Cathedral City, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Cathedral City Municipal Code § 9.08.020 defines a family day care home as a home that regularly provides care, protection, and supervision of twelve or fewer children, in the provider's own home, for periods of less than twenty-four hours per day while the parents or guardians are away. A small family day care home serves six or fewer children. A large family day care home serves seven to twelve children, inclusive. Both counts include children who reside at the home.

The zoning chapters then list the use district by district. In the R1 Single-Family Residential District, § 9.14.020 lists both large and small family day care homes as permitted uses beside home occupations, while § 9.14.030 puts a day care center, a separate use, under a conditional use permit. In the RE Residential Estate District, § 9.12.020 permits both, yet § 9.12.030 also lists large family day care homes among the uses that need a conditional use permit. The OS-R chapter repeats that pairing in §§ 9.44.020 and 9.44.030. Ask the Cathedral City Planning Department which list controls before enrolling seven or more children in an RE or OS-R home.

The R2 Multiple-Family District adds a dwelling-type test. Section 9.16.020 permits large family day care homes in one-family dwellings only and small family day-care homes in one- and two-family dwellings only, and § 9.16.030 lists a large family day-care home in a two-family dwelling as a conditional use. In the RM district, § 9.18.020 lists small family day-care homes as a permitted use.

The RE, R1, R2 and OS-R chapters each close with a prohibited-uses section stating that uses not listed in the chapter are expressly prohibited, so a family day care home in a zone that does not list it is not allowed. Section 9.14.040 prints that rule for R1.