Open binder, pen and closed laptop on a wooden desk, How to Start a Daycare in Nevada: License, Fees and Steps

How to Start a Daycare Business in Nevada

Last verified: November 5, 2026

Nevada requires a child care license once you care for five or more children who are not related to you and you are paid for any of them (NRS 432A.024). NRS 432A.024 defines a child care facility as one caring for five or more children for pay, so with four or fewer you fall outside that definition and can work as a friend, family and neighbor provider without a state child care license. At or above it, the Division of Social Services licenses you and will not accept an application until your location can pass fire, health, building and zoning review. Our advice: settle your headcount first. It decides the facility type, and the facility type decides your fee, your staffing, whether you must live in the building and how much space you need.

Who Needs a License and Who Does Not

NRS 432A.024 defines a child care facility as an establishment that cares for five or more children under 18, during the day or overnight, when compensation is received for any of those children. The definition leaves out a parent's or guardian's own home, a home where every child is related to the operator within the third degree, and a person who watches a friend's or neighbor's children for no more than 4 weeks without doing it regularly. The Nevada Legislature publishes NRS Chapter 432A in full.

The Division of Social Services states the line as a license being required for more than 4 children who are not related to you or for whom you are paid. Care for up to 4 children without a license is the friends, family and neighbor (FFN) model, and FFN providers still follow the business license rules of their city, county and state (Division of Social Services: child care facility types). NRS 432A.131 also lets a county or city regulate or register operations with fewer than five children, so ask your local business license office before you take a fifth child. If you want state subsidy payments for FFN care, the Division runs the Child Care and Development Program and sends provider enrollment questions to The Children's Cabinet (Division of Social Services: child care providers).

Step 1: Pick the Facility Type First

The facility type sets who has to live in the building, how many caregivers you need on duty and which fee you pay. These three cover most new operators. The Division lists the other types, including accommodation facilities, out-of-school-time programs and on-site employer care, on its facility types page.

Facility typeChildrenKey limitsSource
Family care5 to 6A licensed home where you live and give direct care. One caregiver on duty, with no more than 2 children under age 1 and no more than 4 under age 2 at a time.NAC 432A.100 and 432A.534
Group care7 to 12A licensed home where you live and give direct care. 1 caregiver for every 2 children under age 1, 1 for every 4 at ages 1 to under 3, and 2 for every 6 at age 3 and older.NAC 432A.110 and 432A.536
Child care center13 or moreA stand-alone facility with an all-day curriculum and a director the Division has approved.NAC 432A.050 and 432A.300

Family care is the cheapest way in, but it ties the license to your own residence. The Division's FAQ says family and group care providers must live in the home where care is provided, so you cannot license a rental house you do not live in. Your own children count toward the family care limit only while they are under age 4 (NAC 432A.534). Group care adds a second caregiver for every 6 children age 3 and older, so it makes sense only if you can staff that second person from the first day.

Step 2: Secure a Location That Can Pass Zoning, Fire and Health Review

The Division withdraws an application that arrives without a physical location able to pass fire, health, building and zoning codes. It also requires a fenced outdoor play area, except for accommodation facilities and special events. Settle the address before you pay any fee or start any training.

Step 3: Build the Space to Nevada's Numbers

NAC 432A.250 sets the physical standards, and the Division of Social Services FAQ repeats the square-foot figures. Measure before you sign a lease.

  • Indoor space: 35 square feet per child, not counting bathrooms, halls, the kitchen, stairs, storage or multipurpose rooms that are not regularly used.
  • Outdoor space: 37.5 square feet per child, based on the maximum number of children stated on your license.
  • Shade: From April through September, shaded area equal to 5 square feet times the number of children outside.
  • Temperature: Every room children use stays between 65 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit from October through March and between 68 and 82 degrees from April through September.
  • Play area: Fenced or enclosed so children cannot leave unsupervised, with resilient surfacing under elevated equipment and no body of water the children can reach.
  • Fire and life safety: The State Fire Marshal inspects before licensing and every year after, and your license depends on a Certificate of Compliance. You request the inspection yourself, and the Fire Marshal asks for about 30 to 45 days. Use the State Fire Marshal child care facility page for the request form and the fee for your ZIP code.
  • Health agency and kitchen: Depending on where you are, your local health agency may inspect. The Division says cooking fresh meals from raw food typically needs a kitchen permit, while assembling sandwiches and snacks or reheating food generally does not. In Las Vegas that means the Southern Nevada Health District, and in the Reno area the Northern Nevada Public Health office.
  • New construction or remodeling: Submit building plans to the Division before work starts (NAC 432A.240).

Step 4: Clear Background Checks, TB Tests and Training

This is the step that decides how fast you can open, because background checks and training have deadlines tied to your application date.

  • Background checks: Every employee, every resident age 18 or older and every volunteer age 18 or older (other than a parent of an enrolled child) is investigated. You fingerprint as part of your application, new hires and residents within 24 hours, and everyone again every 5 years (NAC 432A.200, NRS 432A.175). The check covers local and national criminal records, child abuse and neglect records and the sex offender registry. Anyone who has not lived in Nevada for the last 5 years also needs a check from the prior state. The Division's getting started page walks through the Consent and Release form, the local police fingerprinting step and the Department of Public Safety payment.
  • TB test: Staff, volunteers and residents must give the director written evidence of being free from active tuberculosis, from a tuberculin test or a chest X-ray and exam within the 12 months before they start (NAC 432A.310).
  • CPR and first aid: The certification must cover children, plus infants if you take infants, and the course must come from a certified instructor of a recognized provider such as the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, MEDIC First Aid, EMS Safety Services or the American Safety and Health Institute (NAC 432A.322). The Division's FAQ tells new hires to finish in-person CPR and first aid within 90 days, while NAC 432A.322 allows 120 days for the CPR certificate. Plan for 90.
  • Other initial training: Within 90 days of hire, 3 hours of child development, guidance or discipline, plus training on recognizing and reporting child abuse, medication administration, building and premises safety, emergency preparedness, and 2 hours of nutrition and childhood obesity prevention. Add sudden infant death syndrome and shaken baby syndrome training if you will care for infants, and transportation training if your license covers transport. All of it must be approved by the Nevada Registry.
  • Yearly training: Employees complete 24 hours a year, including at least 2 hours on health, obesity or wellness.

Step 5: Form the Business and Get the State Business License

The Division's roadmap puts the state business license ahead of the child care application, which reverses the order many guides give. File through the Nevada ORION business portal. The license costs $200, or $500 for a corporation, and renews every year (NRS 76.100 and 76.130, in the Nevada Legislature text of NRS Chapter 76).

Decide on your entity before you apply for the child care license. A child care license names the person authorized to operate and is not transferable from one licensee to another (NAC 432A.210, NRS 432A.141), so moving it into an LLC later is a new licensing exercise rather than a name change.

Step 6: Insure the Business and Plan Your Staffing

NAC 432A.290 requires a liability policy for protection against third-party claims. You give the Division a certificate of insurance before the license is issued (NAC 432A.200), and the policy must require the insurer to notify the Division before cancellation or nonrenewal. If you transport children, NAC 432A.290 also requires insurance that covers liability, medical expenses and uninsured motorists. Our Nevada business insurance guide explains the coverage types.

If you hire, Nevada's workers' compensation rules apply (NRS chapters 616A to 616D); see our Nevada workers' compensation guide and the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations.

Centers follow classroom ratios set by NAC 432A.5205 between 6:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. When a classroom mixes ages, the ratio and group size follow the youngest child in the group.

Child ageCaregiversLargest group
Under 9 months1 for every 4 children8
9 months to under 2 years1 for every 6 children12
2 years to under 3 years1 for every 9 children18
3 years to under 4 years1 for every 12 children24
4 years to under 5 years1 for every 13 children26
5 years and older1 for every 18 children36

The Division's FAQ says a staff member or volunteer counts toward the ratio once they have a completed background check and first aid and signs-of-illness training. A caregiver under 18 counts only while a fully qualified adult supervises them.

Step 7: Apply, Pass the Inspections and Renew

Apply through the Division's Child Care Licensing online system after the mandatory online Licensing Application Process orientation. The Division's standard timeframe is 90 days from submission, and it withdraws the application if the deadlines below are missed. A new application is allowed once you are ready.

  • Within 30 days: Meet your assigned surveyor, attend the monthly New Facility Training and Backgrounds Training, apply to the State Fire Marshal and your local health agency for inspections, and contact your city and county about local permits. Upload your facility statement, emergency plan, background forms and curriculum. Centers also submit a director application.
  • Within 60 days: Finish the required initial training, set up the facility, upload the remaining documents and schedule the initial inspection with your surveyor. If the inspection finds deficiencies, submit a plan of correction.
  • Within 90 days: Complete the corrections. The fire, health and city or county approvals should all be issued by now. Tell your surveyor early if one is delayed.
  • Immunization records: Children must show immunity to the diseases listed by the Division before admission, unless excused for a medical condition or religious belief, and you keep the exemption in the child's file (Division of Social Services: immunization requirements).
  • Renewal: An initial license can run up to 1 year and a renewed license runs 1 year (NRS 432A.141). Submit the renewal application at least 45 days before expiration. A renewal received or postmarked later than 30 days before expiration carries a $50 late fee (NAC 432A.220). Not filing before expiration can also draw a $100 fine (NAC 432A.195).

Questions go to Southern Nevada Child Care Licensing at 702-486-3822 or Northern Nevada at 775-684-8781, or by email to [email protected].

Costs and Timeline

ItemCostSource
Initial license application, 5 or 6 children$20NAC 432A.200
Initial license application, 7 to 12 children$60NAC 432A.200
Initial license application, 13 to 50 children$100NAC 432A.200
Initial license application, 51 or more children$150 for 51 to 100, rising to $300 above 200NAC 432A.200
Yearly renewalSame amount as the initial fee, plus $50 if lateNAC 432A.220
State Fire Marshal inspectionSet by the ZIP code of the facilityState Fire Marshal
State business license$200, or $500 for a corporation, every yearNRS 76.100
LLC articles and initial list (optional)$75 and $150NRS Chapter 86
Fictitious firm name$25 in Clark County; other counties varyClark County Clerk
Fingerprint background checksPaid to the Department of Public Safety; amount not listed by the DivisionDivision of Social Services
Local permits, zoning and health permitsVary by city and countyDivision of Social Services FAQ

Plan on about 90 days from application to license, and start the Fire Marshal request and the training as soon as the application is in. The fee schedule above is the one in the administrative code; the Division's FAQ says costs vary by jurisdiction.

Where Daycare Plans Go Wrong

  • Buying or leasing before checking zoning: The Division withdraws applications that lack a location able to pass fire, health, building and zoning codes.
  • Licensing a house you do not live in: Family and group care require the provider to live in the home.
  • Taking a fifth child on an FFN setup: Five or more unrelated children, with pay for any of them, is a licensed facility, and the Division or a local licensing agency can investigate an unlicensed operator and force it to close or prosecute (NAC 432A.190).
  • Counting ratios by the oldest child: In a mixed-age classroom the youngest child sets the ratio and group size.
  • Late fingerprints: New employees and residents are fingerprinted within 24 hours, and missing background paperwork can draw a $100 fine (NAC 432A.195).
  • Missing the renewal window: The renewal application is due 45 days before the license expires.

What This Page Could Not Confirm

  • The Division's online licensing system sits behind a login, so we could not see the application fee it charges today. The amounts above come from NAC 432A.200, and the Division's FAQ says costs vary by jurisdiction. Confirm the fee shown when you submit.
  • The State Fire Marshal's inspection fee depends on the ZIP code on its request form, and the Division does not publish the fingerprint fee. Confirm both with the agencies.
  • NRS 432A.131 lets a county or city run its own child care licensing agency. The Division's pages describe state licensing with Southern and Northern Nevada offices, and we found no county program listed. Ask your surveyor whether your address falls under a local licensing agency.

Disclaimer

This article is general information based on Nevada statutes, regulations and agency pages checked on November 5, 2026. It is not legal or tax advice. Before you sign a lease, form an entity or write parent contracts, talk to an attorney who knows Nevada child care law, a tax professional and your Division of Social Services surveyor.

Sources

Keep exploring: related Nevada guides