---
title: "Childcare Worker"
description: "Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/childcare-worker"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Childcare Worker

**Category:** Personal Care and Service · **SOC code:** 39-9011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 39-9011.00

Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play.

Also advertised as: Caregiver; Child Care Worker; Child Caregiver; Childcare Provider; Childcare Worker; Daycare Teacher; Daycare Worker; Infant Teacher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $34,980 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $16.82/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $24,260 to $46,010, with the middle half between $29,360 and $38,570
- **Total US employment:** 518,910
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -2.9% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 160,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 53/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 518,910 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $24,260 |
| 25th | $29,360 |
| 50th (median) | $34,980 |
| 75th | $38,570 |
| 90th | $46,010 |
| Mean (average) | $35,030 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DC | $47,340 | $43,075 | 1,350 |
| WA | $41,680 | $38,949 | 4,340 |
| MA | $40,900 | $38,674 | 13,140 |
| CO | $40,750 | $39,543 | 13,310 |
| CA | $40,020 | $36,145 | 52,780 |
| OR | $38,650 | $37,393 | 5,240 |
| VT | $38,030 | $38,823 | Not published by BLS |
| NY | $37,590 | $34,831 | 44,020 |
| NH | $37,080 | $35,597 | 2,820 |
| HI | $37,030 | $33,679 | 1,870 |
| RI | $36,940 | $36,117 | 1,800 |
| CT | $36,660 | $35,383 | 12,020 |
| NJ | $36,390 | $33,445 | 25,070 |
| ME | $36,350 | $37,455 | 4,990 |
| AK | $36,200 | $35,366 | 1,340 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/childcare-worker/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/childcare-worker.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 991,600 in the 2024–2034 base year to 962,400 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 29,200 jobs, or -2.9%. Declining: -2.9% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 160,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Short-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| High School Diploma | 38.5% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 22.7% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 14.3% |
| Some College Courses | 10.2% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 8.7% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 5.6% |

## What the work involves

- Observe and monitor children's play activities.
- Maintain a safe play environment.
- Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
- Sanitize toys and play equipment.
- Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books.
- Read to children and teach them simple painting, drawing, handicrafts, and songs.
- Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
- Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Service Orientation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Far Vision — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Artistic (A), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 6.18 |
| A — Artistic | 3.58 |
| C — Conventional | 3.44 |
| R — Realistic | 3.08 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.75 |
| I — Investigative | 1.48 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFP | 77.7 |
| ESFJ | 77.3 |
| ENFJ | 73.6 |
| ENFP | 65.1 |
| ISFJ | 65.0 |

Best-fitting types: ESFP, ESFJ, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Preschool Teacher, Except Special Education](https://nuecareer.com/careers/preschool-teacher) — median $38,140
- [Nanny](https://nuecareer.com/careers/nanny) — median $34,980
- [Personal Care Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/personal-care-aide) — median $35,800
- [Kindergarten Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/kindergarten-teacher) — median $62,680
- [Home Health Aide](https://nuecareer.com/careers/home-health-aide) — median $35,800
- [Teaching Assistant, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education](https://nuecareer.com/careers/teaching-assistant-preschool-elementary-middle-and-secondary-school) — median $37,010
- [Health Education Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/health-education-specialist) — median $64,070
- [Special Education Teacher, Secondary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-secondary-school) — median $74,260
- [Special Education Teacher, Elementary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-elementary-school) — median $67,170
- [Special Education Teacher, Preschool](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-preschool) — median $64,830

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/childcare-worker