Boone County, IN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Section 157.035 governs what work a resident may run out of a home in unincorporated Boone County, and Table 10 sorts business types into permitted crafts trades, advice-only professional work and a third category the county calls prohibited uses. That prohibited list opens with office- and client-facing uses such as a real estate office, insurance office, clinic and doctor's office, continues through funeral homes and bed and breakfasts, and specifically names day care center before moving on to animal hospitals, kennels and vehicle-related businesses. Placing day care centers on this list means a resident cannot rely on the home occupation section to open a licensed child care business inside the house, regardless of the number of children served, because the ordinance excludes the use category itself rather than setting a headcount or hours limit for it.

Anyone wanting to operate child care from residential property in unincorporated Boone County would need to pursue a use and zoning classification outside the home occupation provisions, and separately satisfy the state's child care licensing requirements administered through Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, which sit apart from this local zoning table. The prohibition applies in the zoning districts covered by Chapter 157 outside the incorporated limits of Lebanon, Zionsville, Whitestown, Jamestown and Thorntown, each of which regulates home occupations under its own municipal code.