How to transfer your Childcare worker licence to South Dakota (2026)

Childcare workers in South Dakota are listed on a state registry rather than licensed: the South Dakota child care licensing agency. This page says what a childcare worker licensed or working in another state has to do to work in South Dakota, 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 South Dakota.

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 South Dakota already.

What people get wrong

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

Who hires childcare workers in South Dakota

Childcare workers in South Dakota are hired by child care centres, preschools, Head Start programs and school-age programs. The metros with the most of that work are Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen. Employers who could not hire locally and have filed with the Department of Labor are on the South Dakota openings page.

For the money side: the median childcare worker in South Dakota earned $26,870 a year ($13 an hour) in May 2024 across 2,640 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and South Dakota has no state income tax on wages. What that leaves you after tax is its own page.

Everything about South Dakota, on one page

The South Dakota 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 South Dakota employers hiring from out of state.