Santa Monica sits at the top of the LA daycare market alongside Beverly Hills, the Palisades, and the Brentwood-side blocks of West LA. The infant-center supply north of Pico is thin, every well-known preschool runs a waitlist that opens at the first positive pregnancy test, and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District's universal Transitional Kindergarten rollout has changed the family budget once a child turns four. The neighborhood holds a small but real cluster of cooperative nursery schools and Title 22 family child care homes that price below the Westside center average.
In 2026 dollars, full-time center-based daycare in Santa Monica runs roughly $2,400 to $2,750 per month for infants and roughly $1,950 to $2,250 per month for preschool-age children, drawing on the National Database of Childcare Prices for Los Angeles County and on LA County Child Care Resource and Referral rate work for the Westside. Title 22 family child care, a smaller share of supply than in the inland LA neighborhoods, prices in the $1,700 to $2,000 per month range for infants. Nanny shares run $1,650 to $1,950 per child per month and account for a sizeable share of how Santa Monica families piece the infant year together.
The infant premium in Santa Monica is real and steep. Title 22 sets the center infant ratio at one teacher to four children under 24 months (Title 22 CCR 101216.5), with a maximum group size of 12 infants per room. Westside commercial-space rent and the Westside labor pool for credentialed infant teachers both push prices well above the LA County center average. Families who can wait for a child to turn 24 months often see a $400 to $700 monthly drop at the same center when the room transitions from the infant ratio to the toddler one-to-six ratio.
| Santa Monica sub-area | Infant, center | Preschool, center | Family child care |
|---|---|---|---|
| North of Montana | $2,600–$2,750 / month | $2,100–$2,250 / month | $1,800–$2,000 / month |
| Mid-Santa Monica (Wilshire to Montana) | $2,500–$2,650 / month | $2,050–$2,200 / month | $1,750–$1,950 / month |
| Pico / Sunset Park | $2,400–$2,550 / month | $1,950–$2,100 / month | $1,700–$1,900 / month |
| Ocean Park / Main Street | $2,450–$2,600 / month | $2,000–$2,150 / month | $1,750–$1,950 / month |
Santa Monica families enroll in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD), one of California's smaller but better-funded districts. California's Universal Transitional Kindergarten expansion under SB 130 has now reached all four-year-olds who turn four by September 1, with full universal eligibility phased in for the 2025-2026 school year. SMMUSD runs UTK at every elementary school that hosts a kindergarten class, with priority for families inside SMMUSD attendance boundaries. The district also operates Preschool Plus, a tuition-based preschool program for three- and four-year-olds, and a smaller California State Preschool Program (CSPP) seat at the income-eligible end.
UTK is free and follows the SMMUSD school-year calendar. For working families, that calendar is the catch: dismissal is typically around 1 p.m. with no after-care built in, so most families pair UTK with a private after-school program or a part-time nanny. The after-care side of the equation, not the UTK seat itself, is what determines the working family's monthly budget in the year a child turns four.
Heads up. A UTK seat at an SMMUSD elementary school is not a kindergarten guarantee at the same school. Kindergarten attendance area rules apply to the kindergarten year, not to the UTK year, and a UTK family may need to enroll in a different SMMUSD school for kindergarten depending on the address.
California's three-stage CalWORKs child care system covers families on or recently exiting CalWORKs cash aid. Stages 1, 2, and 3 are time-limited, with Stage 2 carrying families up to two years post-CalWORKs and Stage 3 picking up afterwards subject to income eligibility. Outside CalWORKs, the Alternative Payment (AP) program serves income-eligible families up to 85 percent of the state median income. In LA County, AP vouchers are administered by a small set of nonprofits, including Crystal Stairs, Connections for Children (which covers the Westside including Santa Monica), Children's Home Society of California, and Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) for portions of the Valley. A Santa Monica family applies through Connections for Children for the AP voucher and through SMMUSD for the CSPP seat.
Three federal tools stack on top of any AP voucher or UTK 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. California adds the refundable Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) and the state Child and Dependent Care Expenses Credit. A two-earner Santa Monica household paying the full private rate typically recovers $1,500 to $2,100 in combined federal tax savings on the $5,000 FSA alone, with several hundred more available through the California credit stack depending on income and child count.
$2,000–$2,150 / month (preschool)
One of the longest-running parent cooperative nursery schools on the Westside. Mixed-age Threes and Fours. Active parent work-day requirement keeps tuition meaningfully below the Westside private average.
$2,050–$2,200 / month (preschool)
Half- and full-day Twos, Threes, and Fours housed at the First Presbyterian Church campus. Open to families of any faith. Reggio-inspired programming with a strong reputation for transition-to-kindergarten support.
$2,600–$2,750 / month (toddler)
Toddler and Primary classrooms. AMI-affiliated. Half- and full-day options. Year-round calendar with two short closing weeks. Long-running waitlist for the Toddler community.
$2,400–$2,550 / month (infant)
Infant through Pre-K. Twelve-month calendar. Long infant waitlist. Quality Counts California rated. Bilingual Spanish-English programming in the Twos and Threes rooms.
$2,450–$2,600 / month (infant)
Long-running infant and toddler center near the Main Street commercial corridor. Mixed-age Threes and Fours. Year-round calendar with limited summer closures.
Sliding-scale via Connections for Children · $2,400–$2,500 (private)
Mixed-funding center on the Pico corridor. Accepts Connections for Children AP vouchers and Title 5 contracts. Long-running community partnerships and bilingual Spanish-English Pre-K room.
Listings reflect editorial picks, not paid placements, and pricing is the licensed published rate before any AP voucher or federal and California tax credit. Full Santa Monica listings directory is in progress.
Walk through the cost calculator to model your Santa Monica year with the FSA, the federal Child and Dependent Care Credit, and the California stack factored in. Read our California Universal TK explainer for the SB 130 rollout and the enrollment timeline, the LA cost overview, the broader cost pillar, and our nanny-share guide if you're weighing that route through the infant year. For neighboring Westside neighborhoods, see Brentwood daycare and Venice daycare, or step back to all Los Angeles.
Neighborhood-by-neighborhood LA listings, UTK in LAUSD and SMMUSD, and the AP voucher network.
Read → CostCitywide tuition ranges with FSA, the federal credit, and the California stack worked out.
Read → UTKThe SB 130 rollout, school-district eligibility rules, and how UTK changes the year a child turns four.
Read →