Daycare in Waxhaw NC: How 10 Centers Compare

There’s a good chance you’ve been told the best daycare in Waxhaw is whichever five-star center has an opening. It’s true that five stars is the top license North Carolina gives a child care center, and 5 of the 10 licensed centers serving children under five in the Waxhaw ZIP code, 28173, hold one. But only 4 of those 5 have gone the past three years without a state administrative action on the record, according to the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education (DCDEE) facility search, which I checked center by center on September 27, 2026. And only 6 of the 10 centers sit inside Waxhaw’s town limits at all.

So the star rating gets you a shortlist, and the state record underneath it does the rest. Below you’ll find all 10 centers ranked on that record, what the state’s action flag means, why a Waxhaw address isn’t always the town of Waxhaw, what full-time care costs in Union County and how to check any center yourself.

21 min read | Living in South Charlotte

What This Story Covers

• What is the best daycare in Waxhaw NC?
• How the ranking works, in plain terms
• Is a Waxhaw daycare actually in Waxhaw?
• The 10 centers, one at a time
• What the state action flag tells you
• What does daycare cost in Waxhaw?
• Why aren’t Indian Land daycares in this ranking?
• How to check a Waxhaw daycare yourself
• Frequently Asked Questions About Daycare in Waxhaw NC

What is the best daycare in Waxhaw NC?

On the state’s record as of September 27, 2026, Laurelwood Community Preschool on Waxhaw-Marvin Road comes out first, followed by Ducklings Child Care Services at Waxhaw on South Jackson Avenue. Both hold five-star licenses and show no DCDEE administrative action in the three years of history the state publishes, and Laurelwood’s 0.83 citations per visit is the lowest rate of the eight star-rated centers. The ranking is ours, built from state data. North Carolina doesn’t rank centers against each other.

All 10 licensed child care centers serving children under five in Waxhaw ZIP code 28173, ranked on the NC DCDEE record, checked September 27, 2026. Use it as your starting shortlist.

All 10 licensed child care centers serving children under five in Waxhaw ZIP code 28173, ranked on the NC DCDEE record, checked September 27, 2026. Use it as your starting shortlist.

Rank and center	License	Admin action, 3 yrs	Citations per visit	Inside town limits	Ages, capacity	Sanitation (of 235)
1. Laurelwood Community Preschool	Five star	None shown	0.83 (5 in 6 visits)	Yes	2 through 5, 35	230, Superior
2. Ducklings Child Care Services at Waxhaw	Five star	None shown	1.00 (8 in 8 visits)	Yes	0 through 12, 36	233, Superior
3. Waxhaw Elementary preschool classrooms	Five star	None shown	2.57 (18 in 7 visits)	Yes	3 through 5, 54	233, Superior
4. Spanish For Fun! Waxhaw	Five star	None shown	5.00 (30 in 6 visits)	No	0 through 12, 199	222, Superior
5. The Goddard School	Five star	Yes	0.95 (20 in 21 visits)	No	0 through 12, 157	230, Superior
6. The Learning Experience	Four star	None shown	0.94 (16 in 17 visits)	No	0 through 12, 256	228, Superior
7. Big Blue Marble Academy Waxhaw	Four star	Yes	1.97 (67 in 34 visits)	Yes	0 through 12, 197	221, Superior
8. Everbrook Academy	Three star	Yes	1.39 (25 in 18 visits)	Yes	0 through 12, 156	224, Superior
9. Primrose School of Waxhaw	Temporary, no star level yet	None shown	0.50 (2 in 4 visits)	Yes	0 through 12, 270	235, Superior
10. Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Child Development Center	Religious sponsored, no star level	None shown	0.83 (5 in 6 visits)	No	0 through 12, 83	220, Superior

I went into these records expecting the star count to do most of the sorting, and in Waxhaw it doesn’t. Half the centers hold five stars, so what separates them is what the state found when it showed up, usually unannounced. Most of what I read in the visit reports was paperwork. A few citations weren’t, and those are the ones I’d read before touring anywhere.

How the ranking works, in plain terms

Every license, visit and citation figure here comes from the NC Child Care Facility Search, the public record DCDEE keeps for every licensed program in the state. I searched ZIP code 28173 for child care centers on September 27, 2026, and got 16. Six are after-school programs licensed only for ages 5 through 12, which leaves 10 centers serving children under five, each under one license. The same search with the facility type set to Any returns the same 16 records, so no licensed family child care home in the ZIP is missing.

Then I ranked the 10 on three measures, in this order.

First, the current star rated license. North Carolina licenses centers from one star to five, and stars two through five are earned with points: up to 7 for program standards, up to 7 for education standards and 1 quality point. Two of the 10 hold no star level, one because it’s new and one because it’s religious sponsored. They sit after the eight star-rated centers because this measure can’t place them, and that isn’t a lower rating from the state.

Second, whether DCDEE issued an administrative action in the past three years. Each record says either that DCDEE “has not taken any action against this facility for the current license number and location in the last 3 years” or that it “has issued one or more Administrative Actions.” Under the state’s rule, 10A NCAC 09 .2201, an action follows “a finding that a child care facility operator has violated” the child care law or rules, which is why it counts here. You get a yes or no and nothing more.

Third, rule citations per state visit. I counted every rule cited in each center’s visit table and divided by its visits, because a center with 34 visits had far more chances to be cited than one with 6. Sanitation scores are in the table as context only; all 10 scored Superior. Review ratings are out entirely. It’s the same method as our Matthews daycare ranking, where 4 of 12 five-star licenses showed no action. In Waxhaw it’s 4 of 5.

Is a Waxhaw daycare actually in Waxhaw?

Not always. Six of the 10 centers are inside Waxhaw’s town limits, and 4 carry a Waxhaw mailing address from unincorporated Union County: The Goddard School and The Learning Experience on Providence Road South (NC 16, the main road north toward Charlotte), Spanish For Fun! Waxhaw on Rea Road and Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Child Development Center on Old Waxhaw Monroe Road. I ran each address through the US Census Bureau geocoder, which returns the town an address falls in, and checked it against the Union County address points, which carry a municipality field. They agreed on all 10.

ZIP codes follow mail routes, not town limits, and 28173 is a big route. The Census Bureau’s 2020 ZIP code area relationship file puts about 12.1 of the ZIP area’s 106.3 square miles of land inside the Town of Waxhaw, or 11.4%. The rest takes in all of Marvin’s land, parts of Weddington, Wesley Chapel and Mineral Springs, and about 68.4% of the ZIP that sits outside any town or census-designated place. You can see it in the search itself: the after-school program at Rea View Elementary sits inside Weddington, and Marvin Elementary’s lists Marvin as its city.

Why would you care, if the daycare is the same either way? Because town limits decide whose zoning applies next door and whether a town tax is added to Union County’s, so map the drive from the house you’re considering, not from the ZIP. If you’re still sorting out which part of the ZIP fits you, start with Waxhaw’s named neighborhoods and how they differ and what a normal week in Waxhaw looks like.

The 10 centers, one at a time

Here’s what the state record says about each one, with the license number you’d type into the search. Capacity is how many children the license allows at once. Visit windows start as early as October 2023. I’ve also noted what each record shows since January 1, 2025, which doesn’t move the ranking but tells you whether a center has changed.

1. Laurelwood Community Preschool, 4710 Waxhaw-Marvin Road (license 90000480)

Five stars since at least December 23, 2019, with 14 of 15 points on the current license, effective September 25, 2020. It’s the smallest center here, 35 children ages 2 through 5, and its license notes that it “Meets reduced ratios minus one per group.” Only one of its 6 visits since February 2024 produced citations, 5 rules on August 6, 2024, including uncovered outlets and plastic bags within reach of children in one room. That’s 0.83 per visit, the lowest of the eight star-rated centers, with none in 4 visits since January 2025. No administrative action. Inside town limits. If you need infant care, its youngest age is 2.

2. Ducklings Child Care Services at Waxhaw, 401 South Jackson Avenue (license 90000389)

Five stars on a license effective August 21, 2026, renewing the five-star license it held from October 3, 2023. It takes 36 children from infancy through 12, so it’s the top-ranked center here that takes infants. Eight visits since December 2023, 7 unannounced, produced 8 citations, 1.00 per visit, mostly menus, food and records, plus an unlocked door to a room holding hazardous materials in May 2024 and bathroom sanitizer within children’s reach in April 2026. No administrative action. Inside town limits. Watch one trap if you pull the record: the 13-point breakdown sits under the previous license, not the current one.

3. Waxhaw Elementary preschool classrooms, 1101 Old Providence Road (license 90000441)

This isn’t a daycare you can simply apply to.

The license belongs to the Union County Board of Education, covers ages 3 through 5 with a capacity of 54 and carries a Certified Developmental Day restriction, and the provider lists NC Pre-K among its services. Union County Public Schools says it “does not have a general enrollment process for preschool programs,” and its Pre-K Scholars page lists Waxhaw Elementary as an NC Pre-K site for children who are four by August 31 in households earning less than 75 percent of the state median income, with some exceptions the page lists above that line.

On the record: five stars since at least December 11, 2019, no administrative action, and 18 citations in 7 visits, 2.57 per visit, mostly staff paperwork. Inside town limits.

4. Spanish For Fun! Waxhaw, 9917 Rea Road (license 90000555)

A temporary license on June 27, 2025, then five stars from December 28, 2025, with 13 of 15 points, for 199 children from infancy through 12. No administrative action. What you’ll want to ask about is the citation rate: 30 in 6 visits, or 5.00 per visit, the highest of the 10. Fourteen came on one unannounced visit on June 16, 2026, mostly staff training and enrollment records, though the first was a supervision citation. Its history only starts in August 2025. Unincorporated, with a Waxhaw address.

5. The Goddard School, 1528 Providence Road South (license 90000396)

Five stars on a license effective December 27, 2024, with 14 of 15 points, for 157 children from infancy through 12. It carries an administrative action flag, and the record adds, “The provider has appealed an action that has been issued.” The license before this one, effective June 26, 2024, is listed as a special provisional license.

If you pull its visit table, you’ll find these citations from October 2023 through March 2024, quoted here from the record and dated by the visit they sit under:

• October 25, 2023: “Child was handled roughly.” The same visit cites that “Prior to employment a Criminal Background Check was not completed.”
• December 5, 2023: “There was a substantiation of child maltreatment.” The same visit cites a bottle warmer used near a group of one-year-olds on December 4, 2023, and the record says “A child sustained burns to the face, hands and fingers” when hot water dripped off a warmed bottle. It also carries a background check citation.
• February 19, 2024: “The operator made an effort to falsify information.” The same visit cites background checks not completed for two staff persons.
• March 12, 2024: “The operator made an effort to falsify information.”

The record marks each of these violations “confirmed corrected” by letter from the provider or, for the maltreatment citation, by a consultant’s follow-up visit on November 8, 2024. Since January 2025 it shows 3 visits and 1 citation; over the full window, 20 citations in 21 visits, 0.95 per visit. You can read every visit report yourself by typing license 90000396 into the NC Child Care Facility Search. Unincorporated, with a Waxhaw address.

6. The Learning Experience, 1425 Providence Road South (license 90000524)

The second largest center here after Primrose, licensed for 256 children from infancy through 12. Four stars since July 5, 2025, up from one star, with 10 of 15 points. No administrative action, and 16 citations in 17 visits, 0.94 per visit. If you tour it, ask about April 22, 2026, when eight citations came in, including a fire inspection not scheduled within 12 months, and a July 2, 2025 visit cited supervision after a child was able to leave a classroom. Unincorporated, with a Waxhaw address.

7. Big Blue Marble Academy Waxhaw, 3930 Providence Road South (license 90000499)

Four stars since April 17, 2024, with 10 of 15 points; the license before it, effective October 13, 2023, was a special provisional license. Licensed for 197 children from infancy through 12. You’ll find the longest visit history here: 34 visits with 67 citations, 1.97 per visit, and an administrative action flag. Twenty-six citations came on one October 31, 2023 visit. In 2024 the record cites enhanced ratios “not met” on January 8 and March 13, children “not adequately supervised” on March 13 and May 29, the safe sleep policy on July 11, and a staff member “yelling at a child” in a September 10 citation. Since January 2025, it’s 15 citations in 10 visits. Inside town limits.

8. Everbrook Academy, 2925 Providence Road South (license 90000508)

Three stars since July 14, 2021, with 9 of 15 points, for 156 children from infancy through 12. It carries an administrative action flag and 25 citations in 18 visits, 1.39 per visit. Every citation came in 2023 and 2024, including a January 22, 2024 visit citing that a staff member “picked up a child, age one-year-old, by the upper arms” to move the child, and a June 20, 2024 visit citing that a three-year-old with a documented severe allergy to egg “was served ravioli that contained egg.” Since January 2025, you’ll see 7 visits and no citations. Inside town limits.

9. Primrose School of Waxhaw, 2421 Cuthbertson Road (license 90000562)

Brand new. Its first license is temporary, effective April 21, 2026, for 270 children from infancy through 12, so it can’t apply for a star level before late October 2026. So far it has 4 visits, 2 citations, 0.50 per visit, no administrative action and the only perfect sanitation score of the 10, 235 of 235. It’s ninth because it has no star level yet, not because of anything you’ll find on its record. Inside town limits.

10. Waxhaw Presbyterian Church Child Development Center, 8100 Old Waxhaw Monroe Road (license 90000177)

A religious-sponsored center under General Statute 110-106, which exempts religious-sponsored programs from the license requirement while the state still visits them to check compliance. It held a four-star license from August 2, 2016, and has run under the religious-sponsored option since June 1, 2019, for 83 children from infancy through 12. All 6 visits since October 2023 were unannounced, with 5 citations, 0.83 per visit, and no administrative action. It sits after the eight star-rated centers because it holds no star level, and after Primrose on citations per visit. Only Primrose’s 0.50 is lower, and Laurelwood’s matches it. Unincorporated, with a Waxhaw address.

What the state action flag tells you, and what it doesn’t

The flag tells you the state found a violation and did something formal about it. The statute on administrative penalties, G.S. 110-102.2, allows a written warning, a reprimand, probation, suspension or revocation “for failure to comply,” and rule .2201 lists nine actions in all. Three of the 10 Waxhaw centers carry the flag: The Goddard School, Big Blue Marble Academy and Everbrook Academy.

The flag line doesn’t say which action, when, or how serious, so a reprimand and a probationary license look the same. The no-action wording covers only the current license number and location, actions appear only after the 30-day appeal window closes, and visit reports tied to an active maltreatment investigation stay hidden while the case is open.

The license history fills part of the gap: Goddard and Big Blue Marble both list a special provisional license, one of the actions the rule names. If a center you like carries the flag, ask the director what it was and what changed, or request the details from DCDEE. Rule .2201 also has a center post an action near its entrance while it’s under appeal or in effect, so you may see it on a tour.

Most citations across these records are paperwork: a missing health form, an activity plan that wasn’t posted. They count the same as the few that touch supervision, ratios or safe sleep, which is why the citation rate sits third in this ranking and why you should read the actual visits for the two or three centers you’re serious about.

What does daycare cost in Waxhaw?

For full-time infant care at a five-star center, plan on about $1,742 a month. That’s the Union County 75th percentile private rate in the state’s 2025 Child Care Market Rate Survey, which asked centers what they charged private-pay parents for full-time care, 32 hours a week or more, in September 2025. Three quarters of the children counted paid that or less.

The price drops as children age: $1,651 for a two-year-old and $1,569 for ages three through five at five stars, and $1,600, $1,550 and $1,556 at four stars. Since all 10 centers are in Union County, those figures apply to every center on the list.

The subsidized center rates that take effect October 1, 2026, listed on DCDEE’s market rates page, pay a five-star Union County center $1,690 for infants and toddlers, $1,573 for two-year-olds and $1,495 for ages three through five. That’s the monthly full-time rate under the subsidy payment manual, not a tuition quote. None of these centers report tuition to the state, so ask each for its rate sheet, what’s included and its withdrawal notice. Five of the 10 records say the center isn’t enrolled in the subsidy program, which matters only if you plan to use one.

What surprised me in the cost numbers is how little the star level moves the price in Union County. The survey’s 75th percentile for infant care is $1,742 at five stars, $1,600 at four and $1,677 at three. So I wouldn’t read a higher price as a higher rating, or a lower one as a warning. Get the rate sheet, then look up the license number before you sign anything.

Why aren’t Indian Land daycares in this ranking?

Because they’re in another state. Indian Land sits just across the line in Lancaster County, South Carolina, and if you’re house hunting around Waxhaw you may well be looking on both sides. North Carolina’s search covers North Carolina programs, and a search of Indian Land’s ZIP, 29707, returns no results.

South Carolina’s rating, ABC Quality, run by the Division of Early Care and Education at the South Carolina Department of Social Services, describes itself as voluntary. A North Carolina star level and a South Carolina rating aren’t the same measure, so I kept them off one list. If you’re weighing both sides, use each state’s own tools and count the drive as part of the choice.

How to check a Waxhaw daycare yourself

You can pull any center’s record in a few minutes, and you should, because a license can change the week after this was checked. Open the NC Child Care Facility Search and type in a license number from this article, or search ZIP 28173 for child care centers.

Go straight to three places. The current license block shows the star level, effective date, ages and capacity, so check which block the points sit under. The DCDEE Visits table lists every visit, and clicking Yes under Violations shows what the consultant found and how it was fixed. At the bottom, the Administrative Action Information line tells you whether the state took formal action.

If a preschool you’ve heard about doesn’t turn up, ask how many hours a day it runs. North Carolina’s definition of child care in G.S. 110-86 covers care “for more than four hours but less than 24 hours per day,” so a half-day program can sit outside this search entirely.

Then tour and ask what the record can’t show: openings in your child’s age room, teacher turnover, sick-child rules and the daily schedule. Our guide to planning a scouting visit before you relocate shows how to fit tours into a house-hunting trip, and if a pre-K year is close, read how Union County school assignment is decided before you fall for a street.

Frequently Asked Questions About Daycare in Waxhaw NC

How much does daycare cost in Waxhaw NC or Union County?

The 2025 NC Child Care Market Rate Survey put the 75th percentile private rate for full-time infant care at a five-star Union County center at 1,742 dollars a month, falling to 1,651 dollars for two-year-olds and 1,569 dollars for ages three through five. All 10 Waxhaw centers in this ranking are in Union County.

Are child care centers in NC regularly inspected?

Yes. The state record lists every DCDEE visit from roughly the last three years. For the 10 Waxhaw centers serving children under five, DCDEE logged 127 visits between October 2023 and September 2026, and 112 of them were unannounced, according to the NC Child Care Facility Search checked September 27, 2026.

How do I find a licensed child care facility in Waxhaw NC?

You can use the NC Child Care Facility Search at ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov and search ZIP code 28173 with the facility type set to Child Care Center. On September 27, 2026 it returned 16 licensed centers, 10 of them serving children under five and 6 licensed for school-age children only.

What are the requirements for NC Pre-K in Waxhaw?

Union County Public Schools lists Waxhaw Elementary as an NC Pre-K site. Your child must be four years old by August 31 of the school year, and households earning less than 75 percent of the state median income are eligible. UCPS says each of its Pre-K options has its own eligibility rules, so you apply program by program.

What are the North Carolina child care star rating requirements?

North Carolina licenses centers from one to five stars. Stars two through five are earned with points you can read on each record, up to 7 for program standards, up to 7 for education standards and 1 quality point, for 15 in all. A new center must wait six months before it can apply for two through five stars.

About the Author

Steve Jarrell is a licensed North Carolina and South Carolina broker and the team lead of The Longleaf Group at eXp Realty, which he co-leads with his wife Amanda. Before real estate, Steve joined VisualTour as President, led its rebrand to Paradym, and led the company to its acquisition by Constellation Software in 2020. He holds an MBA from the University of Tennessee with concentrations in Marketing and Innovation. The Longleaf Group is an eXp ICON Team and a RealTrends Verified Top Team by Volume for 2026, with 140+ five-star reviews.

Steve lives in Weddington, which the 28173 ZIP partly overlaps, and helps buyers relocating to Waxhaw and the towns around it line up the house, the drive and the child care search before they commit to a street. You can reach him at 704-774-7170.

How we sourced this

Every license fact, visit, citation and administrative action flag comes from the NC Child Care Facility Search, pulled for all 16 center records in ZIP code 28173 on September 27, 2026. Citations per visit are our arithmetic from each record’s visit table. Town limit status comes from the US Census Bureau geocoder, checked against Union County’s address points. You can re-run every count from the links below. Cost figures come from the state’s 2025 Child Care Market Rate Survey (Appendix D, Union County, 75th percentile) and the subsidized center rate table effective October 1, 2026.

• NC DCDEE, Child Care Facility Search
• NC Administrative Code, 10A NCAC 09 .2201, Administrative Actions General Provisions
• NC General Statutes, G.S. 110-102.2, Administrative penalties
• NC General Statutes, G.S. 110-106, Religious sponsored child care facilities
• NC General Statutes, G.S. 110-86, Definitions
• US Census Bureau, 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file
• US Census Bureau, Geocoder
• Union County address points (UCPS_Addresses), ArcGIS
• NC DCDEE, Child Care Market Rate Survey 2025
• NC DCDEE, Subsidized Child Care Market Rates for Child Care Centers, effective October 1, 2026
• NC DCDEE, Market Rates page
• NC DHHS, Subsidized Child Care Assistance Program Policy Manual, Chapter 16
• Union County Public Schools, Pre-K Scholars
• South Carolina Department of Social Services, ABC Quality

What we left out: online review ratings, because they aren’t comparable across centers; national accreditation, because we didn’t confirm it for every center from a primary source; and statewide cost averages that turned up in search results without a primary document behind them. The flag line doesn’t say which action was taken or when; the special provisional licenses reported here come from each license history. It names no staff member from any visit report. It describes public records and is not an endorsement of any center.

Last updated: September 30, 2026