Every state publishes daycare inspection records. We put them in one search.

Look up a daycare's actual inspection record

Before you tour a daycare, see what state inspectors found there. We collect the licensing and violation records that 49 states and D.C. publish — scattered across dozens of government sites — and make them searchable in one place.

Thousands oflicensed daycares, straight from state records
875K+inspection & violation records
Freeno paywall, and we never sell your data

DaycareAlert was built by Brian Doherty, a Texas dad, after an incident at his own son's daycare. Here's the story — and here's exactly where the data comes from.

Browse every licensed daycare

Use the search above, or narrow the list with the filters below. Every result comes from the state's own licensing records.

About This Data

DaycareAlert compiles licensing and inspection records from state child care agencies across the country — more than 229,000 licensed facilities in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada, with over 1,000,000 inspection and violation records. Each state publishes on its own schedule, and we refresh our copy regularly to stay current with the source agencies.

Ratings are calculated with a single nationwide model so facilities in every state are scored on the same scale. Violations are weighted by what actually happened, not by paperwork volume: findings that affect children's safety (supervision, safe sleep, ratios, background checks) weigh heavily, while administrative and filing issues barely move the score. Recent findings count most, corrected violations count less, and clean years earn the score back. Facilities with no reviews are never penalized for the absence of reviews — the rating reflects the official record, not popularity.

Because states differ in how often they inspect and how much they publish, a higher violation count often reflects a more transparent, frequently-inspecting state rather than worse care. Treat the counts as a window into the public record, not a verdict on any one facility.

Understanding Ratings

Every facility is scored on the same nationwide scale, built only from the official record. A clean record starts around 4.8; the last stretch to a perfect 5.0 is earned by years of operation without a problem. Any confirmed violation caps the score below 5 and pulls it down based on how many and how serious.

4.9–5.0: spotless record over many years
4.6–4.9: clean, or only minor/older issues
4.0–4.5: some violation history
3.0–3.9: a notable pattern of violations
Below 3.0: serious or repeated problems

Computed from state inspection records. Facilities with no reviews aren't penalized — reviews only adjust a score when there are enough of them.