Alabama
The trigger list includes providing care for more than 4 hours in a 24 hour period; the chapter prints the triggers loosely joined, so short-hours care sits in a gray zone the rule text does not resolve. 660-5-27-.01
Cross-state guide
When does part-time care become a regulated daycare?
Verified September 5, 2026Headcount is only half of every threshold. The other half is a definition of what counts as child care at all, built from hours, regularity and pay. A standing after-school slot can be regulated where a random Saturday never is. These are the tests, state by state, as the rules write them.
The regularity and hours tests, state by state
Arizona
Care must be regularly provided for compensation and for less than twenty-four hours a day; occasional care, and drop-in care while parents are on site at a religious institution, are outside. A.R.S. 36-881, 36-884(2)
Arkansas
No hours test and no pay test: the definition applies whether or not the facility charges, and the count runs on children from more than one family. Ark. Code 20-78-202(2)(A)
California
Only regularly provided care for periods under 24 hours while parents are away is licensable at all, and a program running one day a week for up to 4 hours is expressly exempt. 22 CCR 102352(f); HSC 1596.792(j)
Colorado
Occasional care with no apparent pattern is exempt with or without pay, and short-period care under three hours while a parent is on the premises is outside. C.R.S. 26.5-5-304(1)(d); 26.5-5-303(18)
Connecticut
Family child care means 3 to 12 hours in a 24-hour period on a regularly recurring basis; informal neighbor arrangements are excluded. 19a-77(a)(3)(B), (b)(4)
Delaware
Regulated care is compensated care of one or more children by someone holding themselves out as a provider; no hours test, and a nanny in the child’s own home is outside. 14 Del. C. 3002A; 934 sec. 4.3
District of Columbia
Regulation attaches to care on a regular basis for more than two unrelated children; occasional babysitting for one family’s children and nanny-shares are exempt. 5-A DCMR 101.3, 101.5
Florida
Regulation attaches only where a payment, fee or grant is made for any child and care is regularly provided for less than twenty-four hours a day. Fla. Stat. 402.302(1), (8)
Georgia
The trigger is care for pay for fewer than twenty-four hours a day; no minimum hours are written into the home definition. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 290-2-3-.03(k), -.04(1)(c)
Hawaii
Care for a child less than six hours a week is outside the part, whatever the headcount. HRS 346-152(a)(2)
Idaho
Occasional care of a neighbor’s, relative’s or friend’s child by a person not ordinarily in the daycare business is outside the chapter. Idaho Code 39-1103(1)
Indiana
A home becomes a child care home only with care for more than six hours a day, for regular compensation, on ten consecutive weekdays. Ind. Code 12-7-2.1-57(a)
Iowa
Child care means care provided on a regular basis for periods of less than 24 hours per child; a one-off evening does not create a child care home. Iowa Code 237A.1(2)
Kansas
Policy: up to four unrelated children at 35 hours a week or less each, and irregular exchanges between friends and neighbors, need no license. KOEC policy CCL 008
Kentucky
No hours test: the family child-care home definition covers full or part-time care, day or night, for six or fewer unrelated children. KRS 199.894(5)
Louisiana
A center exists only at 12.5 or more hours in a continuous seven-day week on a regular basis; below that, seven children are not a center. R.S. 17:407.33(3)
Maine
Family child care is care on a regular basis for consideration; the term regular basis is not defined in the chapter. 22 M.R.S. 8301-A(1-A)(C)
Maryland
A friend of the parent may provide care on a nonregular basis under 20 hours a month without registering; cross either line and registration applies. COMAR 13A.15.02.01A(2)
Massachusetts
The occasional care of children, with or without compensation, is excluded, and occasional is not given a number. M.G.L. c. 15D 1A
Michigan
Care of an unrelated child for four weeks or less in a year is outside, and babysitting under $600 a year in compensation is not a family child care home. MCL 722.111(1)(v)(iii)
Minnesota
Care for less than three hours a day while the parent is in the same or a contiguous building, and programs under thirty days in a year, are excluded. Minn. Stat. 142B.05, subd. 2(a)(4), (10)
Mississippi
No hours floor and no pay test: the definition reaches care for any part of the twenty-four hour day, for profit or not. 15 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 11, Subpt. 55, Ch. 1 Rule 1.1
Missouri
Occasional free care of friends’ children as bona fide guests for up to ninety consecutive days, with no other unrelated children, is excluded. RSMo 210.211.1(2)
Montana
Regular basis means three or more consecutive weeks; irregular care under six hours a day or no more than three weeks at a time does not trip the seven-child line. MCA 52-2-703(14); ARM 37.96.101(18)
Nebraska
A program is care under twelve hours a day but more than two hours a week for compensation; casual care at irregular intervals is outside. Neb. Rev. Stat. 71-1910; 391 NAC 1-001.02
Nevada
Care of a friend’s or neighbor’s children for no more than four weeks by someone not regularly engaged in it is excluded; the five-child line needs compensation. NRS 432A.024(1)(a), (2)(c)
New Hampshire
Regularly means care up to seven days a week whether paid or unpaid; complimentary drop-in service at a shopping center or ski area is outside. RSA 170-E:2, XII; 170-E:3, I(e)
New Jersey
A registered home requires at least fifteen hours a week; ad hoc, sporadic and isolated emergency care is outside the center definition. N.J.S.A. 30:5B-18.c; N.J.A.C. 3A:52-1.2(c)6
New Mexico
No hours or pay test on the four-nonresident-children exemption; parent’s day out programs under eight hours a week and four hours a day are outside. 8.9.4.9 NMAC
New York
Home definitions reach only care for more than three hours per day per child, on a regular basis; pay is not an element. 18 NYCRR 413.2(a), (b)
North Carolina
Child care means more than four hours a day, at least once a week, for less than twenty-four hours; drop-in care while parents are on site is listed out. G.S. 110-86(2)
North Dakota
All children present count regardless of whether money or goods are received; the chapter has no hours or regularity test. 50-11.1-02.1(4)
Ohio
Programs running two consecutive weeks or less and six weeks a year, and care under two and a half hours a day with a parent on the premises, are excluded. Ohio Rev. Code 5104.02(B)
Oklahoma
Informal arrangements parents make with friends or neighbors for occasional care are outside the Act, and a separate exemption covers programs at 15 or fewer hours a week under strict conditions. 10 O.S. 403(A)
Oregon
Occasional care up to seventy days in a calendar year by a person not ordinarily engaged in child care is exempt; pay does not matter. ORS 329A.250(4); OAR 414-075-0010(26)
Pennsylvania
No hours test at all: a home caring for 4 to 6 unrelated children at any time is a family child care home, so even a short daily arrangement counts once the headcount is there. 62 P.S. 1001
Rhode Island
The family home definition turns on four or more non-relative children at the same time, for any part of a day, offered commercially. R.I. Gen. Laws 42-12.5-2(4), (9)
South Carolina
Childcare means more than four hours a day on more than two days a week; drop-in care under four hours with parents at hand is outside. S.C. Code 63-13-20(2), (24), (4)(d)
South Dakota
Casual babysitting that is irregular, not the person’s vocation, and no more than twenty sitter hours to six children a week is outside the chapter. SDCL 26-6-27
Tennessee
Regulation attaches at three or more hours a day; a drop-in program under two hours a day and ten hours a week without pay is casual care. Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1240-04-01-.02
Texas
Regulation attaches at 4 or more hours a day, 3 or more days a week for 3 consecutive weeks, or 40 days in 12 months, for compensation. Below that pattern the chapters do not apply. 26 TAC 742.103
Utah
Care under four hours a day or on a sporadic basis is outside the part; the license and certificate triggers require four or more hours for pay on a regular schedule. Utah Code 26B-2-405(1)(a)(v); R430-90-3(1)
Vermont
Regular or continuous basis, whether for compensation or not; no numeric definition of regular or occasional in the texts read. 33 V.S.A. 3511(2)
Virginia
A child day program is a regularly operating service arrangement for children under 13; one-off care is outside the definition, and the four-child threshold does the rest. Va. Code 22.1-289.02
Washington
The friend-and-neighbor exclusion holds only while care is not ongoing and regularly scheduled and not advertised; a recurring paid slot is a business and needs the license. RCW 43.216.010(2)(c)
West Virginia
Occasional care for brief periods while parents shop, recreate or attend services is outside; the informal three-child line needs compensation. W. Va. Code 49-2-113(e)(2); 49-1-206
Wisconsin
Programs of no more than four hours a week, and seasonal programs of ten days or less in three months, are excluded; the license duty needs compensation. Wis. Stat. 48.65(1); DCF 250.02(1)
Wyoming
Occasional care of a neighbor’s or friend’s child by someone not regularly engaged in it is exempt, and a part-time facility under ten hours a week has its own counts. Wyo. Stat. 14-4-102(b)(ii), (xi)
Real questions, short answers
Is watching kids two hours after school every day regulated?
In Texas, no: it sits under the 4-hours-a-day line. In Pennsylvania, yes once you reach four unrelated children, because the definition has no hours test. Same arrangement, opposite answers, which is why the state row above matters more than any general rule.
Does getting paid change the answer?
Often it is one of the tests: Texas regulation attaches to care for compensation, Washington’s exclusion covers friend care with or without pay but fails on business regularity, and Maryland’s friend exemption caps hours regardless of pay.
Is there a universal safe number of hours?
No. The verified tests range from 4 hours a day (Alabama, Texas) to 20 hours a month (Maryland) to none at all (Pennsylvania). The quoted test for your state is the only one that counts.
Keep reading
DaycareRules is an informational reference about home child care licensing rules in the United States. It reprints thresholds, capacity limits, ratios and citations from state statutes and regulations, together with the date each state was last verified. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and rules change. Confirm with your state licensing agency before acting on any number printed here.