Canyon County, ID Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Canyon County Code § 07-02-03 defines DAYCARE as care and supervision of unrelated children for compensation, then splits it by headcount: a Family Daycare Home serves one to six children, a Group Daycare Facility serves seven to twelve, and a Daycare Center serves thirteen or more. That headcount line matters because § 07-15-09, Daycare Facilities Additional Requirements/Standards, applies its detailed conditions only to "Group daycare facility and daycare center," not to the smallest, six-and-under Family Daycare Home tier. Under subsection (2) of § 07-15-09, a qualifying group or center facility must provide at least thirty five square feet of net indoor floor area per child, measured wall to wall in rooms actually used by the children; must secure and maintain a basic daycare license from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare's family and children's services division; must provide on-site vehicle pickup and turnaround space in addition to required off-street parking; and must provide at least one hundred square feet of outdoor play area per child, a requirement that can be waived if abutting parkland covers the need or the program's scheduling keeps usage within the ratio.

Separately, whenever any daycare facility is approved, subsection (1) requires the director or presiding party to fix a maximum enrollment number as a condition of that approval, and larger daycares seeking a conditional use permit under § 07-07-09 face the same enrollment cap plus a health, safety and site-design review. These standards apply only in unincorporated Canyon County; a home daycare inside Caldwell, Nampa, Middleton, Greenleaf, Melba, Notus, Wilder, Parma or Star is regulated under that city's own code instead.