Home Business in Erie, PA (2026)
4 verified home business rules for Erie, Pennsylvania, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Zoning & Home Occupation Permits
A Home Occupation in Erie must be clearly secondary to the residential use and generate no more customer, delivery or pickup traffic than normal residential use; it may have no employees, no retail display or substantial inventory, no outside commercial appearance, no noise/odors/interference, and may occupy no more than 25% of the dwelling's habitable floor area, conducted only within the dwelling.
Erie Home Occupation Standards: No Employees, 25% Area
Heavy RestrictionsCity of Erie Zoning Ordinance, Article 6 - definition of Home Occupation
HOME OCCUPATION - A commercial or commercial activity administered or conducted as an accessory use which is clearly secondary to the use as a residential dwelling and which involves no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions to or from the premises, in excess of those normally associated with residential use. The commercial or...
Signage Rules
A Home Occupation in Erie may have no sign at all - the Zoning Ordinance prohibits any outside appearance of a commercial use 'including, but not limited to, parking, signs or lights.' The only sign allowed at a residence in R-1, R-1A, R-2, R-3 and W-R districts is a non-illuminated, non-reflective sign up to four square feet announcing the occupant's name and address.
Erie Home Occupation Signs Barred; Residential Sign 4 sq ft
Heavy RestrictionsCity of Erie Zoning Ordinance Sec. 303, 303.14-303.15
303 SIGNS: ... All signs, billboards, and outdoor advertising as prescribed herein shall require a building permit and shall conform to the following standards: ... 303.14 Routine non-advertising signs, situated within the property lines not exceeding 4 square feet in area, such as signs stating 'No Trespassing' or 'Private Drive', entrance and exit directional signs shall be allowed and are...
Customer Traffic Restrictions
Erie's Home Occupation definition allows 'no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions to or from the premises, in excess of those normally associated with residential use,' so a qualifying home business cannot draw client visits, deliveries or pickups beyond ordinary household levels.
Erie Home Occupation: No Excess Customer or Delivery Traffic
Heavy RestrictionsCity of Erie Zoning Ordinance, Article 6 - definition of Home Occupation
HOME OCCUPATION - A commercial or commercial activity administered or conducted as an accessory use which is clearly secondary to the use as a residential dwelling and which involves no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian, pickup, delivery or removal functions to or from the premises, in excess of those normally associated with residential use. ... (a) the comme...
Home Daycare
Erie's zoning code lists family day-care homes as a permitted, by-right use in every residential district from R-1 through RLB, so no special exception hearing is needed to open one. But the City still treats it as a licensed child-care facility: Article 332 requires a Building Code Official-issued certificate of occupancy before the first child is dropped off.
Family Day-Care Homes Allowed by Right in Erie
Some RestrictionsCity of Erie Codified Ordinances, Article 332 (Child-Care Facilities) §§ 332.02, 332.03, 332.07, 332.14; Zoning Ordinance § 204.1 (R-1 Permitted Uses)
CHILD-CARE FACILITY Any individual, corporation, incorporated or unincorporated organization, society, or agency which may receive or care for children under the age of 16 on a regular basis for a given part of a twenty-four-hour day regardless of remuneration. The term shall include but not be limited to day-care centers, family day-care homes, home child care, child day-care facilities, presc...