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Illinois Child Care: Centers & Quality Ratings
Childcare Alerts indexes every licensed child care center in Illinois from the state's open data, including each center's ExceleRate quality rating. This report summarizes the landscape. It is a factual overview, not a safety rating of any center.
Illinois has 2,080 licensed child care centers on public record across 88 counties. Illinois publishes each center's ExceleRate Circle of Quality — we surface the earned Bronze, Silver, and Gold tiers on provider pages. (This open dataset covers licensed centers; licensed family child care homes are regulated separately and aren't in it.)
ExceleRate quality ratings (earned tiers)
| Rating | Centers |
|---|---|
| Bronze Circle of Quality | 53 |
| Gold Circle of Quality | 202 |
| Silver Circle of Quality | 180 |
ExceleRate Illinois is the state's quality-rating system. Every licensed center participates at the base “Licensed” circle; Bronze, Silver, and Gold are the earned quality tiers, so an unrated-here center simply hasn't earned a higher circle — it is not necessarily lower quality.
Where the centers are
Illinois counties with the most licensed centers:
- Cook County — 915 centers
- Dupage County — 190 centers
- Lake County — 130 centers
- Will County — 86 centers
- Kane County — 68 centers
- Mchenry County — 56 centers
- Madison County — 44 centers
- St. Clair County — 42 centers
- Sangamon County — 41 centers
- Champaign County — 37 centers
Illinois child care in the news
Recent third-party coverage of Illinois child care. Headlines link to the original source — these are news reports, not our licensing records.
- Secretary overseeing state department of early childhood discusses Illinois’ childcare challengesIllinois Public Media · Jul 28, 2026
- Milestones in Bloomington becomes the latest childcare program to closeWGLT · Jul 22, 2026
- Donated bank building to become childcare center in Shelbyvillewandtv.com · Jul 21, 2026
- ‘It’s coming, it’s real’: Shelbyville’s new childcare facility is one step closer to realityYahoo · Jul 21, 2026
- Man who was found with child sex abuse material at suburban in-home daycare gets probationWGN-TV · Jul 16, 2026
- Illinois Head Start Association shares stories of how immigration enforcement has impacted kids at their childcare centersNorthern Public Radio · Jul 14, 2026
Coverage is gathered automatically from public news sources and isn't an endorsement; we link out and don't host the articles.
How to check a specific center
Search any Illinois center by name or city to see its ExceleRate rating and a link to the official state record.
Methodology & source
Centers and ExceleRate ratings: the Illinois open child care data published by INCCRRA / the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM). Covers licensed child care centers, not family child care homes. Childcare Alerts surfaces and summarizes these public records; the official government record always controls, and the absence of a record is not a guarantee of safety. Childcare Alerts is an independent service, not affiliated with any state agency.