The Memorial corridor runs along Memorial Drive and Interstate 10 west of Loop 610, through the six villages (Bunker Hill, Hedwig, Hilshire, Hunters Creek, Piney Point, and Spring Valley) and the broader Spring Branch and Memorial City pockets. Daycare supply is dominated by long-standing church-housed preschools, a small cluster of Montessori programs, and a thicker layer of registered family child care homes along the Gessner and Bingle residential streets. Spring Branch ISD (SBISD), not Houston ISD, runs PK4 for most of the Memorial market.
In 2026 dollars, full-time center-based daycare in the Memorial corridor runs roughly $1,750 to $2,150 per month for infants and roughly $1,400 to $1,750 per month for preschool-age children, drawing on the National Database of Childcare Prices for Harris County and on Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast rate work. Church-housed half-day preschools price meaningfully lower (often $700 to $1,100 per month for the school-year-only Threes and Fours track). Texas HHSC-registered family child care homes price in the $1,000 to $1,300 per month range for infants. Nanny shares run $1,400 to $1,700 per child per month in Memorial.
The infant premium tracks the Chapter 746 staff-to-child ratio rule: one caregiver to four children under 18 months, with a maximum group size of ten infants. Memorial's commercial rent runs above Katy and Sugar Land but below River Oaks and Tanglewood, and the credentialed-infant-teacher labor pool is shared with the Galleria, Spring Branch, and the western edge of the Loop. Families who can wait to enroll at 18 months commonly see a $250 to $500 monthly drop when a room transitions to the toddler one-to-nine ratio.
| Memorial sub-area | Infant, center | Preschool, center | Family child care |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Villages (Bunker Hill / Hedwig / Hunters Creek) | $2,000–$2,150 / month | $1,600–$1,750 / month | $1,150–$1,300 / month |
| Memorial Drive corridor | $1,900–$2,050 / month | $1,500–$1,650 / month | $1,100–$1,250 / month |
| Spring Branch / Frostwood | $1,800–$1,950 / month | $1,450–$1,600 / month | $1,050–$1,200 / month |
| Memorial City / Gessner | $1,750–$1,900 / month | $1,400–$1,550 / month | $1,000–$1,150 / month |
Texas does not run universal four-year-old pre-K. Eligibility under Texas Education Code Section 29.153 is targeted to four-year-olds who are economically disadvantaged, English learners, in foster care, homeless, military-connected, or children of a Star of Texas Award recipient. Spring Branch ISD operates PK4 across a paired-campus model, with full-day seats at designated elementary schools (Edgewood, Cedar Brook, Sherwood, Spring Branch Elementary, Hollibrook, and others depending on the year) and a dual-language Spanish-English track at several sites. A Memorial family applies through SBISD Early Childhood Enrollment, and the assigned PK4 campus is often not the family's neighborhood attendance-area elementary.
For families who do not meet state pre-K eligibility, SBISD does not currently offer a tuition-pay PK option, and the four-year-old year is most commonly spent at a church-housed preschool, a private center, or a Montessori program. The kindergarten transition then happens at the family's attendance-area campus, regardless of where PK4 was attended. A small eastern slice of the Memorial market (east of approximately Wirt Road) falls inside Houston ISD attendance areas and applies through HISD's separate PK4 process.
Heads up. An SBISD PK4 seat is not a kindergarten guarantee at the same elementary. Campus placement for PK4 is run through a separate process and can land a Memorial family at a Spring Branch-side campus to balance pre-K seats across the district. Kindergarten enrollment the following year goes back to the family's attendance-area school under SBISD's standard zoning, which can mean two different campuses in two consecutive years.
Texas administers child care subsidies through the Texas Workforce Commission's Child Care Services (CCS) program, with regional workforce boards running intake. Memorial families apply through Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast, which covers the 13-county Houston region. Eligibility runs up to 85 percent of state median income at intake, with a parent work, education, or training requirement. A Texas Rising Star (TRS) rated provider receives a higher reimbursement than a baseline-licensed provider. The practical question for a Memorial family is which Spring Branch, Memorial Drive, or Gessner-area centers carry an active TRS 3- or 4-star rating; Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast publishes a search tool that filters Memorial ZIP codes by TRS level.
Three federal tools stack on top of any CCS voucher or SBISD PK4 placement: the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit on IRS Form 2441, the Dependent Care FSA (up to $5,000 per family per year of pre-tax savings), and the federal Child Tax Credit. Texas has no state income tax, so there is no parallel state child care credit. A two-earner Memorial household paying the full private rate typically recovers $1,500 to $2,100 in combined federal tax savings on the $5,000 FSA alone.
$1,500–$1,650 / month (preschool)
Long-running church-housed day school on Memorial Drive. School-year and twelve-month tracks. Strong transition-to-kindergarten reputation at SBISD's Frostwood and Memorial Drive Elementary.
$1,400–$1,550 / month (preschool)
Parent cooperative near Memorial City. Mixed-age Threes and Fours. Required parent work-day commitment keeps tuition below the surrounding Spring Branch private average.
$2,000–$2,150 / month (toddler)
Toddler and Primary classrooms inside the Hedwig village. AMS-affiliated. Half- and full-day options. Year-round calendar with two short closing weeks. Multi-year Toddler waitlist.
$1,800–$1,950 / month (infant)
Mid-size center near Frostwood Elementary. Twelve-month calendar. Texas Rising Star rated. Bilingual Spanish-English programming in the Twos and Threes rooms.
$1,900–$2,050 / month (infant)
Center serving the inner Memorial corridor. Strong infant-room reputation, long-running waitlist. Year-round calendar with one short closing week in late December.
Sliding-scale via Workforce Solutions · $1,800–$1,950 (private)
Mixed-funding center off Long Point Road. Accepts CCS vouchers and operates with a Texas Rising Star rating. Long-running ties to the Spring Branch dual-language pre-K pathway.
Listings reflect editorial picks, not paid placements, and pricing is the licensed published rate before any CCS voucher or federal tax credit. Full Memorial listings directory is in progress.
Walk through the cost calculator to model your Memorial year with the FSA and the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit factored in. Read our Texas pre-K explainer for the Section 29.153 eligibility rules, the Houston cost overview, the broader cost pillar, and our tour-questions guide if you're scheduling visits this fall. For neighboring Houston neighborhoods, see River Oaks daycare, West University daycare, and Katy daycare, or step back to all Houston.
Neighborhood-by-neighborhood Houston listings, Texas PK4 eligibility, and the Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast voucher network.
Read → CostCitywide tuition ranges with FSA, the federal credit, and Workforce Solutions CCS subsidies worked out.
Read → Pre-KSection 29.153 eligibility, HB 3 full-day expansion, and how state PK4 changes the year a child turns four.
Read →