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Pennsylvania Child Care: Providers, Quality & Sanctions
Childcare Alerts indexes every regulated child care provider in Pennsylvania from the state's open data, including each provider's Keystone STARS quality rating and whether it's currently under a negative licensing sanction. This report summarizes the landscape. It is a factual overview, not a safety rating of any provider.
Pennsylvania has 6,543 regulated child care providers on public record across 66 counties. Pennsylvania publishes each provider's Keystone STARS quality rating (STAR 1–4) and flags any provider currently under a negative licensing sanction — 33 statewide right now — both of which we surface on every provider page.
Keystone STARS quality ratings
| Rating | Providers |
|---|---|
| STAR 1 | 3,002 |
| STAR 2 | 1,151 |
| STAR 3 | 220 |
| STAR 3 - ACC | 5 |
| STAR 4 | 1,593 |
| STAR 4 - ACC | 330 |
Keystone STARS is Pennsylvania's voluntary quality-rating system; a higher STAR level reflects more of the program-quality standards met. Not every provider participates, so an unrated provider is not necessarily lower quality.
Provider types
| Type | Providers |
|---|---|
| Child Care Center | 5,006 |
| Family Child Care Home | 953 |
| Group Child Care Home | 584 |
Where the providers are
Pennsylvania counties with the most regulated child care providers:
- Philadelphia County — 1,658 providers
- Allegheny County — 609 providers
- Montgomery County — 440 providers
- Lehigh County — 345 providers
- Delaware County — 318 providers
- Bucks County — 273 providers
- Chester County — 243 providers
- Lancaster County — 208 providers
- York County — 166 providers
- Berks County — 156 providers
Pennsylvania child care in the news
Recent third-party coverage of Pennsylvania child care. Headlines link to the original source — these are news reports, not our licensing records.
- East Norriton daycare under investigation by state after child left facility unattendedMoreThanTheCurve · Jul 28, 2026
- Pennsylvania launches free heat pump training, with child care and tool help, to fill HVAC jobsYahoo · Jul 27, 2026
- KinderCare Commends Recent State Investments in Child CareBusiness Wire · Jul 27, 2026
- Toddler Left Outside As Real-Feel Hit 103 Degrees, York Daycare Shuttered By DHSAOL.com · Jul 26, 2026
- Committee aims to address childcare issues in Elk County, requests public inputThe Courier Express · Jul 23, 2026
- 'Safety is the biggest issue': Former York daycare worker comments on shut down by DHSMSN · Jul 22, 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 provider
Search any Pennsylvania provider by name or city to see its Keystone STARS rating, any negative-sanction flag, and a link to the official state record.
Methodology & source
Providers, Keystone STARS ratings, and negative-sanction flags: Pennsylvania Department of Human Services open child care provider listing (data.pa.gov). 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.