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The state of licensed child care in Colorado

Updated July 2026 · computed from official Colorado licensing data · methodology · download the dataset (CC0)

Headline numbers

Colorado has 4,508 licensed childcare facilities in our data. Colorado does not yet publish machine-readable violation records — this page covers the licensing landscape, and violation analysis will be added when the data becomes available (coverage details). 28.5% are family home providers; 51.5% accept child care subsidy.

Violations per facility, by city

Cities with at least 10 licensed facilities, ranked by recorded violations per facility.

CityFacilitiesViolationsPer facility
Parker 10000
Pueblo 9300
Grand Junction 8400
Colorado Springs 45000
Thornton 11000
Castle Rock 6900
Denver 48200
Broomfield 6000
Littleton 15500
Westminster 7400

Largest operators

OperatorFacilitiesViolations across portfolio
Jefferson County School District R-1260
Innovation Learning260
Cherry Creek Schools190
Leading Edge180
Denver Public Schools170
Jeffco Public Schools170
AlphaBEST Education170
Melissa Raaflaub; Sheryl Fisher Inc., DBA Extended Hours Program100
KinderCare Education LLC100
Avid4 Adventure90

Reuse this analysis

All numbers on this page are computed from official state licensing records and are free to cite with attribution to DaycareLens. Journalists: the underlying dataset is openly licensed (CC0), and we can provide custom cuts — press@daycarelens.com.