Licensed Full-Day Daycare in Santa Monica, CA

Full-Day Daycare in Santa Monica

As of August 2026

Santa Monica's child care roster is among the most center-heavy in this dataset: of 86 CCLD-licensed providers, 68 are centers and just 18 are family child care homes, a 79%-to-21% split. Combined licensed capacity is about 4,043 children, averaging roughly 47 per site. Preschool coverage leads at 78%, while school-age coverage is comparatively lower at 23%. CloverMap lists all 86 verified Santa Monica providers for parents. School-age coverage is comparatively limited here, so families with older children should expect a narrower pool than families seeking preschool placements.

What to know about childcare in Santa Monica

Santa Monica's roster leans further toward centers than nearly any other city in this batch: 68 of its 86 providers are centers, about 79%, while only 18 are family child care homes, 21%. BEACHMOMS CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER is one example among that larger group of 68 centers, which outnumber home-based providers nearly four to one.

That center-heavy composition is reflected in capacity: Santa Monica's 86 providers report combined licensed capacity of about 4,043 children, averaging roughly 47 per site, among the highest per-provider averages in this batch.

Preschool leads Santa Monica's age coverage, served by 67 of the 86 providers, about 78%. Infants and toddlers are each covered by 31 providers, roughly 36%, and school-age children by just 20 providers, or 23%, the lowest school-age rate among the cities covered here. Families searching for school-age programs in Santa Monica should expect a comparatively small pool of options.

All of Santa Monica's providers, the 68 centers and 18 homes alike, are licensed through California's Department of Social Services' Community Care Licensing Division (CCLD), which applies uniform staffing, ratio, and facility requirements statewide.

For Santa Monica parents, centers are effectively the default setting, at 79% of the roster, so most searches will surface classroom-based programs more often than home-based ones. That's a notable shift for families used to home-based care in other cities. School-age coverage, at just 23% of providers, is the category most worth confirming directly with a provider before assuming availability, while preschool searches, covering 78% of the 86 providers, should be more straightforward.

Families in Santa Monica who specifically want a family child care home have a comparatively narrow field of 18 providers, next to the 68 centers that dominate this roster nearly four to one. Given how limited school-age coverage is here, at just 23% of providers, families with older children should plan to start contacting providers early and confirm age-group coverage directly, since it can't be assumed the way preschool coverage generally can in this city. Every one of Santa Monica's 86 listed providers reported a capacity figure, so the 47-per-site average reflects the full roster rather than a partial sample, a benchmark shaped heavily by the 68 centers that make up 79% of this roster, among the most center-heavy citywide mixes in this batch. CloverMap's Santa Monica page brings this roster together in one place for that comparison.