Time Machine

Preschool and daycare directors

Name: Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare: employment and wages since 1890
Creator: Future History
License: https://futurehistory.earth/terms

Official title Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare (SOC 11-9031)

Also called Preschool director, Daycare director, Childcare center director, Early childhood program director, Early learning center administrator

In brief

In May 2025, BLS counted 73,660 US preschool and daycare directors, with median pay of $59,300 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 70 from 1890, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for preschool and daycare directors: Mobile-first parent communication apps, 2014 to 2023.

What the sources say

Official outlook

BLS projects employment to decline 3.1% from 2025 to 2035.

BLS Employment Projections 2025-35

AI exposure studies

51.6% of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. Eloundou and others, 2023

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

Last updated 11 October 2026.

Cite this page

APA

Future History. (2026, October 11). Preschool and daycare directors: jobs and pay since 1890 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9031

Chicago

Future History. "Preschool and daycare directors: jobs and pay since 1890." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9031.

BibTeX

@misc{futurehistory_11_9031, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Preschool and daycare directors: jobs and pay since 1890}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9031}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }

The access date is today's date on your device.

drag to travel through time

187519001925195019752000now

2026

Known then as Matron / Superintendent (day nursery era)

Known then as Nursery School Director / Day Nursery Superintendent

Known then as Head Start Center Director / Nursery School Director / Childcare Director

Known then as Childcare Center Director / Early Childhood Program Director

Known then as Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare (BLS SOC 11-9031)

Known today as Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare (BLS SOC 11-9031)

Projected to still be called Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare (BLS SOC 11-9031)

Data from the May 2025 survey

US Employment

74K

Est.

Stated in source: BLS OEWS

Official statistic

Report an error

Median Annual Wage

$59,300

Est.

≈ $57,780 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)

Official statistic

Report an error

Beat · 1854

The first American day nursery opens in New York City in 1854, operated by a charitable society to care for the young children of working mothers. The "matron" who runs the program is the earliest predecessor of the modern childcare center director: she manages staff, enforces the daily schedule, communicates with a board of donors, and answers to municipal health inspectors. By the early 1890s, a typical city matron is responsible for 40-plus children, two or three assistants, and a small budget funded by subscription donations.

Beat · 1889

Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr open Hull House in Chicago in 1889. The settlement house operates a kindergarten almost from the start, followed by a childcare program for the infants of working immigrant mothers. Hull House programs are run as managed educational enterprises with explicit curricula, qualified teachers, and a supervising director, not simply charitable custodianship. Hull House becomes a national model for the progressive management of early childhood programs and trains a generation of women who go on to direct programs across the country.

Beat · 1933

The Works Progress Administration establishes the Emergency Nursery Schools program in October 1933, placing nearly 3,000 programs across 43 states within months. Each program requires a supervisory director accountable to federal WPA standards. The program primarily employs unemployed teachers, but its supervisory infrastructure creates thousands of director-function roles and establishes a precedent for federally accountable early childhood program administration. Organizations such as the National Association for Nursery Education send staff to train and oversee teacher practice at these sites, beginning the professionalization of the field.

Beat · 1943

Congress allocates $20 million under the Lanham Act to create the United States' first and only universal childcare program, supporting roughly 3,500 centers serving an estimated 550,000 to 600,000 children of war-industry workers at peak. Centers employ teachers, a nurse, a dietician, a social worker, and a director. The Lanham Act centers operate under federal quality standards that require a designated director for each site. When victory over Japan is confirmed in August 1945, the Federal Works Agency immediately announces program closure, eliminating thousands of director roles within weeks. The field considers the Lanham Act period its one glimpse of a funded, stable, professionally staffed national system.

Beat · 1965

President Lyndon B. Johnson launches Head Start on May 18, 1965. The program serves more than 560,000 children in its first eight-week summer run through Head Start Child Development Centers across every state and territory. By its 10th anniversary in 1975, Head Start employs approximately 79,000 staff across 9,400 centers. Each center requires a designated director. Head Start Performance Standards, enforced from the outset, are the first federally binding quality standards specifying what a childcare center director must do, know, and document. The standards effectively create the modern professional identity of the preschool director.

Beat · 1985

NAEYC launches its voluntary national accreditation system in 1985, the field's first. The accreditation covers ten program-quality domains and specifically addresses the director's role in leadership and management. For directors who pursue it, NAEYC accreditation becomes both a market differentiator and a documentation burden: self-study portfolios, ongoing evidence collection, and periodic site visits. The Council for Professional Recognition simultaneously begins administering the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, which had been created in 1973 by the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. These two credential systems formalize career ladders in the field for the first time.

Beat · 1990

The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is enacted in 1990 as the first major federal childcare subsidy program since the Lanham Act closed in 1945. The CCDBG provides child care subsidies to low-income working families and allocates a portion of funds to quality improvement. Its passage directly expands the number of licensed center-based programs (and therefore the demand for directors) through the 1990s and 2000s. State licensing requirements tighten alongside CCDBG, adding new documentation requirements for center directors around health and safety inspections, staff background checks, and fire evacuation plans.

Beat · 2020

COVID-19 forces two-thirds of US childcare centers to close in April 2020. A National Association for the Education of Young Children survey in March 2020 finds that only 11% of childcare providers could survive an extended closure without financial support. Directors face simultaneous crises: managing mass staff layoffs, navigating state licensing waivers, communicating closures to families, applying for emergency funding, and planning re-opening protocols that satisfy evolving public health guidance. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization funds, arriving in April 2021, prevent a permanent collapse of the sector and enable most programs to reopen, restoring director employment toward pre-pandemic levels.

How to read this number

OEWS is a point-in-time survey snapshot, not a continuous time series; BLS advises against using it for year-over-year trend comparison.

Each dot is a cited figure over time; the dotted line only links them (values between aren't measured). Hollow dots are estimates.

Official statistic: Copied by a script from a statistics agency table or a published study's table, not retyped by hand. BLS figures and the forecast and exposure tables are also re-checked against that table on every data run. Researched context: Researched from the cited source rather than copied from it by a script, so it is not machine-checked yet. Spot a mistake? Each figure has a “Report an error” link.

How it began · 1854

In 1854, a group of charitable women in New York City opened the first American day nursery to care for the children of working mothers who had no other option. The New York nurseries were bleak by later standards: the matron and a couple of assistants looked after dozens of children in rented rooms, bathing and feeding them at arrival and returning them in their own soiled clothes at day's end. But the matron who ran the enterprise was doing something recognizably modern: she managed a small staff, kept a register of the children, ensured the premises met basic sanitary standards, handled donations from benefactors, and answered to a board of charitable ladies who expected accountability. By 1890, Chicago had 17 day nurseries, Boston 15, and Philadelphia 15, each with its own supervisory figure. The title of this person varied ("matron," "directress," "superintendent") but the function was the same: someone had to hold the program together administratively while the care workers tended the children. The modern director role grew more recognisable during the Progressive Era, when settlement houses such as Hull House in Chicago (opened 1889) embedded kindergartens and nurseries in their social-service programs; Jane Addams and her colleagues ran these as managed programs with explicit educational philosophies, budgets, and professional staff, not simply charitable custodianship. The real turning point came in the 1930s, when the Works Progress Administration's Emergency Nursery Schools scattered nearly 3,000 programs across 43 states, each requiring a supervising director accountable to WPA standards. Then the Lanham Act wartime centers (1943-1945) operated with roughly 3,500 centers under federal oversight. The post-war collapse of those programs set the field back a generation, but the institutional knowledge of how to run a federally accountable early childhood program survived in nursery school associations. When Head Start launched in the summer of 1965, serving more than 560,000 children in its first eight weeks, it needed thousands of center directors at once and created the modern professional identity of this occupation almost overnight.

Cited forecasts · present → 2035

Will AI replace preschool and daycare directors? What the research says

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.

What published forecasts say

Forecast change in the number of people doing this work, as published by each named source. Bars share one scale on every role, centred on zero and reaching the end at ±30%. Grey marks a small change, 3% or less either way.

BLS Employment Projections 2025-35

→ 2035

-3.1%

BLS National Employment Matrix, 2025-35 cycle, line for SOC 11-9031 (Education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare): 91.9 thousand jobs in 2025, projected 89.0 thousand in 2035, a change of -2.9 thousand (-3.1%). Matrix employment counts all jobs in the occupation, including self-employed workers (5.8% of this occupation in 2025). The average for all occupations in this cycle is +3.5%.

Official statisticReport an error

How exposed is this work to AI (research measures)

Scores as published by each study. Each row says what it measures. These measure what AI could technically do, not forecasts of jobs lost.

Eloundou et al. (2023), "GPTs are GPTs"

2023 study · Share of tasks exposed to LLMs (β, human-rated)

51.6%

of tasks

What this measures

Published occupation-level exposure from the paper's occ_level.csv for O*NET-SOC 11-9031.00 Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare. Shown: human-rated β = 0.516, the share of the occupation's tasks an LLM could do in at least half the time at equal quality, counting tasks that need LLM-powered software at half weight (β = E1 + 0.5 × E2). Other published measures for this occupation: human-rated α (LLM alone) 0.281 and γ (all LLM-assisted) 0.75; GPT-4-rated β 0.469. This measures how much of the work an LLM could touch, not how many jobs disappear.

Official statisticReport an error

Today, in this role

What's changing day to day for preschool and daycare directors

Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.

AI is sitting alongside you hereUse AI-powered enrollment planning tools to forecast classroom openings up to 12 months ahead, matching waitlist families to future spots and recovering underutilized capacity.

Use AI-powered enrollment planning tools to forecast classroom openings up to 12 months ahead, matching waitlist families to future spots and recovering underutilized capacity.^[5],[6]

Tools picking this up

Procare RoomRunner ↗

Where your edge is

Learn to interpret enrollment forecasts critically: AI tools surface patterns but cannot account for sudden family circumstances, local school-calendar shifts, or subsidy-program changes that require human judgment.

AI is sitting alongside you herePrepare and monitor program budgets, using automated billing software to generate tuition invoices, send payment reminders, and reconcile tuition receipts against payroll and supply costs.

Prepare and monitor program budgets, using automated billing software to generate tuition invoices, send payment reminders, and reconcile tuition receipts against payroll and supply costs.^[7],[1]

Tools picking this up

Brightwheel ↗Illumine ↗

Where your edge is

Build financial literacy in interpreting AI-generated budget summaries and spotting anomalies; automated tools surface the numbers but cannot evaluate whether a subsidy policy change or enrollment dip warrants a staffing adjustment.

AI is sitting alongside you hereReview AI-drafted daily parent reports and activity updates from platforms like Brightwheel, editing for tone and accuracy before release to families.

Review AI-drafted daily parent reports and activity updates from platforms like Brightwheel, editing for tone and accuracy before release to families.^[8],[9]

Tools picking this up

Brightwheel ↗Illumine ↗

Where your edge is

Develop a consistent editorial voice and quality standard for AI-generated communications so families receive coherent messaging aligned with program values.

Where preschool and daycare directors go next

Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
US median pay
$105,870 (May 2025)
BLS outlook 2025-35
-0.3%
Training and Development Specialists
US median pay
$69,280 (May 2025)
BLS outlook 2025-35
+10.8%
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
US median pay
$59,550 (May 2025)
BLS outlook 2025-35
+4.4%

What each move takes

A direction you could grow

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Preschool directors who hold a bachelor's or master's degree in education administration can move into K-12 principal or assistant-principal roles, applying the same budget management, staff coaching, and regulatory compliance expertise at a larger scale and with higher base pay.

What you'd add

· State K-12 principal licensure requirements (varies by state)
· Instructional leadership frameworks (e.g. Charlotte Danielson, TNTP Instructional Coaching)
· Special education and IEP process familiarity
· Experience managing a unionized or credentialed teaching workforce

What it takesSome new skills to pick up

Tools of the era

How has the work of preschool and daycare directors changed since 1854?

The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.

Ledger books and paper registers (day nursery era)
The administrative work of an early day nursery matron was entirely manual: enrollment lists kept in handwritten ledgers, attendance marked by hand each morning, correspondence with donors and board members written by pen and later typewriter, compliance with city health inspections handled through personal relationships and paper documentation. The job was fundamentally about people management and community trust, not information management. No specialized tools existed; accounting was general-purpose bookkeeping. The nursery school movement of the 1920s-1930s added curriculum planning documents, but the administrative toolset remained paper through the mid-20th century.
Federal reporting forms and grant management paperwork (Head Start era)
Head Start's launch in 1965 transformed the childcare director's administrative burden. For the first time, center directors were required to complete federal program reports, demonstrate compliance with Head Start Performance Standards, maintain records documenting staff qualifications, track children's developmental assessments, and participate in Community Action Agency oversight processes. The paperwork was considerable: Head Start directors in the 1970s described managing multiple bound filing systems for enrollment, funding, staff credentials, and health records. The era institutionalized the director as a compliance officer as much as an educational leader, a shift that shaped the role permanently.
NAEYC accreditation documentation and quality-rating paperwork
NAEYC launched the first national voluntary accreditation system for early childhood programs in 1985, setting professional standards across ten domains including leadership and management. For directors who pursued accreditation, this introduced a new category of administrative work: self-study documentation, portfolio preparation, and ongoing evidence-collection for renewal. NAEYC accreditation became a credential of quality that differentiated programs in a crowded market, making the administrative investment worthwhile, but it also added a recurring documentation burden that only a dedicated director (rather than a teaching lead) could realistically manage. Thousands of programs carry NAEYC accreditation today.
Dedicated childcare management software (ProCare 1992 and sector-specific platforms)
ProCare Solutions, founded in December 1992 in Ashland, Oregon, was among the first software platforms built specifically for childcare center administrators. Before it, directors used general accounting software (or ledger cards) to manage tuition invoicing, attendance, and family records. ProCare integrated family enrollment data, billing, attendance tracking, and subsidy management in one system and became the dominant platform in the sector, eventually serving over 40,000 centers. The shift from ledger cards to dedicated software substantially reduced the bookkeeping burden for directors while simultaneously raising expectations for the accuracy and timeliness of financial reporting.
Effect on the work
Childcare management software reduced the time directors spent on manual billing and attendance reconciliation but did not reduce the director headcount, because the time saved was reabsorbed by expanding regulatory documentation requirements.
Mobile-first parent communication apps (Brightwheel 2014, HiMama, Tadpoles)
Brightwheel launched in 2014 as a mobile-first app for early childhood programs, integrating daily parent communications, attendance check-in, learning documentation, and billing in a smartphone interface accessible to both staff and families. HiMama and Tadpoles followed similar models. These platforms represented a significant shift in the director's communication role: daily parent updates, once the responsibility of individual teachers scribbling notes, could be systematized and audited from the director's dashboard. The apps also created new work for directors: reviewing AI-drafted communications before release, managing digital portfolios of children's development, and troubleshooting parent access issues. Brightwheel reported saving administrators many hours per month in paperwork.
AI enrollment planning and voice-agent triage (Procare RoomRunner 2026, Playground Camber)
The most recent technology wave applies AI specifically to the two most time-consuming administrative tasks for childcare directors: enrollment management and parent inquiry response. Procare launched RoomRunner in May 2026, the first AI-powered enrollment planning tool for childcare centers, which forecasts classroom openings several months out by analyzing child age progression and room transitions. Playground's Camber acts as a 24/7 AI voice agent handling inbound parent calls, qualifying enrollment leads, and scheduling facility tours. These tools address the director's "front of house" load, potentially freeing time for program quality work, but they do not substitute for the relational judgment required in complex enrollment conversations, fee-waiver decisions, or family crisis response.

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Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare employment and pay by year

On record since1854

Latest US employment73,660 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error

Latest US median pay$59,300 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error

Outlook-3.1% by 2035Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35Official statisticReport an error

View all 28 years of cited US data, each linked to its source

Year	US employment	Annual pay (median unless marked)	Source	Report
1890	70	n/a	Est., Social Welfare History Project Researched context	Report
1934	2,950	n/a	Est., Living New Deal Researched context	Report
1944	3,500	$1,800	Est., US National Park Service Researched context	Report
1975	9,400	n/a	Est., Children's Defense Fund Researched context	Report
2000	56,000	n/a	Est., BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook Researched context	Report
2003	56,030	$34,500	BLS OEWS May 2003 Official statistic	Report
2004	50,590	$35,730	BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statistic	Report
2005	47,670	$37,010	BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statistic	Report
2006	46,890	$37,740	BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statistic	Report
2007	47,980	$38,580	BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statistic	Report
2008	49,630	$39,940	BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statistic	Report
2009	51,140	$41,060	BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statistic	Report
2010	50,700	$42,960	BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statistic	Report
2011	49,320	$43,830	BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statistic	Report
2012	48,410	$43,950	BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statistic	Report
2013	47,560	$44,890	BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statistic	Report
2014	47,150	$45,260	BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statistic	Report
2015	46,760	$45,670	BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statistic	Report
2016	48,530	$45,790	BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statistic	Report
2017	49,130	$46,890	BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statistic	Report
2018	50,650	$47,940	BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statistic	Report
2019	52,360	$48,210	BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statistic	Report
2020	46,410	$49,160	BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statistic	Report
2021	56,430	$47,310	BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statistic	Report
2022	60,010	$49,690	BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statistic	Report
2023	64,090	$54,290	BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statistic	Report
2024	71,620	$56,270	BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statistic	Report
2025	73,660	$59,300	BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statistic	Report

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Where preschool and daycare directors go next

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Ledger books and paper registers (day nursery era)Ledger books1854–1965

Federal reporting forms and grant management paperwork (Head Start era)Federal reporting forms1965–1985

NAEYC accreditation documentation and quality-rating paperworkNAEYC accreditation documentation1985–1992

Dedicated childcare management software (ProCare 1992 and sector-specific platforms)Dedicated childcare management software1992–2014

Mobile-first parent communication apps (Brightwheel 2014, HiMama, Tadpoles)Mobile-first parent communication apps2014–2023

AI enrollment planning and voice-agent triage (Procare RoomRunner 2026, Playground Camber)AI enrollment planning2023–present

Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare employment and pay by year

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