How To Become A Day Care Center Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a day care center director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a day care center director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.49 an hour? That's $67,570 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 6,200 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDay Care Center DirectorUS Average

Salary

5.3

Avg. Salary $67,570

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.8

Growth Rate 8%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.70%

Asian 4.31%

Black or African American 11.49%

Hispanic or Latino 14.00%

Unknown 3.99%

White 65.51%

Gender

female 83.65%

male 16.35%

Age - 47

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 47

Stress Level

9.8

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.4

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

7.7

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Newest jobs for Day Care Center Director in Columbus, OH

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Key steps to become a day care center director

Explore day care center director education requirements

Most common day care center director degrees

Bachelor's

51.5 %

Associate

16.9 %

Master's

16.2 %

Start to develop specific day care center director skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	29.56%
CPR	29.45%
Kids	13.00%
Child Care	10.19%
Curriculum Development	5.04%

Complete relevant day care center director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New day care center directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a day care center director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real day care center director resumes.

Research day care center director duties and responsibilities

Manage delivery of quality early childhood education programs by establishing an environment of learning and maintaining the integrity of the programs.
Provide CPR training and administer medication.
Manage delivery of quality early childhood education programs by establishing an environment of learning and maintaining the integrity of the programs.
Administer student assessments and hold parent teacher conferences to evaluate kindergarten readiness skills.

Apply for day care center director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a day care center director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do day care center directors rate their job?