separate limits: the ratio counts children per staff member present at any one time, and a room must stay within both numbers in its row.

A room that mixes ages uses the ratio and group size of the youngest child in it, unless the groups are clearly separated.

Nap time has its own provision: when every child in a room is asleep, one staff member may supervise the room if supervising is all they do, they can see every child, other staff are nearby, and the full ratio resumes as soon as the first child wakes.

The staffing effect is direct: a single infant in an otherwise-preschool room sets the whole room to the infant ratio and the infant group size.

The rules count a 'teacher' or a 'substitute teacher' in ratio, and staff counted in ratio must be at least 16 years old.

The 'teacher' title is the assistant-level classroom role in Michigan centers, and the rule's definitions set no education minimum for it.

Supervised volunteers cannot be counted in ratio even when they are 16 or older.

Michigan licenses family child care homes for 1 to 6 unrelated children and group child care homes for 7 to 12, and caring for an unrelated child more than 4 weeks a year requires a license.

Family and group homes share one ratio: 1 staff member to 6 children, or 1:7 with increased capacity, with no more than 4 children under 24 months per staff member and no more than 2 of those under 12 months.

After at least 29 consecutive months of licensed operation, the licensee may request increased capacity from the department: 7 children for a family home, 14 for a group home.

The ratios convert directly into headcount.

An infant room of 8 children needs 2 staff members on the floor at 1:4, a room of 24 three-year-olds needs 3 staff members at 1:10, and a school-age room of 54 children needs 3 staff members at 1:18.

Mixed ages change the arithmetic: a room with 3 infants and 7 three-year-olds is an infant room for ratio purposes, 10 children at 1:4, so it needs 3 staff members where a group of 10 three-year-olds would need 1.

Ratio is not the only staffing input: the rules require a lead teacher for groups of preschool age and younger, with the lead teacher with the group full time in programs under 6 hours, or at least 6 hours a day otherwise.

During nap, when every child in the room is asleep, one staff member may hold the room under the nap conditions described above, until the first child wakes.

These are illustrations of the arithmetic, not a review of any center's schedule.

Michigan's center rules took their current form on May 7, 2025, a major revision of the rulebook covering centers under 1973 PA 116.

The child care home rules were updated effective April 27, 2026.

Because the center revision was a major rewrite, figures from older ratio charts may not match the current table, so check the figures you staff to with the Child Care Licensing Bureau.