Licensed Preschool in Long Island City, NY

Preschool in Long Island City

As of August 2026

New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) licensing records list 27 child care providers in Long Island City, all classified as centers, with no family child care homes on the roster. All 27 providers serve school-age children, with 1 also serving preschoolers. Licensed capacity across the group totals 2,687 children, averaging 100 per site, one of the higher averages in this batch. CloverMap gives Long Island City parents a way to browse the full verified roster.

What to know about childcare in Long Island City

Long Island City's New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) roster lists 27 providers, every one a licensed center, with no family child care homes recorded. One of the providers on this list is a community-services organization running its program directly out of a local public school, representative of the school-site-based programs common in Long Island City. Every option here shares that same center-based structure, so the practical differences parents will notice come down to program size, age groups served, and location rather than the basic type of care being offered. For parents, that distinction shapes what a search should look like: comparing centers against each other means weighing group size, staff-to-child ratios, and daily schedule structure rather than choosing between a facility setting and a home-based one.

Combined, Long Island City's 27 providers are licensed for 2,687 children, an average of 100 per site -- one of the highest per-site averages in this batch, indicating a roster weighted toward larger, multi-classroom facilities. It is also worth remembering that capacity figures are self-reported to the state as part of licensing and updated only when a provider's operations change, so the number offers a snapshot rather than a live inventory of open seats. None of this means a larger provider is automatically the better fit for every family; a lower-capacity program can offer a more consistent staff-to-child ratio and a smaller, more familiar group, which some parents prefer regardless of the raw numbers.

All 27 of Long Island City's providers are recorded as serving school-age children, with 1 provider also serving preschoolers and none logged for infants or toddlers in this dataset.

Every provider on Long Island City's list is licensed through OCFS, the state agency responsible for regulating child care throughout New York, confirming each has met the state's baseline requirements before operating. The licensing process itself covers areas like staff-to-child ratios, background checks for staff, emergency preparedness, and physical facility standards, all of which a provider must satisfy before OCFS issues or renews its license. OCFS licensing applies the same way across the state, so a provider here operates under the same statewide rules as one anywhere else in New York, even though local market conditions, like the mix of providers, can differ considerably from place to place.

Given Long Island City's high average capacity, families here are likely comparing larger, facility-scale programs rather than small operators. With 27 center-based providers, including school-site programs run by community-services organizations, and combined capacity of 2,687 children concentrated in school-age care, parents of school-age children have substantial capacity to draw on. None of the figures here substitute for a firsthand visit; they are most useful for narrowing a long list down to a manageable set of providers worth contacting directly. Whatever the starting list looks like, confirming licensing status, current openings, and program fit directly with a provider remains the most reliable step in any child care search.