States where you're most likely to find a daycare with a published quality rating (2026)

Last updated May 7, 2026 · By Childery · How we computed this

Picking a daycare without a published quality signal means relying on a license-and-tour walkthrough as your only quality check. Some states make that the only option — most providers in their directories carry no QRIS rating, no national accreditation, and no Head Start CLASS score. Others have built dense quality-signal coverage where the majority of licensed providers come with a published measure attached.

This ranking shows the share of licensed daycare providers in each state's directory that carry any of those three signal types. Unlike the QRIS-participation ranking, this includes states without a formal QRIS — those states can still rank well if their providers heavily participate in NAEYC accreditation or federal Head Start. Conversely, a state with a formal QRIS but very low voluntary uptake can rank poorly here.

Rank		Providers with any Process signal ÷ total licensed.
1	Kentucky	100.0%	Yes	1,405	1,405
2	Maine	100.0%	Yes	1,431	1,431
3	Oklahoma	100.0%	Yes	2,762	2,762
4	Virginia	99.2%	Yes	3,267	3,293
5	North Carolina	91.1%	Yes	4,621	5,072
6	Pennsylvania	83.8%	Yes	6,259	7,469
7	Connecticut	81.9%	No	3,025	3,694
8	Arkansas	77.0%	Yes	1,421	1,845
9	Rhode Island	76.9%	Yes	660	858
10	Colorado	75.9%	Yes	3,449	4,544
11	Alabama	75.2%	Yes	1,813	2,411
12	Maryland	68.2%	Yes	5,034	7,376
13	Indiana	66.0%	Yes	2,717	4,115
14	North Dakota	65.5%	Yes	738	1,127
15	Wisconsin	65.0%	Yes	3,548	5,455
16	Louisiana	61.2%	Yes	1,720	2,809
17	Ohio	53.3%	Yes	4,335	8,126
18	Tennessee	52.5%	Yes	2,396	4,567
19	South Carolina	51.0%	Yes	1,239	2,429
20	Arizona	49.2%	Yes	1,337	2,716
21	Oregon	38.7%	Yes	3,014	7,787
22	Georgia	36.2%	Yes	2,866	7,918
23	New Mexico	34.5%	Yes	748	2,168
24	Michigan	33.3%	Yes	4,122	12,383
25	Washington	32.4%	Yes	810	2,498
26	District of Columbia	28.4%	Yes	130	457
27	Alaska	26.2%	No	143	546
28	Minnesota	25.5%	Yes	2,234	8,777
29	Nebraska	23.6%	Yes	1,098	4,654
30	Nevada	22.4%	Yes	253	1,127
31	New Jersey	19.4%	Yes	1,214	6,247
32	Florida	18.1%	Yes	2,141	11,828
33	Iowa	17.5%	Yes	573	3,276
34	New Hampshire	16.2%	Yes	122	751
35	Hawaii	14.0%	No	73	521
36	Missouri	12.2%	No	510	4,170
37	Illinois	11.4%	Yes	1,050	9,184
38	New York	9.9%	Yes	1,699	17,142
39	Idaho	5.6%	Yes	74	1,327
40	Delaware	1.7%	No	21	1,250
41	Montana	1.7%	No	14	843
42	Wyoming	0.4%	No	2	506
43	South Dakota	0.3%	No	2	722
44	West Virginia	0.2%	No	2	1,218
45	Massachusetts	0.1%	No	4	3,003
46	Kansas	0.1%	Yes	4	3,896
47	California	0.1%	No	8	14,577
48	Texas	0.0%	Yes	1	15,212
49	Mississippi	0.0%	No	0	623
50	Utah	0.0%	Yes	0	1,347
51	Vermont	0.0%	Yes	0	1,059

Methodology

Same definition as the QRIS-participation ranking — a provider counts as having a quality signal if it carries at least one of: a state QRIS rating, an NAEYC / NAC / NECPA / NAFCC accreditation, or a federal Head Start CLASS score. The denominator is Childery's licensed-and-displayable count from each state's licensing portal as of the May 2026 ingestion cycle.

The "Has QRIS?" column is purely informational. A high coverage % with QRIS = No (e.g. NAEYC-heavy states) is the most interesting cell to a journalist: it tells you the state's quality story isn't running through its rating program.

Limitation: this counts whether a signal exists, not what it says. A state where most providers have a published rating but most ratings are 1- or 2-stars is technically high coverage but low quality. The per-state methodology page shows the underlying rating distribution.

For the full cross-ranking methodology — data vintages, inclusion rules, and reproducibility notes — see How Childery computes its state rankings.

Sources

Find a daycare

Rankings show you how your state compares. To actually pick a provider near you, browse Childery's licensed daycare directory — quality ratings, ZIP code search, city pages for every U.S. state.

Browse the state-by-state directory