Childcare Alerts

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Wisconsin Child Care: Quality Ratings & the Public Record

Childcare Alerts indexes every licensed child care provider in Wisconsin from the state's public data. Unlike our Minnesota coverage, Wisconsin publishes a YoungStar quality rating for most providers — so this report leads with quality, then covers the serious enforcement actions on public record. It is a factual overview, not a safety rating of any provider.

4,171
licensed providers
78%
with a YoungStar rating
502
rated 5 stars (top)
71
counties covered
189,735
total licensed capacity

Wisconsin has 4,171 licensed child care providers on public record, and 3,238 (78%) carry a YoungStar quality rating. Of those rated, 671 (21%) earn 4 or 5 stars. YoungStar is Wisconsin's voluntary quality-rating program — an unrated provider isn't necessarily low quality; it may simply not participate.

YoungStar quality distribution

★★★★★502
★★★★☆169
★★★☆☆997
★★☆☆☆1,560
★☆☆☆☆10

★★★★★ Highest YoungStar rating — meets the most quality standards. ★★★★ Strong quality rating. ★★★ Meets core quality standards. ★★ Entry rating; meets licensing and basic quality points. ★ Lowest YoungStar rating.

Provider types

TypeProviders
Licensed Group2,357
Licensed Family1,590
Public School Program182
Regular Certified40
Provisional Certified2

Enforcement on record

We surface Wisconsin's license revocations — the most serious action — from the state's weekly public report; there are currently 37 on record for providers still listed in the directory. We also surface routine correction orders (noncompliance statements) from Wisconsin's public documents, each shown on the provider's page with a link to the official record.

Coverage caveat: our revocation list is complete, but our Wisconsin correction-order coverage is partial — it's built from publicly indexed noncompliance documents and grows over time, so it is not yet a provider's complete inspection history. A provider with no action shown here has not necessarily had a clean record; always read the official state document. (Minnesota coverage, by contrast, is the full record.)

Where the providers are

Wisconsin cities with the most licensed providers:

  1. Milwaukee — 1,253 providers
  2. Madison — 199 providers
  3. Green Bay — 93 providers
  4. Kenosha — 66 providers
  5. Eau Claire — 65 providers
  6. Appleton — 58 providers
  7. Racine — 42 providers
  8. Sun Prairie — 41 providers
  9. Janesville — 37 providers
  10. Oshkosh — 37 providers

Wisconsin child care in the news

Recent third-party coverage of Wisconsin child care. Headlines link to the original source — these are news reports, not our licensing records.

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 Wisconsin provider by name, city, or ZIP to see its YoungStar rating, ages served, capacity, and any serious enforcement action — with a link to the official state record.

Search a provider → Browse Wisconsin by city →

Methodology & source

Provider roster, YoungStar ratings, ages, and capacity: Wisconsin DHS open child care data (data.dhsgis.wi.gov). Enforcement: the Wisconsin DCF weekly "Licensed Providers Revoked Within the Last 5 Years" report. 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. Figures update as new data is published. Childcare Alerts is an independent service, not affiliated with any state agency.