Licensed Daycares in Los Altos, CA

Daycare & Childcare in Los Altos

As of August 2026

Los Altos families choosing child care have 21 licensed providers to consider, and centers make up the large majority at 25, against just 4 family child care homes. Combined licensed capacity across the roster is 1,604 slots, an average of 55 per provider. Every provider is licensed through the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD). CloverMap gives Los Altos parents a single, verified place to browse and compare these listings.

What to know about childcare in Los Altos

Los Altos's 21 licensed providers lean heavily toward centers, which make up 86 percent of the roster at 25 providers, against only 4 family child care homes at 14 percent. Families here searching for a smaller, home-based setting will be working with a narrow slice of the roster, since centers dominate the local mix by a wide margin.

That center-heavy roster produces one of the higher combined capacities in this data set: 1,604 across 29 providers, an average of 55 children per site. Centers are typically licensed for larger groups than family child care homes, and with centers making up the large majority of Los Altos's roster, the citywide average capacity climbs accordingly.

Age coverage in Los Altos leans toward preschool at 66 percent of providers, while school-age children are served by 41 percent and infants and toddlers are each served by 21 percent, among the narrowest infant and toddler coverage in this batch of cities. Families with an infant or toddler will be searching a notably smaller subset of Los Altos's 29 providers than families with an older child.

Every Los Altos provider holds a license from the California Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division, which licenses centers and family child care homes as separate categories under state law. Centers meet facility- and staffing-based standards for larger group sizes, while the city's small number of family child care homes meet standards scaled to smaller, residence-based care.

Given how center-dominated Los Altos's roster is, most families here will be comparing programs like Children's House of Los Altos against one another, with the city's 4 family child care homes offering a scarce alternative for those specifically seeking a smaller, home-based option, particularly for an infant or toddler given the tighter coverage there. CloverMap's Los Altos listings let parents compare the full roster by type and age coverage. Los Altos's roster is so center-heavy that families seeking a family child care home should expect to reach out early, since only a handful are available citywide. For families with an infant or toddler, narrower age-band coverage across the roster means building a shortlist and confirming current availability directly with each provider is an especially useful step before committing to a tour. Los Altos families can also ask a shortlisted center directly about staffing and classroom organization relative to its licensed capacity, since a high average capacity across the roster doesn't by itself describe how a given center groups children day to day. Reaching out early, particularly for infant or toddler care, gives families more time to work through the shorter list of options.