Utah Child Care Licensing: Rules

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) licenses child care through the Office of Licensing in its Division of Licensing and Background Checks (DLBC), which issues six types: a residential certificate or licensed family home in your own home, and a child care center, hourly child care, out-of-school-time program or commercial preschool in a commercial setting. You need a daycare license at 9 or more qualifying children in your home, with a certificate or license optional below that, and at 5 or more in a center (Utah Code 26B-2-403 and 26B-2-405). Without either, your home may not have more than 10 children under 13 at once, related or not, and a home using the 8-child exemption may have no more than 2 under age 3 (26B-2-405(1)(b)). The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) Office of Child Care runs the subsidy, the quality rating system and the parent search.

Utah Child Care License Types

Setting, ages and outdoor rules come from DLBC's application page. Each type has its own rule on the rules page.

A residential certificate is for 8 or fewer qualifying children (Utah Code 26B-2-404), or up to 10 counting your own (R430-50-3). A licensed family home is required at 9 or more qualifying children (Utah Code 26B-2-403) and may have up to 12 children in the home with one caregiver, or 24 with two, counting your own (R430-90-10).

Fees come from DLBC's 2026-2027 fee schedule, in effect July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027:

DLBC's fee schedule lists the $20.00 screening and $45.00 fingerprint processing above, but a DLBC notice says the FBI raised its fingerprint check cost, so the background check total went up by $3, to $67, on October 1, 2026 (DLBC notice). Confirm the total in DLBC's payment system before you pay. DLBC's payment page adds $2.00 per transaction. Approval "will be denied for any Covered Individual with a felony or misdemeanor A conviction, plea in abeyance, conversion, no contest, or diversion" (DLBC background checks).

You apply in the provider portal after DLBC's new provider training and 2.5-hour preservice training, and supporting documents are due within 180 days, among them a business license or a city statement that you do not need one, and fire and kitchen inspections or statements (application page). For the business side, see the opening a daycare checklist.

Who Needs a Child Care License in Utah

Utah counts "qualifying children": children under 13, or under 18 with a disability, whose parent is someone other than the caregiver. A licensed or certified provider's own children under 4 count too (Utah Code 26B-2-401(10)).

You must get a license for center based care of 5 or more qualifying children, for care in your home of 9 or more, or when you ask for one (Utah Code 26B-2-403(1)). The center rule's test is care for pay, under 24 hours a day, for five or more unrelated children, outside the provider's and the child's home, without the parent, ongoing for four or more weeks a year (R381-100-3).

The law does not cover care by or in the home of a parent, legal guardian, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt. Nor does it cover care in your home for under four hours a day or on a sporadic basis, "unless that child care directly affects or is related to a business licensed in this state," center based care for 4 or fewer qualifying children, or home care for 8 or fewer unless you ask for a license or certificate (Utah Code 26B-2-405(1)(a)).

Without a license or certificate, you may not provide child care in your home for more than 10 children in total under 13 (under 18 with a disability), "regardless of whether a child is related to the person providing child care," and a home caring for 8 or fewer qualifying children may have no more than 2 under age 3 (26B-2-405(1)(b)). That home still owes background checks, with fingerprints for you, anyone who helps, and every adult who lives there (26B-2-405(1)(c), 26B-2-406).

Some programs are exempt from licensing and certification: school and college programs, care run by another organization at a public school under contract, summer camps on federal land under a federal permit, some nonprofits for children over 4 and under 13 working under a city or county agreement, and sporadic drop-in care under four hours while the parent stays in the building and within five minutes of the child, with no diapering or meals (Utah Code 26B-2-405(2), with drop-in care in (2)(f)). Most exempt providers must still send DLBC background check information (26B-2-406(1)(c) excuses exempt school programs), and all must send a count of children by age and post a notice near the entrance that they are exempt (26B-2-405(3) and (4)).

Utah Ratios and Training

A center follows this table for a single-age group (R381-100-10). With only one group on site, it needs two caregivers once that group has more than 8 children or more than 2 infants or toddlers. Staff members' own children age 4 and older count toward group size while the parent works there, and toward group size and ratio when the parent does not.

In a licensed family home, one caregiver may care for up to 8 children and two caregivers for 9 to 16 (R430-90-10). A residential certificate allows one caregiver for up to 8 (R430-50-10). Both home rules require at least one caregiver for every 3 children under age 2, and no caregiver may have more than 2 children under 18 months.

Utah amended the home and out-of-school-time rules effective June 5, 2026 and the center rule effective July 7, 2026, to update immunization record wording and definitions and to add video surveillance requirements for centers; DLBC's notices list no ratio or training changes.

Training rules (R381-100-7, R430-90-7 and R430-50-7, on the rules page):

• Center directors: at least 21 years old, with a listed credential such as a Child Development Associate or 12 college credit hours in child development, new director training within 60 working days, and 20 hours of training a year.
• Center and licensed family home caregivers: at least 16 years old, with the 2.5-hour preservice training before working with children and 20 hours of training a year.
• Residential certificate caregivers: at least 16 years old, the same preservice training and 10 hours of training a year; the statute says the 10 hours include a current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid course (Utah Code 26B-2-404). The provider must be at the home at least 50% of the time each week the program is open.
• Household members 12 to 17 need a background check, and those 18 and older need one with fingerprints.

DLBC lists free courses on its training page.

Utah Child Care Licensing FAQ