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Childery

Why Childery

Methodology

One overall rating

Every daycare gets one main star rating (1–5), built from two inputs: Process — teacher-child interactions, drawn from state quality ratings, national accreditation, and federal classroom observations — weighted 70%, and Structural — inspection history, staff credentials, and ratios — weighted 30%. Research shows Process predicts outcomes more reliably; Structural is the foundation it's built on.

See the full methodology →

By the numbers

Quality is rarer than you'd think

250,403
daycares rated
39%
earn 5 stars

Fewer than a third of licensed daycares earn our top rating — and quality varies significantly from state to state. Look up your daycare →

Our commitment

Impossible to buy

Other directories make money from the daycares they list — which gives those daycares a path to influence their ratings. At Childery, that path doesn't exist. We:

  • Audit every rating refresh for demographic fairness.
  • Publish the full scoring methodology and inputs.
  • Refuse all payment from rated daycares.
  • Publish the corrections we act on.

Browse all 51 states

Frequently asked questions

How often are the ratings updated?
Yearly. The "Updated" date at the top of any page shows when the data was last refreshed.
How should I use these ratings to pick a daycare?
Treat the star rating as a starting filter, not a verdict. Use it to narrow your list to daycares worth visiting. Then visit, talk to staff, and trust what you see in the room. The ratings tell you what we measured. They don't tell you what your child's specific teacher is like, what curriculum the room uses, or whether the place feels right when you walk in.
Where does the data come from?
State licensing portals, federal Head Start program data, the BUILD Initiative's Quality Compendium, NAEYC's accreditation registry, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (used only for the fairness audit, not the ratings themselves), and a few state-specific data sources. All inputs are public records.
Why might a daycare have only one of the two component ratings?
Process ratings draw from voluntary state quality programs, national accreditation, and federal Head Start classroom observation. Only about a third of US daycares have any of these signals; the rest are rated on Structural alone, and that Structural Rating becomes the Overall. Even when both components are present, looking at them separately can be more informative than looking at just the overall rating.
Does Childery accept money from daycares?
No. Daycares cannot pay for placement, ratings, claimed listings, ads, or sponsored content. We are funded by other means, and the editorial firewall around the ratings is structural rather than just a policy.