In-home daycare vs a daycare center

The short answer

An in-home daycare (family child care) is run in the provider’s own house, usually by one person, sometimes with an assistant, caring for up to about a dozen children of mixed ages. A daycare center operates somewhere other than the owner’s home, often its own building or space in a church, school or office, with several teachers and children grouped by age. Homes tend to cost less and have smaller groups; centers have more staff, backup when a teacher is out and, in Texas, more frequent inspections than registered or listed homes.

The bigger difference is often the permit. A Texas home caring for three or fewer unrelated children is only listed with the state and isn’t inspected unless someone complains; a California home caring for just one other family’s children needs no license at all. So before comparing a home with a center, find out what kind of permit the home holds, and read its record.

Home daycare vs daycare center, side by side

Texas: Texas HHS child care types; 26 TAC §747.1309 and §746.1309; posted hours and days from Texas licensing records as of Oct 15, 2026. California: 22 CCR §102416.5; Health and Safety Code §1596.866, §1597.09 and §1597.55a; 22 CCR §101216.1.

The four kinds of child care permit in Texas

Texas sorts child care in a home by how many unrelated children it serves (Texas HHS; licensing handbook §2110). A home that regularly cares for children it isn’t related to, for pay, must be listed with the state if it cares for three or fewer, and registered if it cares for four or more (Human Resources Code §42.052). “Regularly” means at least 4 hours a day, 3 or more days a week, for 3 or more weeks in a row, or 4 hours a day on 40 or more days in any 12 months (§42.002). A home caring only for relatives needs no permit.

Active permits in Texas licensing records as of Oct 15, 2026.

• 12-child cap. A registered or licensed home may never have more than 12 children, counting any on a field trip or in the car, and may be allowed fewer depending on their ages (26 TAC §747.1605). A registered home can’t take more children by adding a second caregiver (§747.1703).
• Background checks are required for the caregiver, anyone who works there, every household member 14 or older, and anyone 14 or older who regularly stays at the home during care hours (§42.056), at listed homes too (§42.052(j)).
• Training: the primary caregiver in a registered or licensed home needs 30 hours of training a year (26 TAC §747.1309), more than the 24 hours a center caregiver needs (§746.1309).
• Listed homes: the permit itself must say the home is not inspected unless a complaint is filed (§42.052(i)). In the records, 3% of listed homes had an inspection in the past 12 months.

Family child care homes in California

California licenses two sizes of family child care home (Health and Safety Code §1596.78; 22 CCR §102416.5). The provider’s own children under 10 who live in the home (and, in a large home, the assistant’s) count toward the limits.

• Small home: up to 4 infants, or up to 6 children with no more than 3 infants. It can take up to 8 with no extra adult if one child is in kindergarten or elementary school, another is at least 6, no more than two are infants, parents are told and, if the home is rented, the owner agrees in writing.
• Large home: up to 12 children with no more than 4 infants, and up to 14 on the same terms with no more than three infants. An assistant must be there; without one, the small-home limits apply.
• No license needed to care for a relative’s children, for the children of just one other family besides your own, or in an unpaid parent co-op of up to 12 children (§1596.792).
• Training: a home’s licensee needs 15 hours of health and safety training, including pediatric first aid and CPR (§1596.866), while a center teacher generally needs 12 college units in early childhood education plus experience (22 CCR §101216.1).
• Inspections: the same schedule as centers: at least once every three years, plus yearly unannounced visits to at least 30% of homes chosen at random, and to homes on probation (§1597.55a).

What Texas inspection records show

Texas publishes the same inspection and citation records for homes as for centers. Totals by permit type, statewide:

*Since October 2021. Texas Health and Human Services licensing records as of Oct 15, 2026. Listed homes have too few inspections for citation figures. Posted hours and days are what each operation reports to the state; “until 7 PM or later” includes 24-hour and overnight care.

How to read this. Fewer home daycares had a high-risk citation in the past year (11% of licensed homes and 11% of registered homes, vs 29% of centers), but homes care for far fewer children and follow their own rulebook, registered homes go longer between inspections, and centers draw far more complaint investigations (about 3 per center since October 2021, vs fewer than one per home), which produced 44% of centers’ high-risk citations. Counting only what inspectors found at routine inspections, registered homes were cited for high-risk problems more often than centers (20.4 vs 13.2 per 100 inspections) and licensed homes a little less often (10.3). Compare a home with other homes, and read its own record.

The high-risk rules Texas cites most at registered and licensed homes, at inspections and investigations since October 2021:

1. Background check results not in before a person was at the home: 348
2. Smoke detectors missing, not working or not tested: 263
3. No emergency medical authorization on file for a child: 238
4. Background checks not submitted on time (new hires, new household members 14 or older, renewals): 152
5. No written emergency preparedness plan: 128
6. Anything but a snug-fitting sheet and mattress cover in the crib of a baby under 12 months: 109

Is in-home daycare cheaper?

Usually, and most for babies. In Texas, the statewide median full-day price for an infant is $41 a day at a licensed home and $40 at a registered home, vs $45 at a center; the gap narrows as children get older.

2026 Texas Child Care Market Rate Survey, Supplemental Report, statewide full-day medians. Prices by area.

• Nationally, home infant care runs about $12,600 a year vs $16,400 at centers, and home care was cheaper for infants in 2,461 of the 2,751 U.S. counties with prices for both (National Database of Childcare Prices, mostly 2022, a population-weighted average in estimated August 2026 prices; by county).
• California: about $16,600 a year for infant care in a family child care home vs $23,200 at a center, and $14,900 vs $16,800 for preschoolers aged 2 to 4 (infants are under 2; the 2021 state survey’s county medians, weighted by each county’s licensed centers and raised by national child care inflation to August 2026; our estimate; by county).

Ask what the price covers: meals, diapers and wipes, fees, and whether you pay when the provider is closed for vacation or illness. Care at either generally qualifies for a dependent care FSA and the child and dependent care credit if it lets you work. You’ll need the provider’s name, address and taxpayer ID number; IRS Form W-10 is the standard way to ask (IRS Publication 503).

Pros and cons

Questions to ask a home daycare

Add these to the questions for any daycare:

1. What kind of permit do you have, and what is the number? (In Texas: listed, registered or licensed. In California: small or large family child care home.)
2. Who else lives in or regularly visits the home while children are here, and has each person 14 or older had a background check?
3. What happens when you are sick, on vacation or at an appointment? Is there a backup caregiver, and has that person had a background check?
4. How many children are here at the busiest time of day, and how many are babies?
5. Where do babies nap? (Babies under 12 months should sleep on their backs on a firm crib or play-yard mattress with only a fitted sheet: no blankets, bumpers, pillows or toys.)
6. Are there pets, a pool, or guns in the home, and how are they kept away from children?
7. Which rooms do children use, and is the outdoor play area fenced?
8. Are there working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors? When were they last tested?
9. Can I drop in without calling ahead?
10. Do you charge when you close for holidays, vacation or illness?

How to check a home daycare’s record

Texas: Texas Child Care Search covers centers and licensed, registered and listed homes. Search by name or address. Licensed and registered homes show their inspection history; listed homes, which are inspected only after a report, show contact details only (KPRC). Daycare Record publishes records for licensed centers only; home daycares are in people’s houses, so we report statewide totals instead.

California: in the state’s Care Facility Search, a small family child care home can be found only by its exact license number, so ask the provider for it. Large homes can be searched by area, but addresses aren’t shown, and homes in Del Norte and Inyo counties aren’t in the database (California Department of Social Services).

For a center, search its record here:

Common questions

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