How to transfer your Childcare worker licence to Texas (2026)

Childcare workers in Texas are listed on a state registry rather than licensed: the Texas child care licensing agency. This page says what a childcare worker licensed or working in another state has to do to work in Texas, in the order to do it, and what goes wrong when the order is reversed.

How the transfer works

Child care workers are not licensed, but every state requires a background check through its own child care licensing agency and a set of training hours before you can work unsupervised; the check does not transfer, the training sometimes does. The CDA credential is national and carries over to Texas.

How long: two to six weeks for the background check. Fee: nothing to about $50; the current figure is on the licensing body's own site.

What to have ready before you move

• CDA credential if you hold one
• Training certificates (CPR, first aid, safe sleep)
• Immunisation records

Start the paperwork before you give notice. Every week the licence is not done is a week you are not paid, and nothing in the process needs you to be in Texas already.

What people get wrong

• Assuming you can start before the background check clears; you cannot work unsupervised

Who hires childcare workers in Texas

Childcare workers in Texas are hired by child care centres, preschools, Head Start programs and school-age programs. The metros with the most of that work are Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Fort Worth and El Paso. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the Texas openings page.

For the money side: the median childcare worker in Texas earned $28,520 a year ($14 an hour) in May 2024 across 45,020 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Texas has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about Texas, on one page

The Texas page has the registries and boards, the income tax table, the programs that pay you to come and the openings filed this month. If you know which state you are leaving, the move pages compare the two directly. Creating a free Workmerica profile with your trade and your destination puts you in front of Texas employers hiring from out of state.