Find & Compare Preschools in Your Area!

Preschools offer structured early learning for children roughly two to five years old, usually in half-day or school-day sessions: play-based, academic, Montessori, Reggio-inspired, language-immersion, cooperative and faith-based programs, along with pre-kindergarten classes meant to ready a child for school. Parents come to this page because a child is ready for more than daycare, or because kindergarten is a year away.

Preschools are licensed as child care in most states, with inspection records available from the licensing agency; a few programs run by religious bodies are exempt, so ask which applies and what oversight exists instead. Ask about teacher credentials and turnover, the adult-to-child ratio, the daily schedule, how discipline is handled, whether a child must be toilet trained to enroll, and how the program reports on your child. Ask what tuition covers and what is extra: registration, supplies, lunch, extended care. Many preschools enroll on a school-year calendar with a deposit in winter, so ask about timing. For full-day care around the preschool hours, see daycares; for a child who needs more individual help, speech therapists often work with preschoolers.

Every preschool on this page wrote its own listing, and a person reviewed it before publication. If you run an early-learning program, apply to get listed — free, and a few minutes to complete.