Raleigh, NC Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

UDO Sec. C. Gen. 10(2), excluding masseurs. The use table shows it requires a Special Use Permit ("S") only in Commercial Mixed Use (CX-), Downtown Mixed Use (DX-), Industrial Mixed Use (IX-) and Industrial Heavy (IH) districts, and it is not permitted at all in any residential, RX-, office, neighborhood mixed-use, Commercial Mixed Use Parkway, Airport or Manufactured Housing district. Two spacing rules apply on top of that district limit: an adult establishment cannot sit within 2,000 feet of another adult establishment, measured property line to property line, because the UDO finds their concentration creates "serious objectionable operational characteristics" that risk blighting a neighborhood.

Separately, it cannot be within 2,000 feet of a preexisting place of worship, public or private school, day-care facility, or any R-, RX-, OP-, OX-, NX-, MH or CMP district boundary. Signage and displays visible to the public from sidewalks are also barred, apart from permitted on- and off-premise signs. The Board of Adjustment can vary either 2,000-foot buffer, but only on specific findings, that strict enforcement would cause practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, that the use won't injure nearby property, won't encourage a "skid row" effect, won't conflict with a neighborhood conservation or revitalization program, and won't create adverse secondary effects like noise, light, stormwater runoff, or parking and pedestrian-safety problems.