620+ licensed providers from Back Bay to Dorchester, with verified 2026 tuition ranges, parent reviews, and clear information on Boston Public Schools UPK and Massachusetts QRIS. Always free for families.
Tuition ranges are full-time, center-based monthly rates from 350+ Boston providers, cross-checked against the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care licensing database.
Back Bay, Beacon Hill, the South End, and Charlestown cluster at the top of the range. Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, and Dorchester offer the broadest mid-priced options.
Massachusetts has some of the strictest ratios in the country and one of the most highly credentialed early childhood workforces. Quality is high, but so is cost.
Boston Public Schools UPK is the nationally recognized municipal pre-K program, with free seats at over 80 BPS schools and community partner daycares for four-year-old residents.
Sources: Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, Child Care Aware of America 2025 Massachusetts state report, Economic Policy Institute 2024 family budget calculator, DaycareSquare Boston operator survey (Q1 2026). Updated May 2026.
Eight verified providers across the city. The full directory holds 620+ listings — filter by neighborhood, age, accreditation, and cost.
Boston tuition can swing $700 per month across the Charles River. These are the neighborhoods with the most active providers in our directory.
Boston has the most expensive daycare market of any major US city, by most national measures. Massachusetts also has one of the strictest licensing regimes and one of the most highly educated early childhood workforces. The bargain you sign up for is steep tuition for tightly regulated, generally high-quality care. This page tries to make that bargain easier to evaluate before you tour.
Boston Public Schools UPK is the city's universal pre-K program for four-year-old Boston residents, offered free at over 80 BPS elementary schools and at community partner daycares across the city. The program is one of the longest-running and most-studied municipal pre-K programs in the country. Family applications run through the BPS Welcome Services lottery process. Read our BPS UPK walkthrough.
Massachusetts QRIS is the state's voluntary quality rating and improvement system on a 1 to 4 level scale. Level 3 and Level 4 programs operate above state minimum on curriculum, ratios, learning environment, and family engagement. Subsidy contracts increasingly prefer or require QRIS Level 3 or higher.
Massachusetts requires 2:7 for infants under fifteen months, 1:4 for ages fifteen months to two years, and 1:10 for ages two years and nine months to five years. Every legal daycare in Massachusetts is licensed by the Department of Early Education and Care. Every provider in our directory is cross-checked against that database monthly.
In addition to BPS UPK, working families up to a state-set income threshold may qualify for an Income Eligible Child Care voucher through the Department of Early Education and Care. The Commonwealth Cares for Children grants help many providers keep tuition lower. All families can use the federal Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit and a Dependent Care FSA. Our tax credit explainer walks through the math at common Boston income levels.
Before your first tour, download the free DaycareSquare comparison checklist and the tour questions list.
Costs, licensing, QRIS, and subsidy programs across all of Massachusetts.
View state page → Free toolPlug in your ZIP, child age, and care type. Get your personal monthly range in about sixty seconds.
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