U.S. Child Care
Market Report
What sold, what it sold for, and what it means for the value of your center.
Contents
Written for owners and operators rather than institutional investors. The comps and cap rates are here because they set the price of your building; the operator sections because they set the price of your business.
Executive Summary
Operating pressure and asset scarcity are pulling in opposite directions, and 2026 is the year the gap between the two became measurable.
Six months into 2026, the operating side of child care is harder than it was a year ago and the real estate side is holding up better than most retail. Both statements are true at once, and the distance between them is the whole story for anyone who owns a center.
On the operating side, the largest public operator in the country is shrinking. KinderCare's same-center occupancy ran 68.6% in the second quarter against 71.0% a year earlier, and the company closed 49 centers in the first half with 80 to 85 planned for the full year. Those closures are not distress in the usual sense. The consolidated centers averaged 36.1% occupancy and 89% came from the bottom quintile of the portfolio, so what is being removed is weak capacity in weak locations.
On the real estate side, pricing has been remarkably stable. The median closing cap rate across our tracked comp set is 7.27% for 2026 to date, against 7.29% for full-year 2025 and 7.30% for 2024. Three consecutive years inside a three-basis-point band is not a market in repricing. Median price per square foot is $305, essentially flat against 2025's $307.
Rent is where the market has split in two. The blended median has fallen every year since 2023, from $29.81 per square foot to $23.89, and that number gets quoted as evidence that child care rents are resetting. It is not what happened. Rent on centers built within three years of their sale rose from $30.02 to $39.57 over the same period and is at an all-time high. It is second-generation space — older buildings, converted product, weaker locations — that fell, from $29.60 to $21.91. New construction now commands an 81% rent premium over second-generation space, against a 1% premium three years ago.
For an owner, three things follow. Your building is worth roughly what it was worth a year ago. Your business is worth what your enrollment says it is worth, and enrollment is the number under pressure. And the spread between a branded, purpose-built center and an independent one has not closed: branded assets traded at a 7.00% median cap and $387 per square foot, independents at 7.44% and $269.
Capacity is being removed from the bottom of the market, not the top. If your center is well enrolled and your rent is covered, the closures happening around you are making your asset scarcer, not cheaper.
Little Scholars RE · Mid-Year 20262026 in Numbers
Eight figures that frame the first half of the year, and what each one means if you own a center.
Reading these together
The four figures on the top row describe your real estate. They have barely moved. The four on the bottom row describe your operating environment and your competitive position, and they have moved a great deal.
That divergence is the practical argument for knowing both numbers separately. An owner who tracks only the business multiple will conclude the market has softened. An owner who tracks only cap rates will conclude nothing has changed. Neither is a complete picture of what a buyer will pay.
Sources: Little Scholars RE tracked comp set (September 2026); KinderCare Learning Companies 2Q FY2026 supplemental slides (August 2026); Bright Horizons investor presentation (May 2026), citing CCDF/CCDBG appropriations.
What KinderCare Is Telling You
The largest for-profit operator in the country publishes its occupancy every quarter. Read as a benchmark, it is the closest thing independents have to a national comparable.
Same-center occupancy
KinderCare 2Q FY2026 supplemental slides. Same-center basis: centers operated at least 12 months.
Occupancy bottomed at 64.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and has recovered two quarters running, reaching 68.6% in the quarter ended July 4, 2026. It is still 240 basis points below the same quarter last year.
The number to compare yourself against is not the peak. It is the trajectory. A single-site operator holding 75% or better through this period is outperforming the largest platform in the country by a wide margin, and that is a defensible line in any conversation with a buyer or a lender.
The closures are a supply story
KinderCare consolidated 49 centers in the first half and guides to 80 to 85 for the full year. The company reports those centers averaged 36.1% occupancy, with 89% drawn from the bottom quintile of its portfolio, and expects the closures alone to add about 150 basis points to occupancy.
Capacity is leaving the market from the bottom. In a trade area where a weak corporate center closes, the remaining licensed seats become more valuable, not less.
FY2026 guidance, and the growth that is still working
Two parts of the business are growing while the core is not. Champions, the before- and after-school program, posted its fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth at 13% year over year, and revenue from enrichment programming grew 94%. Average weekly full-time enrollment in the company's summer camp product rose roughly 26% over last summer.
For an independent operator, that is a directional signal about where incremental revenue is available: school-age wrap-around, enrichment, and summer programming, none of which require new licensed infant capacity.
Source: KinderCare Learning Companies (NYSE: KLC), 2Q FY2026 earnings supplemental slides, August 2026. Brand names used for identification only; no affiliation.
What Bright Horizons Is Telling You
A different model, and a useful one to understand: Bright Horizons grew full-service revenue 6% in 2025 while the rest of the sector fought occupancy. The reason is who pays the bill.
Bright Horizons ended 2025 with $2.08 billion of full-service child care revenue, up 6% on 2024, and $114 million of adjusted operating income in that segment — a 5.5% margin, more than double the 2.4% it earned in 2023.
That did not come from tuition alone. Roughly 40% of the company's U.S. centers operate under a single-sponsor model where the employer client carries occupancy costs, capital investment, and enrollment risk, and another 20% under a cost-plus consortium structure — insulating the operator from the two line items that decide whether an independent center makes money.
Full-service revenue and margin, 2021–2025
| Bright Horizons full-service segment | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($M) | 1,297 | 1,494 | 1,781 | 1,962 | 2,081 |
| Growth | 26% | 15% | 19% | 10% | 6% |
| Adjusted operating income ($M) | 3 | 38 | 43 | 84 | 114 |
| Margin | 0.2% | 2.6% | 2.4% | 4.3% | 5.5% |
Bright Horizons Family Solutions investor presentation, May 2026. Full-service (center-based early education) segment only.
Even at scale, with employer subsidies covering rent in four of every ten U.S. centers, the best margin the largest employer-sponsored operator produced in 2025 was 5.5%.
Bright Horizons FY2025 segment resultsWhat an independent operator should take from this
- Center-based child care is a thin-margin business, everywhere. If your own margin looks slim against what you hear about the industry, compare it to 5.5% at a company with 597 U.S. centers and blue-chip corporate backing before concluding you are the problem.
- Employer contracts are the one channel adding margin. Back-up care earned a 30.5% operating margin on $728 million of revenue. Local employer partnerships are a smaller version of the same idea, and do not require corporate scale.
- Capacity, not demand, is still the constraint. The company continues to describe the binding limit as its ability to deliver care, not families' willingness to buy it — the structural argument underneath every licensed seat you own.
Source: Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE: BFAM), investor presentation, May 2026. Brand names used for identification only; no affiliation.
The $650 Million Signal
In September a single lender refinanced 549 child care buildings. The terms say more about how institutional capital views your asset class than any cap-rate average does.
On September 2, 2026, an entity tied to NRT — a private REIT backed by the Milken brothers, formerly National Realty Trust — closed a $650 million loan from Goldman Sachs, according to Massachusetts mortgage records reported by Bisnow. The loan refinances a 2021 CMBS facility secured by 549 daycare properties totaling more than four million square feet across 37 states, and pays off the $642 million loan NRT took out in July 2021.
The portfolio traces to 2015, when KinderCare entered a sale-leaseback with NRT as part of the $1.3 billion sale of its parent to Partners Group; the Milken brothers kept a large share of the real estate.
Why an owner should care about someone else's loan
- The credit held while the operator's stock did not. KinderCare shares fell roughly 50% in mid-August, from $4.83 to $2.60. Three weeks later the real estate under those centers refinanced at scale. Lenders underwrote the buildings and the master lease, not the equity story.
- Coverage is the reason. As of March 2026 the portfolio produced more than $85 million of net operating income against $42 million of debt service — the same rent-coverage test a buyer runs on your center, at portfolio scale.
- A maturity wall was cleared, not extended. The 2021 facility was floating-rate, two-year term plus three extensions. It matured last month and was paid in full — child care real estate refinanced through the rate cycle rather than handing back keys.
- Master leases are being renegotiated, not abandoned. In August, KinderCare and NRT executed a fifth amendment restructuring occupancy terms across 500+ sites and moved 13 into a new entity. Expect more of this as the closure program runs — the pattern to watch if you lease to a national operator.
A lender wrote a $650 million check against 549 child care buildings in the same month the sector's largest operator lost half its market value. That gap is the clearest available statement on how the two halves of your asset are priced.
Little Scholars RESource: Bisnow, “Private REIT Closes $650M Refinancing Of 549-Property Daycare Portfolio,” September 4, 2026, citing Massachusetts mortgage records, Morningstar Credit CMBS data, and KinderCare SEC filings. Company names for identification only.
Cap Rates & Pricing
Five years of tracked closings. Cap rates repriced once, in 2023, and have held since.
Median closing cap rate
Median price per square foot
Little Scholars RE tracked comp set, September 2026. Cap rate medians from 395 sales reporting a closing cap; price per SF from all 637 tracked sales. 2026 reflects 98 closings through August.
The repricing happened in 2023, when the median moved 90 basis points from 6.40% to 7.30%. Since then the market has been flat: 7.30%, 7.29%, 7.27%. Whatever is happening to operators, buyers have not changed what they will pay for a stabilized, well-leased child care building.
Blended price per square foot tells the same story from the other direction. It fell through 2023 and 2024 as second-generation rents reset, then stopped. The $2 difference between 2025 and 2026 to date is noise, not a decline.
There are two rent markets, and they are moving apart
New construction — built within three years of sale.
Second-generation — everything older. Both scales identical.
What Actually Drives Your Value
Four cuts of the same 637 sales. Each one isolates a characteristic buyers price, and shows what it is worth in basis points and dollars per square foot.
Branded vs. independent
Median closing cap. Price per SF: $387 branded, $269 independent.
Building size
The 9,000–12,000 SF band is the deepest in the set at 288 sales, and prices tightest at $400/SF.
Year built
Price per SF rises sharply with vintage: $261 pre-1990, $302 for the 1990s and 2000s, $338 for the 2010s, $465 for 2020 and newer.
Lease structure
Absolute NNN prices 26 bps inside conventional NNN and 36 bps inside NN.
The practical reading
Three of these four characteristics are fixed on the day you buy a building. The fourth is not. Lease structure is negotiable, and moving a center from an NN lease to an absolute NNN structure is worth roughly a third of a point of cap rate at exit — on a $350,000 NOI, about $220,000 of value, for a change in who is responsible for the roof.
The brand spread is worth understanding rather than chasing. A 44-basis-point discount on an independent center is not a penalty for independence; it is a price for the uncertainty a buyer takes on when there is no franchisor behind the enrollment. Clean books, a documented enrollment history, and a director who is staying will close much of that gap without a franchise agreement.
Ten Years of Price Per Square Foot
What a child care building has been worth per square foot every year since 2016, with new construction shown alongside the blended market.
2016–2021: 344 identified-tenant sales, 5,000 SF and larger, from a licensed third-party data set, aggregates only — that floor excludes smaller independent centers, so the early years read slightly high. 2022–2026: 637 tracked sales, all sizes. New-construction medians are shown where the sample supports them (n=3 in 2023, 27 in 2024, 35 in 2025, 13 in 2026). 2026 covers January through August.
The blended line climbed 42% between 2016 and 2021, peaked at $396 in 2022, and has sat within $8 of $305 for three years since. Read alone, it says the market went sideways.
The gold bars say otherwise. Newly built centers sold at $422 per square foot in 2023, $462 in 2024, $486 in 2025, and $532 so far in 2026 — a 26% gain while everything else drifted down. If you own a modern purpose-built center, the blended line is not your line.
Where each brand trades
| Brand | Tracked sales | Median cap | Median $/SF | Median rent/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Learning Experience | 75 | 7.00% | $462 | $37.50 |
| KinderCare | 63 | 6.69% | $380 | $29.13 |
| Primrose | 38 | 7.38% | $401 | $33.65 |
| Kiddie Academy | 30 | 6.53% | $400 | $32.02 |
| Goddard School | 28 | 7.20% | $420 | $41.16 |
| La Petite Academy | 21 | 6.89% | $218 | $16.43 |
| Montessori (various) | 19 | 7.25% | $475 | $40.26 |
| The Nest Schools | 18 | 7.20% | $413 | $28.39 |
| Tutor Time | 10 | 8.47% | $372 | $26.21 |
Little Scholars RE tracked comp set, September 2026. Brands with 18 or more tracked sales. Brand names for identification only.
What Your Business Is Worth
The building and the business are priced by different buyers using different math. This is the half most owners underestimate.
Child care businesses trade on seller's discretionary earnings — net profit plus your salary, personal expenses run through the business, one-time costs, interest, and depreciation. SDE in child care typically runs between 12% and 22% of revenue.
| Operation | Typical SDE multiple | What moves you inside the range |
|---|---|---|
| Single site | 2.5× – 3.5× | Utilization, lease term remaining, whether a director is in place |
| Platform of 2–4 centers | 3.0× – 5.0× | Shared overhead, transferable systems, management depth |
| Platform of 5 or more | 4.5× – 6.5× | Regional density, corporate infrastructure, buyer pool widens to PE |
| Micro program, under 25 licensed seats | 2.0× – 2.75× | Only reaches that range with a center director already in place |
The rent test buyers run first
Before a buyer looks at your multiple, they check whether the rent works. Divide annual rent by gross revenue. Under 12% is comfortable and will not be questioned. Between 12% and 15% invites scrutiny of your enrollment trend. Above 15%, most buyers re-cut the offer or ask for a lease restructure as a condition of closing.
Use the right rent benchmark for your building. Second-generation space is trading around $21.91 per square foot; new purpose-built centers around $39.57. On a 10,000 square foot new-build at market rent, that is roughly $396,000 a year — which needs about $3.3 million of revenue to sit comfortably under 12%. Buyers apply the same test at either rent level; the rent has to be earned by enrollment.
Five numbers to have ready
- Licensed capacity and current enrollment. Buyers price licensed seats and discount unused ones.
- SDE for the trailing twelve months, with add-backs documented rather than asserted.
- Annual rent and years remaining, including options and escalations.
- Staff roster and director tenure. A director who is staying is worth real multiple.
- Three years of enrollment by month, which is how a buyer tests whether your utilization is seasonal or declining.
Your Instant Valuation Report
The estimator behind this report is free, takes about two minutes, and does not ask you to talk to anyone.
What it does
Enter your enrollment, capacity, revenue, and SDE and it returns a value range for the business, the real estate, or both. The range is calculated against the same 637 sold comparables in this report, adjusted for your metro market, building size, vintage, and lease structure.
You see the number on screen before anything is asked of you. Add an email and the full four-page report is sent within minutes.
What the four-page report adds
- Your range on both bases — SDE after rent, and the same value restated on an EBITDA basis so you can compare against any other quote you have.
- The comparable sales it used, listed individually with cap rate and price per square foot.
- Your market's tuition and utilization benchmarks from our 2025 survey of centers in your metro.
- A rent-coverage read showing where your lease sits against what buyers underwrite.
Run your numbers
No sign-up to see your range. Franchisee-owned centers welcome. No revenue floor — we value single sites and sub-$2M operations that larger advisory firms decline.
LittleScholarsRE.com/valuation.htmlTwo cautions on any instant valuation, ours included. It is directional, not an appraisal — it cannot see your lease language, your licensing history, or the condition of your building. And it is only as good as the SDE you feed it, which is why the five numbers on the previous page matter more than the calculator does.
Sold Comps · Brand-Operated
Every brand-operated child care sale we tracked in the twelve months to August 2026 — 78 closings. Median closing cap 7.25%, median $404 per square foot.
| Brand | City, ST | Sale date | Sale price | Bldg SF | Built | Cap rate | $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Blue Marble | Cary, NC | 08/21/26 | $7,470,000 | 15,346 | 2006 | — | $487 |
| Cadence Education | Charleston, SC | 10/20/25 | $2,994,386 | 9,748 | 1997 | 7.25% | $307 |
| Cadence Education | Charlotte, NC | 10/07/25 | $5,191,000 | 11,948 | 2009 | 7.11% | $434 |
| Cadence Education | Collegeville, PA | 12/04/25 | $2,550,000 | 10,000 | 1997 | 10.64% | $255 |
| Cadence Education | Columbia, SC | 10/07/25 | $2,994,386 | 10,061 | 1996 | 7.25% | $298 |
| Cadence Education | Elkhorn, NE | 01/07/26 | $3,680,000 | 10,582 | 2006 | 6.93% | $348 |
| Cadence Education | Lexington, SC | 09/25/25 | $2,994,424 | 9,797 | 1997 | 7.11% | $306 |
| Cadence Education | Myrtle Beach, SC | 10/07/25 | $2,994,387 | 9,696 | 1999 | 7.25% | $309 |
| Cadence Education | Naperville, IL | 10/07/25 | $2,338,000 | 10,800 | 1999 | 6.22% | $216 |
| Cadence Education | Pewee Valley, KY | 03/20/26 | $3,899,822 | 15,936 | 2005 | 6.25% | $245 |
| Cadence Education | Round Rock, TX | 07/30/26 | $4,292,500 | 12,821 | 1980 | — | $335 |
| Childcare Network | Acworth, GA | 05/29/26 | $1,137,931 | 7,260 | 1998 | 7.25% | $158 |
| Childcare Network | Locust Grove, GA | 09/18/25 | $2,070,000 | 18,134 | 2007 | 7.27% | $152 |
| Childcare Network | Tallahassee, FL | 02/27/26 | $1,900,000 | 10,152 | 2012 | 7.14% | $187 |
| Childtime | Midlothian, VA | 07/06/26 | $1,500,000 | 6,348 | 1987 | 6.92% | $236 |
| Everbrook Academy | Clarksburg, MD | 07/20/26 | $7,092,198 | 12,870 | 2025 | — | $551 |
| Everbrook Academy | Clayton, NC | 12/30/25 | $5,729,000 | 10,665 | 2025 | — | $537 |
| Everbrook Academy | Fuquay Varina, NC | 12/29/25 | $6,064,500 | 10,675 | 2025 | 7.10% | $568 |
| Everbrook Academy | Meridian, ID | 10/14/25 | $4,522,000 | 11,331 | 2024 | 10.53% | $399 |
| Goddard School | Gilbert, AZ | 03/27/26 | $4,500,000 | 8,068 | 2007 | 7.46% | $558 |
| Goddard School | Knoxville, TN | 04/20/26 | $4,000,000 | 8,300 | 2007 | 8.63% | $482 |
| Goddard School | Knoxville, TN | 06/30/26 | $4,929,000 | 8,300 | 2008 | 7.00% | $442 |
| Kiddie Academy | Allentown, NJ | 03/12/26 | $1,500,000 | 10,050 | — | 13.20% | $149 |
| Kiddie Academy | Fishers, IN | 12/12/25 | $8,113,000 | 31,469 | 2008 | 11.23% | $258 |
| Kiddie Academy | Susquehanna, PA | 09/25/25 | $4,525,000 | 10,417 | 2023 | 6.48% | $434 |
| Kiddie Academy | Windsor, CO | 03/19/26 | $5,856,300 | 11,000 | 2023 | 7.43% | $532 |
Brand-operated · continued
| Brand | City, ST | Sale date | Sale price | Bldg SF | Built | Cap rate | $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KinderCare | Alpharetta, GA | 12/05/25 | $8,124,761 | 19,252 | 1999 | 8.15% | $422 |
| KinderCare | Clarksville, TN | 11/03/25 | $6,840,000 | 10,000 | 2000 | 6.82% | $684 |
| KinderCare | Hudson, NH | 06/15/26 | $2,850,000 | 9,750 | 1994 | — | $292 |
| KinderCare | Leander, TX | 02/02/26 | $6,916,000 | 12,000 | 2025 | 9.04% | $576 |
| KinderCare | Lincolnshire, IL | 12/16/25 | $10,388,000 | 13,296 | 2025 | 7.40% | $781 |
| KinderCare | Nashville, TN | 11/14/25 | $6,840,000 | 11,912 | — | 6.67% | $574 |
| KinderCare | New Albany, OH | 05/12/26 | $2,500,000 | 8,591 | 2000 | 6.60% | $291 |
| KinderCare | Omaha, NE | 10/17/25 | $6,714,000 | 14,500 | 2022 | 7.29% | $463 |
| KinderCare | Renton, WA | 10/01/25 | $2,780,000 | 7,314 | 1987 | 6.24% | $380 |
| KinderCare | Thornton, CO | 05/05/26 | $3,075,000 | 9,864 | 1998 | 7.59% | $312 |
| KinderCare | Tucson, AZ | 04/22/26 | $1,200,000 | 3,892 | 1971 | 13.79% | $308 |
| KinderCare | Waukee, IA | 05/07/26 | $5,291,500 | 11,999 | 2021 | 6.50% | $441 |
| KinderCare | Wheaton, IL | 12/17/25 | $6,800,000 | 10,825 | 2025 | 6.76% | $628 |
| KinderCare | Wichita, KS | 06/01/26 | $683,788 | 5,151 | 1990 | 11.95% | $133 |
| La Petite Academy | Cedar Rapids, IA | 10/31/25 | $670,000 | 6,434 | 1991 | — | $104 |
| La Petite Academy | Oakdale, MN | 05/18/26 | $1,710,000 | 7,700 | 2012 | 7.40% | $222 |
| La Petite Academy | Omaha, NE | 01/12/26 | $1,224,000 | 4,800 | 1983 | 7.35% | $255 |
| La Petite Academy | Orlando, FL | 01/12/26 | $1,275,000 | 5,486 | 1990 | — | $232 |
| La Petite Academy | Rocklin, CA | 11/10/25 | $2,700,000 | 6,600 | 1988 | 6.93% | $409 |
| La Petite Academy | Tempe, AZ | 06/11/26 | $1,955,000 | 5,040 | 1984 | — | $388 |
| Ladybird Academy | Windermere, FL | 11/19/25 | $5,854,000 | 15,206 | 2019 | — | $385 |
| Lightbridge | Greenville, SC | 06/01/26 | $7,800,000 | 13,583 | 2025 | 7.25% | $574 |
| Little Sunshine's Playhouse | Castle Rock, CO | 06/24/26 | $8,000,000 | 11,242 | 2025 | — | $712 |
| Little Sunshine's Playhouse | Granite Bay, CA | 04/30/26 | $6,750,000 | 9,661 | 2017 | 5.78% | $699 |
| Little Sunshine's Playhouse | Thornton, CO | 06/25/26 | $8,000,000 | 11,118 | 2025 | — | $720 |
| Montessori (various) | Cedar Park, TX | 04/07/26 | $1,660,000 | 4,430 | 2007 | 6.68% | $375 |
Brand-operated · continued
| Brand | City, ST | Sale date | Sale price | Bldg SF | Built | Cap rate | $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montessori (various) | Chesapeake, VA | 01/09/26 | $3,805,000 | 10,906 | 2010 | 7.86% | $349 |
| Montessori (various) | Frisco, TX | 10/02/25 | $4,725,490 | 17,249 | 2003 | 6.10% | $274 |
| Montessori (various) | Houston, TX | 05/11/26 | $3,660,653 | 14,813 | 1997 | — | $247 |
| Montessori (various) | Kirkwood, MO | 12/18/25 | $7,350,000 | 10,541 | 2024 | 6.78% | $697 |
| Montessori (various) | Melissa, TX | 12/11/25 | $3,990,000 | 11,673 | 2022 | 11.06% | $342 |
| O2B Kids | Ocoee, FL | 04/20/26 | $565,000 | 11,080 | 2024 | — | $51 |
| Primrose | Meridian, ID | 10/27/25 | $3,325,000 | 13,666 | 2023 | 13.83% | $243 |
| Sunrise Preschools | Tolleson, AZ | 08/05/26 | $3,450,200 | 8,775 | 2017 | — | $393 |
| The Learning Experience | Blue Ash, OH | 03/30/26 | $400,000 | 9,685 | — | — | $41 |
| The Learning Experience | Clermont, FL | 02/11/26 | $6,071,000 | 10,000 | 2025 | 7.00% | $607 |
| The Learning Experience | Davenport, FL | 10/28/25 | $5,433,000 | 10,000 | 2023 | 7.05% | $543 |
| The Learning Experience | Goodyear, AZ | 02/09/26 | $5,250,000 | 9,886 | 2023 | 7.38% | $531 |
| The Learning Experience | Grand Prairie, TX | 02/12/26 | $4,748,100 | 10,000 | 2024 | 9.48% | $475 |
| The Learning Experience | Houston, TX | 11/10/25 | $3,790,500 | 10,000 | 2023 | 10.16% | $379 |
| The Learning Experience | Manor, TX | 12/31/25 | $5,852,000 | 13,128 | 2023 | 7.78% | $446 |
| The Learning Experience | Memphis, TN | 04/10/26 | $4,200,000 | 10,114 | 2021 | 7.04% | $415 |
| The Learning Experience | Middleton, WI | 11/25/25 | $5,486,900 | 10,000 | 2024 | 7.93% | $549 |
| The Learning Experience | Noblesville, IN | 09/16/25 | $4,950,000 | 46,375 | 2022 | 7.30% | $495 |
| The Learning Experience | Owings Mills, MD | 01/13/26 | $4,900,000 | 10,000 | 2018 | 6.79% | $490 |
| The Learning Experience | Saint Peters, MO | 07/30/26 | $4,900,000 | 10,000 | 2019 | 7.16% | $490 |
| The Learning Experience | Tucson, AZ | 12/01/25 | $5,194,097 | 9,097 | 2023 | 7.15% | $571 |
| The Nest Schools | Carmel, IN | 03/25/26 | $5,915,175 | 10,985 | 1962 | 7.27% | $538 |
| The Nest Schools | Indianapolis, IN | 01/02/26 | $3,759,066 | 1,488 | 1997 | — | $2,526 |
| The Nest Schools | Lakeland, FL | 09/12/25 | $5,834,500 | 18,850 | 1992 | 7.25% | $310 |
| The Nest Schools | Littleton, CO | 12/15/25 | $4,245,000 | 10,305 | 2001 | 7.00% | $412 |
| The Nest Schools | Noblesville, IN | 05/13/26 | $3,840,000 | 8,208 | 2001 | 7.30% | $468 |
Little Scholars RE tracked comp set, September 2026. Sales without a reported closing cap rate or building area show a dash. Individual cap rates reflect in-place NOI at closing and may include transitional or below-market-occupancy assets. Brand names for identification only; no affiliation. Buyer and seller identities are not published.
Sold Comps · Independent & Regional
The 23 most recent of 92 independent and regional closings in the same twelve months. Median closing cap 7.5%, median $250 per square foot — 25 basis points wider and $154 per foot below brand-operated product.
| Brand | City, ST | Sale date | Sale price | Bldg SF | Built | Cap rate | $/SF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent / regional | Longmont, CO | 08/03/26 | $2,935,000 | 15,000 | 1996 | — | $196 |
| Independent / regional | Boise, ID | 07/24/26 | $1,313,000 | 4,192 | 2005 | — | $313 |
| Independent / regional | Waukee, IA | 07/20/26 | $1,100,000 | 7,400 | 2012 | — | $149 |
| Independent / regional | Jacksonville, FL | 07/15/26 | $2,968,800 | 7,768 | 1991 | — | $382 |
| Independent / regional | Lawrenceville, GA | 07/10/26 | $3,240,000 | 12,290 | 2002 | — | $264 |
| Independent / regional | Modesto, CA | 07/06/26 | $450,000 | 9,416 | 1981 | — | $150 |
| Independent / regional | Milford Mill, MD | 06/15/26 | $1,300,000 | 8,519 | 1992 | 12.33% | $153 |
| Independent / regional | Lilburn, GA | 06/15/26 | $2,609,500 | 5,000 | 1978 | — | $522 |
| Independent / regional | Woodstock, GA | 06/09/26 | $4,100,000 | 9,866 | 2000 | 6.50% | $341 |
| Independent / regional | Orlando, FL | 06/09/26 | $2,275,000 | 5,144 | 1982 | — | $442 |
| Independent / regional | Prattville, AL | 06/04/26 | $4,200,000 | 9,758 | 2024 | 7.50% | $430 |
| Independent / regional | Columbus, OH | 06/02/26 | $750,000 | 5,252 | 1971 | — | $143 |
| Independent / regional | Hickory, NC | 05/29/26 | $1,900,000 | 6,220 | 1991 | 7.08% | $305 |
| Independent / regional | Oakland, CA | 05/27/26 | $1,530,000 | 6,578 | 1938 | 7.84% | $233 |
| Independent / regional | Missouri City, TX | 05/22/26 | $7,780,500 | 29,880 | 2004 | 7.68% | $260 |
| Independent / regional | Goldsboro, NC | 05/21/26 | $1,100,000 | 5,309 | 1985 | — | $207 |
| Independent / regional | Tampa, FL | 05/20/26 | $2,332,000 | 12,364 | 1970 | 8.98% | $189 |
| Independent / regional | Las Vegas, NV | 05/20/26 | $1,525,000 | 1,466 | 1995 | — | $1,040 |
| Independent / regional | Colorado Springs, CO | 05/14/26 | $5,073,000 | 8,532 | 2013 | 6.85% | $595 |
| Independent / regional | Federal Way, WA | 05/14/26 | $1,200,000 | 4,000 | 1974 | — | $300 |
| Independent / regional | Spring, TX | 05/12/26 | $1,359,093 | 6,800 | 1985 | — | $200 |
| Independent / regional | Apopka, FL | 05/06/26 | $5,775,000 | 18,364 | 2009 | 7.06% | $314 |
| Independent / regional | Fremont, CA | 04/30/26 | $665,000 | 4,917 | 2014 | — | $135 |
Further Reading
The guides operators ask for most often. All are free, and none require a sign-up.
The full method behind the estimator: what SDE is, how the multiple is set, and how the real estate is valued separately.
/article-what-is-my-daycare-worth.htmlLicensed capacity, current enrollment, SDE, rent, and lease term. Everything else is commentary.
/article-five-numbers.htmlWhy the rent-to-revenue test decides more deals than the multiple does.
/article-rent-coverage.htmlBuyers pay for licensed seats, not square feet. What that means for underused capacity.
/article-license-capacity-value.htmlWhat to fix, document, and stop doing in the year before you go to market.
/article-prepare-daycare-sale.htmlThe recurring ones: commingled books, an owner who is also the director, and a lease nobody read.
/article-selling-mistakes.htmlEnrollment cycles, lease clocks, and why the best month to list is rarely the one you would guess.
/article-timing-the-sale.htmlHow staffing constraints show up in occupancy, and therefore in what a buyer will pay.
/article-staffing-crisis.htmlAbout Little Scholars Real Estate
A child care brokerage run by people who operated child care. Most brokers underwrite a center as retail; we underwrite it as a business with a building attached.
Alan Stahl · Chief Executive Officer
Alan Stahl has more than five decades of investment and real estate experience, with nearly 35 years focused specifically on child care. He founded Future In-Site Realty Associates in 1992 and has since developed nearly 2,500 multifamily units and more than 40 preschools nationwide.
He developed and sold 25 Tutor Time Child Care Learning Centers, has leased over 45 local and national child care facilities, and operated two schools for 18 years with average enrollment above 350 students. When The Learning Experience expanded nationally, its founder brought Alan in as the broker behind that site expansion.
That operating history is the reason our underwriting starts with ratios, labor, and licensed capacity rather than with a cap rate.
How we work with owners
- Business and real estate sales. Business only, real estate only, or both — including sale-leasebacks that separate the two.
- Lease restructuring. Converting short-term or gross leases into long-term NNN structures that widen the buyer pool at exit.
- Site selection and build-to-suit. Through a preferred-developer relationship with The Learning Experience, we structure LOI terms and execute leases within weeks of site submittal.
- Buy-side and 1031. Sourcing operating schools and NNN-leased child care assets with national-credit tenants.
“There is no broker more knowledgeable of the child care business.”
Bill Haddad · Former Tutor Time franchiseeMethodology & Disclosures
Where every number came from, and what each source can and cannot support.
Sale comparables
The comp set contains 637 tracked child care sales across 41 states, current as of September 2026. Of those, 395 report a closing cap rate and 308 report an asking cap rate; medians are calculated only on transactions reporting the field in question. The comps tables in Section 11 cover the twelve months from September 2025 through August 2026: 78 brand-operated and 92 independent or regional closings. Comparables are primarily national or regional child care facilities; off-market activity and transactions with incomplete public records are not captured.
Long-run pricing (Section 08)
The 2016–2021 portion of the ten-year series is drawn from a licensed third-party commercial database and is published here as derived aggregates only — medians and counts. It covers 344 identified-tenant child care sales of 5,000 square feet and larger, which is the net-lease investment slice of the market rather than the whole market. That square-footage floor excludes smaller independent centers and biases those years upward relative to the 2022–2026 portion, which has no size floor. Record-level rows from the licensed source are not published and are not included in any downloadable data set.
Operator data
KinderCare figures are from the company's 2Q FY2026 earnings supplemental slides, published August 2026, covering the three months ended July 4, 2026. Bright Horizons figures are from the company's investor presentation, published May 2026, reflecting fiscal year 2025 results. CCDF subsidy funding history is as presented in that same Bright Horizons presentation. Both companies' figures are as reported; we have not adjusted or restated them.
Tuition, capacity, and enrollment
Tuition, capacity, and enrollment figures referenced in this report and on our market pages were received manually from individual schools during our 2025 survey. They are indicative of the market, not audited operator data.
Valuation ranges
SDE multiple ranges and the rent-coverage thresholds in Section 09 reflect Little Scholars RE transaction experience and current buyer underwriting.
Disclosures
Not an appraisal or investment advice. This report and the instant estimator are directional market information prepared for educational purposes. Nothing here is an appraisal, a broker's price opinion, tax advice, legal advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell, or lease. No figure should be relied upon as a valuation of any specific property or business. Consult your own accountant, attorney, and a licensed appraiser before acting.
No guarantee of accuracy. Information is compiled from sources believed reliable, including third-party data providers and public records, but is not warranted as accurate or complete and is subject to change.
Brand names. All brand, franchisor, and company names appear for identification purposes only. Little Scholars Real Estate is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any brand, franchisor, or operator named in this report.
Transaction parties. Buyer and seller identities are not published. Buyer activity is described only in aggregate categories. Off-market listing addresses and school names are disclosed only under NDA.
Licensing. Little Scholars Real Estate · Alan Stahl, Broker · California DRE #01299139. Real estate services are offered in other states in cooperation with locally licensed partner brokers.
Child care brokerage specialists since 1992 — 80 closings across 18 states.
Alan@LittleScholarsRE.com · 818-917-7723 · www.LittleScholarsRE.com · DRE #01299139