This article was republished from GL Solutions.
Discover How Your State Compares
Learn how your state compares in the latest release of the State Childcare Regulations Database. The 2026 edition presents childcare regulations by state, organizing the data by facility, supervision and professional regulations.
We interview Conor Norris, co-author of the 2026 State Childcare Regulations Database. He breaks down the key takeaways and explains how to use the information at your regulatory agency.
“No policymaker has time to track childcare regulations in all fifty states,” says Norris. “Comparative data allows officials to quickly see where their state is an outlier and learn from reforms that have already been tried elsewhere. So, we hope this database will be a tool to provide legislators with a clear picture of how their state compares with others, allowing them to see what is typical and where their regulations stand out. Knowing that you have room to reform safely or that your requirements are low compared to other states is important when considering reform.”
Norris serves as assistant professor of general business at West Virginia University and director of labor for the Knee Regulatory Research Center. He also serves as a regulatory policy fellow at the Archbridge Institute.
Q&A with Conor Norris
How should child care regulators use this database when evaluating potential regulatory changes without compromising child safety?
The Archbridge Institute’s State Childcare Regulations Database is a benchmarking tool for policymakers. It allows state policymakers to compare their regulations with other states and identify areas where requirements are unusually high and burdensome, or unusually low. Our goal is to help policymakers ask better questions about whether a regulation is achieving enough public benefit to justify its cost. Good policy requires good data. This database covers a wide range of childcare center regulations, including facility standards, staffing and supervision requirements, and professional licensing.
Childcare regulation involves real tradeoffs between access and cost on one hand and quality and safety on the other. Good regulations protect children’s safety and support quality, but unnecessarily restrictive regulations can raise costs, reduce provider capacity, and make childcare less accessible for families across the nation. The purpose of this database is to right-size regulations. In other words, it is designed to help policymakers identify where reforms are possible by learning from the experience of other states.
The report focuses on identifying potentially burdensome requirements. What criteria should regulators use to determine whether a regulation is providing enough public benefit to justify its cost?
The first question policymakers should ask is whether there is evidence that a regulation improves child safety or quality enough to justify the costs it imposes. Some regulations clearly protect children, but others may increase costs or make it harder for providers to enter the market without producing measurable improvements in outcomes.
One useful starting point is to compare a state’s requirements to the national average. If a state’s regulations are substantially more restrictive than those in most other states, that is a good signal that the requirement deserves closer review. It does not necessarily mean the regulation should be changed, but it raises an important question: what evidence justifies being more restrictive than the vast majority of other states?
Professional licensing is a good example. Many states allow childcare center directors and teachers to qualify through multiple combinations of education and experience rather than requiring a single educational pathway. That flexibility allows experienced professionals to enter or advance in the field while still ensuring that providers have the skills needed to care for children. Looking at how other states achieve similar goals with less restrictive requirements can help policymakers identify opportunities for reform without compromising safety.
Which categories of regulations—facility standards, staffing requirements, or professional licensing requirements—showed the greatest variation among states, and what might explain that variation?
Professional licensing regulations have the most variation between states. Idaho has no licensing requirements for childcare professions, not even directors. Several other states have either no licensing requirements or only minimal requirements for childcare teachers. At the other extreme, some states require an associate degree, which is time consuming and expensive, especially compared to salaries for childcare professions. States differ in what they are trying to accomplish. Nearly every state agrees on protecting children’s safety, but some also place a greater emphasis on early childhood education and school readiness. Those different priorities are reflected in their licensing requirements. The goal is always to keep children safe from harm. Some states also place greater emphasis on child development by encouraging learning and growth in childcare settings, which helps explain why they adopt stronger education requirements for childcare teachers.
If you were advising a state agency conducting a comprehensive review of its childcare regulations, where would you recommend officials start, and why?
The areas of regulation with the largest impact are child supervision and professional licensing.
Child-to-staff ratios are an important measure of child supervision. It’s important for states to be careful about relaxing these requirements, because they directly relate to safety. But comparing states, we can see that there are many instances of places where states have room for reform, to move toward the national average. While they can protect children, these regulations can be costly for childcare providers, increasing operating costs because providers must hire more staff or serve fewer children. This is an area where quality research is important, to make sure that reforms do not sacrifice safety.
Professional licensing has the most variation across states. Many state lawmakers are facing pressure to raise standards, like DC requiring a bachelor’s degree. Setting requirements too high will prevent many potential teachers from entering the field since pay will not compensate for the cost and time required to earn a degree. Devon Gorry and Diana Thomas have some great research on childcare regulations where they find evidence that most education requirements are beyond what is necessary to support quality; the largest quality gains come from requiring childcare teachers to have a child-focused postsecondary course. But they do not see evidence of improvement in outcomes from stronger education requirements, like associate degrees.
The database includes detailed staffing ratios and group-size requirements. Has your research revealed whether states with more flexible requirements experience different outcomes in provider availability or affordability?
We haven’t yet conducted research on outcomes using this database, but existing economic research provides some useful evidence. Gorry and Thomas estimate that increasing the child–staff ratio requirement by one child for infants is associated with a decrease in the cost of care of up to 20%. Providers can care for slightly more children with the same staff. For the average childcare center in the US, that translates to a reduction in the annual cost of childcare between $1,000 and $2,000. Similarly, increasing the minimum group size also decreases the cost of childcare for infants. They also find evidence that decreasing the supervisory requirements as children get older lowers childcare costs. Janet Currie and Joseph Hotz similarly note that regulation of childcare, even when it improves quality, reduces the number of available childcare spaces, forcing some children out into informal care which tends to be less safe.
What role can comparative regulatory data play in helping agencies respond to childcare workforce shortages and provider capacity challenges?
No policymaker has time to track childcare regulations in all fifty states. Comparative data allows officials to quickly see where their state is an outlier and learn from reforms that have already been tried elsewhere. So, we hope this database will be a tool to provide legislators with a clear picture of how their state compares with others, allowing them to see what is typical and where their regulations stand out. Knowing that you have room to reform safely or that your requirements are low compared to other states is important when considering reform.
Just as important is knowing that you have lower requirements, so reducing them should give policymakers pause and consider if that would negatively impact quality.
What recent regulatory reforms included in the 2026 database should state leaders pay closest attention to, and why?
The most impactful reforms for childcare centers this year were reforms to child-to-staff ratios by Connecticut, Idaho, and Montana. Connecticut increased child-to-staff ratios for 2-year-olds and for school aged children through rulemaking. Idaho and Montana did so through new laws. Idaho increased child-to-staff ratios for children above 2 years old. Montana reduced supervision requirements for two- and three-year-olds and school aged children, but increased supervision requirements for 5-year-olds.
These reforms can lower costs for childcare centers and allow them to expand and accept more children. They were incremental reforms, but when multiplied across all of the childcare centers in the state, they can have a real impact. But it’s important to note that these reforms did not move their states far beyond the national average. It’s a good example that states do not need radical reform, smaller reforms toward the national average are possible.
If you had five minutes with every state child care administrator in the country, what is the one insight from this database you would most want them to take away?
The fact that we have such variation in regulations between states means that we are still looking for the right standards. That uncertainty should encourage humility. States should continue looking for opportunities to improve affordability and access, but reforms should be guided by evidence rather than assumptions. The strongest regulations are not necessarily the most effective regulations.
Are there other key points you would like to share with child care regulators?
Childcare costs are high, putting a strain on families’ budgets. Many states are investing significant public resources to make childcare more affordable now that the federal COVID-era subsidies have ended. They can provide an important relief for families, but if regulations unnecessarily limit the supply of providers, policymakers risk pushing on a string by subsidizing demand while constraining supply. This increases costs while maintaining shortages; the worst of both worlds.
When considering subsidies and similar programs, policymakers should also take stock of existing regulations to ensure that these are not creating an undue burden for childcare providers. Some of them clearly do help protect children and improve quality, but some specific requirements are much higher than average and likely do not improve quality. For instance, in Maine, facilities must have one staff member for eight four-year-old children, while the national average is 12, and Florida and North Carolina allow 20 four year olds per staff member. Looking at states with less restrictive requirements provides an opportunity to identify reforms that could expand capacity without compromising safety.
Conor Norris, PhD, is a regulatory policy fellow at the Archbridge Institute, director of labor policy at the Knee Regulatory Research Center, and a teaching associate professor of general business at West Virginia University. He has shared his research with state legislators and policymakers, authoring white papers and providing expert testimony to state legislatures on occupational licensing reform and the practice of telemedicine. Dr. Norris received his Ph.D. in economics from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín and his M.A. in economics from George Mason University.
Economics of Flourishing
This article was republished from GL Solutions.
Discover How Your State Compares
Learn how your state compares in the latest release of the State Childcare Regulations Database. The 2026 edition presents childcare regulations by state, organizing the data by facility, supervision and professional regulations.
We interview Conor Norris, co-author of the 2026 State Childcare Regulations Database. He breaks down the key takeaways and explains how to use the information at your regulatory agency.
“No policymaker has time to track childcare regulations in all fifty states,” says Norris. “Comparative data allows officials to quickly see where their state is an outlier and learn from reforms that have already been tried elsewhere. So, we hope this database will be a tool to provide legislators with a clear picture of how their state compares with others, allowing them to see what is typical and where their regulations stand out. Knowing that you have room to reform safely or that your requirements are low compared to other states is important when considering reform.”
Norris serves as assistant professor of general business at West Virginia University and director of labor for the Knee Regulatory Research Center. He also serves as a regulatory policy fellow at the Archbridge Institute.
Q&A with Conor Norris
How should child care regulators use this database when evaluating potential regulatory changes without compromising child safety?
The Archbridge Institute’s State Childcare Regulations Database is a benchmarking tool for policymakers. It allows state policymakers to compare their regulations with other states and identify areas where requirements are unusually high and burdensome, or unusually low. Our goal is to help policymakers ask better questions about whether a regulation is achieving enough public benefit to justify its cost. Good policy requires good data. This database covers a wide range of childcare center regulations, including facility standards, staffing and supervision requirements, and professional licensing.
Childcare regulation involves real tradeoffs between access and cost on one hand and quality and safety on the other. Good regulations protect children’s safety and support quality, but unnecessarily restrictive regulations can raise costs, reduce provider capacity, and make childcare less accessible for families across the nation. The purpose of this database is to right-size regulations. In other words, it is designed to help policymakers identify where reforms are possible by learning from the experience of other states.
The report focuses on identifying potentially burdensome requirements. What criteria should regulators use to determine whether a regulation is providing enough public benefit to justify its cost?
The first question policymakers should ask is whether there is evidence that a regulation improves child safety or quality enough to justify the costs it imposes. Some regulations clearly protect children, but others may increase costs or make it harder for providers to enter the market without producing measurable improvements in outcomes.
One useful starting point is to compare a state’s requirements to the national average. If a state’s regulations are substantially more restrictive than those in most other states, that is a good signal that the requirement deserves closer review. It does not necessarily mean the regulation should be changed, but it raises an important question: what evidence justifies being more restrictive than the vast majority of other states?
Professional licensing is a good example. Many states allow childcare center directors and teachers to qualify through multiple combinations of education and experience rather than requiring a single educational pathway. That flexibility allows experienced professionals to enter or advance in the field while still ensuring that providers have the skills needed to care for children. Looking at how other states achieve similar goals with less restrictive requirements can help policymakers identify opportunities for reform without compromising safety.
Which categories of regulations—facility standards, staffing requirements, or professional licensing requirements—showed the greatest variation among states, and what might explain that variation?
Professional licensing regulations have the most variation between states. Idaho has no licensing requirements for childcare professions, not even directors. Several other states have either no licensing requirements or only minimal requirements for childcare teachers. At the other extreme, some states require an associate degree, which is time consuming and expensive, especially compared to salaries for childcare professions. States differ in what they are trying to accomplish. Nearly every state agrees on protecting children’s safety, but some also place a greater emphasis on early childhood education and school readiness. Those different priorities are reflected in their licensing requirements. The goal is always to keep children safe from harm. Some states also place greater emphasis on child development by encouraging learning and growth in childcare settings, which helps explain why they adopt stronger education requirements for childcare teachers.
If you were advising a state agency conducting a comprehensive review of its childcare regulations, where would you recommend officials start, and why?
The areas of regulation with the largest impact are child supervision and professional licensing.
Child-to-staff ratios are an important measure of child supervision. It’s important for states to be careful about relaxing these requirements, because they directly relate to safety. But comparing states, we can see that there are many instances of places where states have room for reform, to move toward the national average. While they can protect children, these regulations can be costly for childcare providers, increasing operating costs because providers must hire more staff or serve fewer children. This is an area where quality research is important, to make sure that reforms do not sacrifice safety.
Professional licensing has the most variation across states. Many state lawmakers are facing pressure to raise standards, like DC requiring a bachelor’s degree. Setting requirements too high will prevent many potential teachers from entering the field since pay will not compensate for the cost and time required to earn a degree. Devon Gorry and Diana Thomas have some great research on childcare regulations where they find evidence that most education requirements are beyond what is necessary to support quality; the largest quality gains come from requiring childcare teachers to have a child-focused postsecondary course. But they do not see evidence of improvement in outcomes from stronger education requirements, like associate degrees.
The database includes detailed staffing ratios and group-size requirements. Has your research revealed whether states with more flexible requirements experience different outcomes in provider availability or affordability?
We haven’t yet conducted research on outcomes using this database, but existing economic research provides some useful evidence. Gorry and Thomas estimate that increasing the child–staff ratio requirement by one child for infants is associated with a decrease in the cost of care of up to 20%. Providers can care for slightly more children with the same staff. For the average childcare center in the US, that translates to a reduction in the annual cost of childcare between $1,000 and $2,000. Similarly, increasing the minimum group size also decreases the cost of childcare for infants. They also find evidence that decreasing the supervisory requirements as children get older lowers childcare costs. Janet Currie and Joseph Hotz similarly note that regulation of childcare, even when it improves quality, reduces the number of available childcare spaces, forcing some children out into informal care which tends to be less safe.
What role can comparative regulatory data play in helping agencies respond to childcare workforce shortages and provider capacity challenges?
No policymaker has time to track childcare regulations in all fifty states. Comparative data allows officials to quickly see where their state is an outlier and learn from reforms that have already been tried elsewhere. So, we hope this database will be a tool to provide legislators with a clear picture of how their state compares with others, allowing them to see what is typical and where their regulations stand out. Knowing that you have room to reform safely or that your requirements are low compared to other states is important when considering reform.
Just as important is knowing that you have lower requirements, so reducing them should give policymakers pause and consider if that would negatively impact quality.
What recent regulatory reforms included in the 2026 database should state leaders pay closest attention to, and why?
The most impactful reforms for childcare centers this year were reforms to child-to-staff ratios by Connecticut, Idaho, and Montana. Connecticut increased child-to-staff ratios for 2-year-olds and for school aged children through rulemaking. Idaho and Montana did so through new laws. Idaho increased child-to-staff ratios for children above 2 years old. Montana reduced supervision requirements for two- and three-year-olds and school aged children, but increased supervision requirements for 5-year-olds.
These reforms can lower costs for childcare centers and allow them to expand and accept more children. They were incremental reforms, but when multiplied across all of the childcare centers in the state, they can have a real impact. But it’s important to note that these reforms did not move their states far beyond the national average. It’s a good example that states do not need radical reform, smaller reforms toward the national average are possible.
If you had five minutes with every state child care administrator in the country, what is the one insight from this database you would most want them to take away?
The fact that we have such variation in regulations between states means that we are still looking for the right standards. That uncertainty should encourage humility. States should continue looking for opportunities to improve affordability and access, but reforms should be guided by evidence rather than assumptions. The strongest regulations are not necessarily the most effective regulations.
Are there other key points you would like to share with child care regulators?
Childcare costs are high, putting a strain on families’ budgets. Many states are investing significant public resources to make childcare more affordable now that the federal COVID-era subsidies have ended. They can provide an important relief for families, but if regulations unnecessarily limit the supply of providers, policymakers risk pushing on a string by subsidizing demand while constraining supply. This increases costs while maintaining shortages; the worst of both worlds.
When considering subsidies and similar programs, policymakers should also take stock of existing regulations to ensure that these are not creating an undue burden for childcare providers. Some of them clearly do help protect children and improve quality, but some specific requirements are much higher than average and likely do not improve quality. For instance, in Maine, facilities must have one staff member for eight four-year-old children, while the national average is 12, and Florida and North Carolina allow 20 four year olds per staff member. Looking at states with less restrictive requirements provides an opportunity to identify reforms that could expand capacity without compromising safety.
Conor Norris
Conor Norris, PhD, is a regulatory policy fellow at the Archbridge Institute, director of labor policy at the Knee Regulatory Research Center, and a teaching associate professor of general business at West Virginia University. He has shared his research with state legislators and policymakers, authoring white papers and providing expert testimony to state legislatures on occupational licensing reform and the practice of telemedicine. Dr. Norris received his Ph.D. in economics from the Universidad Francisco Marroquín and his M.A. in economics from George Mason University.
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