Selling your childcare business?
Full rooms and a waitlist are worth real money.

The honest version

What childcare centers actually sell for

Most single childcare centers sell for roughly 2.5–4x adjusted EBITDA, with multi-center groups reaching 4–6x. Larger regional groups trade higher still, which is exactly why consolidators exist. Where you land depends on enrollment, licensed capacity, and whether the center runs on a director and a stable team rather than on you.

The range is wide because the same business is worth different amounts to different buyers. In this sector you are usually looking at three:

• National and regional childcare platforms — private-equity-backed groups actively acquiring licensed centers, especially those at or near full enrollment.
• Regional multi-center operators — established owners adding capacity in their area. They understand licensing and often move fastest.
• Individual owner-operators — the traditional buyer for single centers, usually financing-dependent.

Which of those is at your table changes your number far more than the age of your playground equipment.

What moves the number

The four things buyers actually underwrite

• Enrollment against licensed capacity. A center at capacity with a genuine waitlist has pricing power and proof of demand; one at seventy percent enrollment is selling the new owner a marketing problem.
• The director and the teaching team. Ratio compliance depends on staff, and buyers pay more when a licensed director and tenured teachers intend to stay through the transition.
• Licensing and compliance history. A clean inspection record and, where held, accreditation transfer real value; violations and ratio findings are found in diligence every time.
• The real estate. Purpose-built space is hard to replace. Whether you own or lease, the term, the rent and the transferability of the premises are underwritten alongside the business.

A note on funding mix that costs owners real money: buyers underwrite the durability of your revenue by source, and a center heavily dependent on a single subsidy program is discounted for the risk that funding rules change. Several years of stable enrollment across a mix of private-pay and subsidized families defends the top of your range.

The process

Why a quiet, competitive process beats the first offer

Most childcare owners are approached directly by a platform buyer once their center shows up in licensing databases at full capacity. That unsolicited letter is flattering, and it is also the single most expensive one you can accept, because a buyer negotiating against nobody has no reason to move on price or on terms.

We run the opposite process. Buyers are qualified and under confidentiality agreement before they learn whose business it is. Nothing is listed, advertised, or published. Your staff, your customers, and your competitors learn nothing until you decide they should — and several credible buyers are considering the same opportunity at the same time.

The result is not only a better number. It is better terms: what happens to your team, how long you stay, how the earn-out is structured, and what happens to any real estate.

Common questions

Childcare owners ask us these first

What is my childcare center worth?

Most single childcare centers sell for roughly 2.5 to 4 times adjusted EBITDA, with multi-center groups reaching 4 to 6 times. Enrollment against licensed capacity, director and staff retention, and your compliance history decide where in the range you land. A confidential valuation will give you a written range based on real transactions.

Who buys childcare and daycare centers?

Three groups: national and regional childcare platforms backed by private equity, regional multi-center operators expanding in their area, and individual owner-operators for single centers. Each values the same center differently, which is exactly why competition among them matters.

Will parents and staff find out the center is for sale?

Not from us. Buyers are qualified and under confidentiality agreement before they learn which center is for sale, and nothing is advertised. Families and staff are told when you decide they should be — normally once the transition plan, including who runs the center, is settled.