Licensed Daycares in Toledo, OH

Daycare & Childcare in Toledo

As of July 2026

Toledo has 272 providers in Ohio's licensing data, almost evenly split between 137 centers and 130 home-based programs. Of those, 93 carry a Google rating, averaging 4.3 stars, and 51 are rated 4.5 stars or higher. Under Ohio's Step Up To Quality system, 167 Toledo providers hold a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating — 81 Gold, 19 Silver, and 67 Bronze. CloverMap makes the full Toledo roster searchable, including verified names like East Toledo Family Center Kid's Kare, for parents comparing their options.

What to know about childcare in Toledo

Toledo's 272 licensed providers are split almost exactly down the middle: 137 centers versus 130 home-based programs, about 50% and 48% respectively. That kind of balance is relatively rare among comparable Ohio cities, and it means a Toledo parent isn't nudged toward one care model by sheer availability — both center-based and home-based options are realistically on the table from the start. A center tends to offer a larger staff and more structured group activities, while a home-based provider generally keeps a smaller, steadier group of children with one caregiver.

On quality, 167 of Toledo's 272 providers — 61% — hold a rating under Ohio's Step Up To Quality program, split as 81 Gold, 19 Silver, and 67 Bronze. That's a strong medaled share for a city this size. Google ratings cover a smaller slice of the roster: 93 providers have one, averaging 4.3 stars, with 51 rated 4.5 stars or higher. The gap between the two — a majority of providers carrying a state quality medal but only about a third carrying a public rating — is a reminder that Step Up To Quality and Google reviews measure different things and shouldn't be read as interchangeable.

Toledo's providers all operate under Ohio's Department of Children and Youth (DCY), which licenses and regulates both centers and family child care homes statewide. That license is the baseline every provider on this list has met; Step Up To Quality sits above it as a voluntary, tiered system that a majority of Toledo's roster has opted into and been rated under, which isn't the case in every Ohio city.

Toledo's medal mix leans Gold at the top with 81 providers, followed by 67 Bronze and 19 Silver — so among the 167 medaled providers, a Gold or Bronze rating is far more common than Silver. That's useful context for a parent scanning a shortlist: a Silver-rated provider in Toledo is comparatively less common than in cities where the medal distribution is more even.

For Toledo parents building a shortlist, the even center-home split means the first useful filter is really about logistics — schedule, hours, and location — rather than ruling out an entire care type. From there, given that 61% of Toledo's roster carries a Step Up To Quality medal, checking that rating is likely to be productive across most of the 272 providers. Cross-referencing against a Google rating where one exists, particularly among the 51 providers rated 4.5 stars or higher, adds a second, independent data point before a family calls to check current openings.