Licensed Full-Day Daycare in Lincoln, CA

Full-Day Daycare in Lincoln

As of August 2026

Lincoln has 40 licensed child care providers, according to California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD) data, split evenly between 20 centers and 20 family child care homes. Combined licensed capacity across the roster reaches 1,752 spots, averaging about 44 per provider, and age-group coverage spans infants through school-age children. Parents can review the complete, verified list of Lincoln child care providers on CloverMap to compare their local options before reaching out.

What to know about childcare in Lincoln

Lincoln's 40 licensed child care providers are split exactly evenly, 20 centers and 20 family child care homes, a 50-50 balance that is unusual compared to many nearby cities where one type or the other dominates. That balance means parents in Lincoln genuinely have both provider types represented in roughly equal numbers, rather than one category making up the bulk of the roster.

Reported licensed capacity across Lincoln's 40 providers totals 1,752 children, an average of about 44 spots per provider. Some of that capacity is concentrated in larger, school-based preschool programs, while family child care homes on the roster generally contribute smaller individual capacity figures, consistent with how home-based licensing works statewide.

Age-group coverage in Lincoln is fairly even across the board. Of the 40 providers, 22 serve infants and 22 serve toddlers, each about 55 percent of the total, while 29 providers, or 72 percent, serve preschool-age children and 27 providers, about 68 percent, serve school-age children. That spread means families planning for care across several years of a child's early life will find reasonable coverage at each stage.

Every Lincoln provider, whether a center such as FIRST AND L STREET PS or a family child care home, is licensed by CCLD, the state division within the California Department of Social Services that regulates child care. Licensing means the provider has met state requirements for staffing, group sizes, and how the program is run, a standard applied identically to centers and homes.

With an even 20-20 split between centers and family child care homes, Lincoln parents are well positioned to compare both provider types directly rather than defaulting to whichever type happens to be more common locally. It's worth touring at least one of each before deciding, since the daily experience of a center-based classroom and a home-based setting can differ meaningfully even when both are licensed to serve the same age range.

Because Lincoln's roster is split evenly at 20 centers and 20 homes, neither settling for a center by default nor a home by default reflects what most local families actually choose from. Requesting current openings from a short list spanning both provider types will give a more accurate picture of what is realistically available than assuming one type is more common. It is also worth noting that Lincoln's 44 average licensed spots per provider is a citywide figure blending both provider types, so an individual family child care home will typically show a much smaller number on its own listing than a larger center program would.