Inspection records · Nevada
What Nevada daycare inspectors cite
Nevada inspectors cited at least one rule at 87% of the 585 daycares they visited since October 2023. Health and staff training rules are cited most often, and the single rule cited at the most daycares, 289 of them, is about who may work with children.
- Daycares visited
- 585
- Visits in the records
- 3,446
- Had at least one rule cited
- 87%
- Median cited rules per daycare
- 7
How it works
How daycare inspections work in Nevada
Nevada's Division of Social Services, Child Care Licensing, licenses daycare centers and home daycares and inspects them. Routine visits come without notice, and inspectors also investigate complaints from parents and the public.
Nevada cites each finding by its section in the state's child care regulations or child care law. Only a few Nevada records include the inspector's own notes, so the rule itself usually tells you what the finding was about.
- Who inspects: Nevada Division of Social Services, Child Care Licensing.
- Routine visits: Nevada reported inspecting licensed centers twice a year, without notice (national survey of state licensing agencies, 2017).
- Visits in the records since October 2023: 2,796 inspections, 358 complaint investigations, 292 other visits, at 585 daycares (431 centers and 154 home daycares).
- Records on each listing go back to: 2015.
How common
How often inspectors cite a rule
- of the 585 daycares visited had at least one rule cited
- 87%
- cited rules for the middle daycare over three years
- 7
These figures describe Nevada's own inspection records since October 2023. States write and cite their rules in different ways, so a figure here cannot be compared with another state's. A cited rule is one finding at one visit, not a rating of a daycare.
What gets cited
What Nevada's cited rules are about
Share of the 7,795 rules cited since October 2023, sorted into plain groups.
Health rules lead. Health, medication and illness rules make up 24.8% of the rules Nevada inspectors cited and reached 70% of the daycares visited. Two of the most cited health rules are about records on file: each child's immunization certificate and health record.
Staff training comes next (19.4% of citations, at 60% of daycares), then background checks (13.8%, at 57%), paperwork (10.9%) and building and play areas (8.8%). Supervision and ratio rules are a small share of citations (4.1%), yet 28% of daycares visited had one cited.
Most cited
The rule areas Nevada cites most
Ordered by how many daycares had the rule cited since October 2023. The wording is the state's rule; no daycare is named here.
- Background checks289 daycares (49.4% of those visited)
No one with a disqualifying crime on staff
The state's rule: NAC 302
A daycare may not hire or accept as a volunteer anyone convicted of child abuse or neglect or of a crime that harmed a person, or facing such a charge, and staff must be able to care for children without physical punishment. A citation means an inspector found the daycare had not met this rule for a staff member or volunteer.
Ask on a tour: How do you check the history of new staff and volunteers before they work with children?
- Staff training and qualifications280 daycares (47.9% of those visited)
Required training courses for staff
The state's rule: NAC 323
The director and staff must finish a set of required courses on time, such as first aid, giving medication, child development and spotting abuse, and keep proof in each personnel file. A citation means a course was missing or late, or the proof was not in the file.
Ask on a tour: Which training courses has my child's teacher finished, and is their first aid training current?
- Health, medication and illness270 daycares (46.2% of those visited)
Shot records before a child starts
The state's rule: NRS 230
Nevada law requires a certificate of immunization before a child is admitted, with a short conditional start allowed while records are gathered. A citation means a child's file lacked a current immunization record or the conditional time had run out.
Ask on a tour: How do you keep immunization records current for the children in my child's room?
- Staff training and qualifications268 daycares (45.8% of those visited)
Who may work as a caregiver
The state's rule: NAC 306
Every caregiver must be old enough, able to call for help in an emergency, fit for the work and enrolled with The Nevada Registry, which tracks early childhood staff training, within a set time of starting. A citation means a caregiver did not meet one of these requirements.
Ask on a tour: Are all the caregivers in my child's room enrolled with The Nevada Registry?
- Health, medication and illness241 daycares (41.2% of those visited)
A health record for every child
The state's rule: NAC.370
Each child's file must hold evidence of the child's health, such as a health exam done before enrolling. A citation means a child's health record was missing or out of date.
Ask on a tour: Which health forms do you need from me before my child starts, and how often do they need updating?
- Building, equipment and play areas240 daycares (41% of those visited)
Safe building and outdoor play space
The state's rule: NAC 250.4
The building and grounds must meet rules on space, temperature, fencing, drainage and safe play equipment. A citation means an inspector found a problem with the space itself, inside or out.
Ask on a tour: Can I see the playground, and what is under the climbing equipment?
- Safety and hazards194 daycares (33.2% of those visited)
Monthly fire drills and regular disaster drills
The state's rule: NAC 280.3
A daycare must hold a fire drill every month and a drill for natural disasters at least once every 3 months. A citation means drills were missed or not recorded.
Ask on a tour: When was your last fire drill, and can I see the drill log?
- Health, medication and illness177 daycares (30.3% of those visited)
Clean, sanitized floors and surfaces
The state's rule: NAC 414
Floors, rugs, carpets and hard surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized as the rules require. A citation means an inspector found surfaces that were not kept clean or sanitized.
Ask on a tour: How often are floors, rugs and tables cleaned and sanitized, and with what?
On the tour
What to ask when you visit
Staff rules sit at the head of Nevada's list, so start there: ask how the daycare checks the history of new hires and volunteers, which training each teacher in your child's room has finished, and how it keeps track of both.
Then ask what health and immunization forms you will need to bring, and ask to see the fire drill log. If anything on the daycare's state record worries you, ask the director what happened and what changed.
The full tour checklist for Nevada puts these questions on one printable page.
On each listing
How to read a daycare's record
Each Nevada listing on DaycarePal shows the state's inspection visits for that daycare, with the date of each visit and each rule cited. Nevada names the rule by its section number and rarely adds notes, so use the rule list on this page to see what area a citation covers.
The middle Nevada daycare had 7 rules cited in the three years of records, so several citations are common. The same rule cited visit after visit says more than one finding. Nevada's records do not show when a cited rule was corrected, so ask the director, and give a recent citation more weight than an old one.
More detail: how to read a daycare inspection report. Find a daycare's record on its listing from daycares in Nevada, or search the state's records.
Questions
Questions about Nevada daycare inspections
How often are Nevada daycares inspected?
Nevada reported inspecting licensed centers twice a year, without notice, in a 2017 national survey of state licensing agencies. Since October 2023, Nevada made 3,446 visits to the 585 daycares listed here, including 358 complaint investigations.
How do I look up a Nevada daycare's inspection record?
Open the daycare's listing on DaycarePal and go to its inspection section, or search Nevada's child care licensing records by the daycare's name.
What do the rule numbers on a Nevada record mean?
Each number points to a section of Nevada's child care regulations or law. This page explains the rules cited most often; for any other, ask the director what the rule covers and what the daycare did about it.
Does a cited rule mean a daycare is unsafe?
No. A cited rule is one finding at one visit, and 87% of the Nevada daycares inspectors visited had at least one. Look at what was cited, how recent it is and whether it keeps coming back.
Can I compare Nevada's numbers with another state's?
No. Each state writes its own rules and records citations in its own way, so the figures here only make sense within Nevada. Use them to compare Nevada daycares with each other.
Source: Nevada Division of Social Services, Child Care Licensing, inspection records October 2023 to September 2026, for the daycares listed on DaycarePal. Inspection schedule: National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations (ACF), from a 2017 survey of state licensing agencies.