Texas HHSC Child Care Regulation

How many kids can you watch without a license in Texas?

Verified September 5, 2026

Texas has no unlicensed allowance once you are inside its definition of regular care: compensation, at least 4 hours a day, 3 or more days a week for 3 or more consecutive weeks, or 40-plus days in 12 months. From the first through the third unrelated child you must hold a Listed Family Home listing. From the fourth child you need a Registered Child-Care Home. Its rule speaks of six children in care, not six unrelated children, and lets six more elementary-school children attend after school, to a total of 12 that expressly includes children related to you. Above six children in care you need a Licensed Child-Care Home. Seven is where the statute puts a residence-based operation: a group day-care home is care at the operator’s residence for seven or more children under 14, at least two hours a day, three or more days a week. That category was folded into the licensed child-care home for permits issued after September 1, 2003, and the rule caps the home at 12 children counting the caregiver’s related children.

The Texas ladder, tier by tier

Texas home child care tiers with capacity and age limits
Tier	Children	Age limits	Your own kids
Listed Family Homelisting	up to 3	No more than 3 (children not related to the primary caregiver, 13 years of age or younger) 26 TAC §742.307(3)(A) No more than 12 (all children present, related and unrelated) 26 TAC §742.307(3)(B)	Do not count
Registered Child-Care Homeregistration	up to 12	No more than 12 (all children in care, including children related to the caregiver) 26 TAC §747.113(a) No more than 6 children from birth through 13 years (base group) 26 TAC §747.113(a) No more than 6 additional elementary school children, after school hours only 26 TAC §747.113(a) Option 1: up to 12 children, max 0 birth through 17 months, max 6 18 months and older 26 TAC §747.1701 Option 2: up to 10 children, max 1 birth through 17 months, max 5 18 months and older 26 TAC §747.1701 Option 3: up to 8 children, max 2 birth through 17 months, max 4 18 months and older 26 TAC §747.1701 Option 4: up to 7 children, max 3 birth through 17 months, max 3 18 months and older 26 TAC §747.1701 Option 5: up to 6 children, max 4 birth through 17 months, max 2 18 months and older 26 TAC §747.1701	Count
Licensed Child-Care Homelicense	7 to 12	No more than 12 (all children in care, including children related to the caregiver) 26 TAC §747.115(c) Option 1: up to 12 children, max 0 birth through 17 months, max 8 18 months through three years 26 TAC §747.1801 (one-caregiver chart transcribed; options grouped by infant count, each row of the chart fits one option) Option 2: up to 11 children, max 1 birth through 17 months, max 6 18 months through three years 26 TAC §747.1801 (one-caregiver chart transcribed; options grouped by infant count, each row of the chart fits one option) Option 3: up to 10 children, max 2 birth through 17 months, max 5 18 months through three years 26 TAC §747.1801 (one-caregiver chart transcribed; options grouped by infant count, each row of the chart fits one option) Option 4: up to 7 children, max 3 birth through 17 months, max 3 18 months through three years 26 TAC §747.1801 (one-caregiver chart transcribed; options grouped by infant count, each row of the chart fits one option) Option 5: up to 6 children, max 4 birth through 17 months, max 2 18 months through three years 26 TAC §747.1801 (one-caregiver chart transcribed; options grouped by infant count, each row of the chart fits one option)	Count

Age limits and totals for every tier, with row-level citations, live on the Texas home daycare ratios page.

What changes this answer

Below the regularity line you are outside the system

Occasional babysitting that never reaches the 4-hours-a-day, 3-days-a-week pattern, or care without compensation, is not regulated child care under 26 TAC 742.103.

Related children stay out of the listing count and inside everything else

Your children, grandchildren, siblings, great-grandchildren, first cousins, nieces and nephews are excluded only where the rule says unrelated, which is the three-child listed home in 26 TAC 742.103. The registered home rule counts six children in care with no such word, its 12-child total says in so many words that it includes children related to the caregiver, and for ratios 26 TAC 747.1603(3) counts every child present, related children included. HHSC summary sheets describe the registered tier as six unrelated children; the rule is the stricter text.

A second caregiver does not raise a registered home's cap

The 12-child ceiling on a registered home stands regardless of extra adults; only the licensed-home charts scale with caregivers.

Edition and pending changes

We verified the September 2024 chapters with December 2025 revisions of 26 TAC 742 and 747. An amendment cycle closed its comment period on August 31, 2026, so these charts are due a re-check when the adopted texts publish.

Where the seven and the twelve come from

Two different texts. The seven is statutory: Human Resources Code 42.002(8) defines a group day-care home as care at the operator’s residence for seven or more children under 14 for less than 24 hours a day but at least two hours a day, three or more days a week, and 26 TAC 747.115(b) shows that category was absorbed into the licensed child-care home for permits after September 1, 2003. The twelve is the rule: 26 TAC 747.115(c) says the total in care at any time, including children related to the caregiver, must not exceed 12.

Real questions, short answers

How many kids can you watch in Texas without any paperwork?

Inside regular paid care, none: 1 to 3 unrelated children already require a Listed Family Home listing with HHSC. Outside the regularity definition, for example occasional evenings, the chapters do not apply.

What does a listed family home allow?

Up to 3 unrelated children aged 13 or younger for compensation, with no more than 12 children present in the home counting your own and other related children, per 26 TAC 742.307.

How does a registered home get to 12 children?

The base group is six children in care from birth through 13, and up to six additional elementary school children may attend during after-school hours only, for a total of 12 that includes the caregiver’s own and related children, per 26 TAC 747.113(a). For ratio purposes 747.1603(3) counts all children present, including your own.

How many infants can a registered home have?

The 747.1701 chart shrinks the group as infants join: with any children under 18 months in care the allowed totals drop, and the full 6-child base group applies only when everyone is 18 months or older.

What happens if a home skips the listing or registration?

26 TAC 742.105(b) makes an unpermitted home accountable for meeting the standards anyway, and HHSC enforcement follows from operating without the required permit.

Other states we have verified

Sources for Texas

26 Tex. Admin. Code Chapter 742, Listed Family Homes, December 2025 revision 742.103, 742.307
26 Tex. Admin. Code Chapter 747, Minimum Standards for Child-Care Homes, December 2025 revision 747.113, 747.115, 747.1701, 747.1801
Tex. Hum. Res. Code ch. 42, definitions and the licensing requirement 42.002(8), 42.041(a)

DaycareRules is an informational reference about home child care licensing rules in the United States. It reprints thresholds, capacity limits, ratios and citations from state statutes and regulations, together with the date each state was last verified. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and rules change. Confirm with your state licensing agency before acting on any number printed here.