Child care center administrator vs center director

The differences between child care center administrators and center directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a child care center administrator and a center director. Additionally, a center director has an average salary of $106,505, which is higher than the $58,379 average annual salary of a child care center administrator.

The top three skills for a child care center administrator include quality care, nursing home and DHS. The most important skills for a center director are customer service, oversight, and proficiency testing.

Child care center administrator vs center director overview

	Child Care Center Administrator	Center Director
Yearly salary	$58,379	$106,505
Hourly rate	$28.07	$51.20
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	146,587	62,348
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	4	4

Child care center administrator vs center director salary

Child care center administrators and center directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Child Care Center Administrator	Center Director
Average salary	$58,379	$106,505
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $95,000	Between $65,000 And $172,000
Highest paying City	-	Newark, DE
Highest paying state	-	Rhode Island
Best paying company	-	Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between child care center administrator and center director education

There are a few differences between a child care center administrator and a center director in terms of educational background:

	Child Care Center Administrator	Center Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 58%	Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	University of Pennsylvania

Child care center administrator vs center director demographics

Here are the differences between child care center administrators' and center directors' demographics:

	Child Care Center Administrator	Center Director
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 31.9% Female, 68.1%	Male, 29.0% Female, 71.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.1% Asian, 4.3% White, 66.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 4.4% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	16%	16%

Differences between child care center administrator and center director duties and responsibilities

Child care center administrator example responsibilities.

Manage facilities maintenance/upgrades, and systems such as electronic medical records (EMR), billing, transcription and phones.
Budget preparation/administration, record maintenance, purchasing, payroll, supervision of staff, development and administration of policies and procedures.
Teach them numbers ABC's sanitize the whole room change diapers make breakfast lunch and snack nap time reading time

Center director example responsibilities.

Manage programs provide by SDE, DMH, DHS.
Design, implement and manage day-to-day operation of the 21st CCLC grant support afterschool program.
Manage daily operations of NAEYC accredit childcare center.
Manage daily operation for a family-own business with responsibility for sales, production, and administrative functions including payroll.
Manage delivery of quality early childhood education programs by establishing an environment of learning and maintaining the integrity of the programs.
Lead a staff of 76 FTE's.

Child care center administrator vs center director skills

Common child care center administrator skills

Quality Care, 22%
Nursing Home, 18%
DHS, 14%
Federal Regulations, 8%
Child Care Facility, 7%
Child Development, 5%

Common center director skills

Customer Service, 12%
Oversight, 8%
Proficiency Testing, 6%
Center Management, 6%
State Regulations, 6%
Federal Regulations, 6%

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Executive Management Industry
Child Care Center Administrator
Child Care Center Administrator vs Center Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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