NYC Childcare Data Brief — September 2026
Data as of Sep 26, 2026. Every number below is computed from official government records — the city Health Department’s daily roster and inspection files, New York State’s licensing registry, and the DOE’s MySchools directory. No estimates, no survey data. Free to cite with a link.
The numbers
| Licensed daycare centers | 2,746 (−3 since last month) |
| Free Pre-K / 3-K programs | 2,343 (+459 since last month) |
| Home-based programs (state-licensed) | 7,116 (+2637 since last month) |
| Centers with an open critical violation | 189 (+1 since last month) |
| Centers with a clean recent record | 319 (−1 since last month) |
| Home programs with uncorrected violations | 657 (+335 since last month) |
| Home programs under state enforcement | 14 (unchanged) |
| Centers with elevated water-lead results | 77 (−1 since last month) |
Free Pre-K and 3-K seats
The DOE’s MySchools directory lists 160,760 free seats across 1,444 sites in its most recent admissions data, with 194,328 applicants — about 1.21 applicants per seat citywide. (+94094 seats since last month)
What changed this month
Programs whose official record changed since the start of the month, from the city and state records we track. Each links to its full record; "new open critical violation" and "enforcement action" report the government’s own status, which the program may have addressed since.
Newly listed on the city roster (29)
- Abc Preschool & Kindergarten Center · Queens
- Fun Studios Inc. · Brooklyn
- Heartshare Human Services Of New York · Brooklyn
- Luminous Early Child Care Center · Bronx
- The Goddard School Of Greenpoint · Brooklyn
- The Goddard School Of Greenpoint · Brooklyn
- Wonderforest Nature Preschool · Brooklyn
- Corona Kids (no longer listed) · Queens
- …and 21 more
New state enforcement action this month (4)
- K&J's Creative Beginnings LLC · Bronx
- De La Cruz Robles, Juan · Bronx
- APPLE OF MY EYES DAYCARE INC · Bronx
- J.R. The Little Giggles Family Daycare, Inc. · Queens
New open critical violation this month (69)
- Heartshare Human Services Of New York · Brooklyn
- Luminous Early Child Care Center · Bronx
- Adams Street Daycare LLC · Brooklyn
- All My Children Daycare And Nursery School · Manhattan
- Bright Future Bilingual Academy · Bronx
- Heartshare Human Services Of New York · Queens
- Little Scholars Learning Center Viii · Brooklyn
- The Children's Center At Suny Brooklyn · Brooklyn
- …and 61 more
About this data
Counts reflect the programs listed on official rosters on the date above. “Open critical” is the Health Department’s own severity class for issues posing a risk to children’s health or safety, not yet recorded as corrected. “Uncorrected” for home programs is the state record’s own status. Details and limitations: methodology.
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Cite this data
Free to reuse with a link (CC BY 4.0). Suggested citation:
NYC Daycare Check, “NYC Childcare Data Brief — September 2026,” computed from official NYC DOHMH, NYS OCFS, and NYC DOE records. https://nycdaycarecheck.com/briefs/2026-09
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