Sonoma County, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Family daycare homes in unincorporated Sonoma County are controlled primarily by California state law, which preempts local zoning. 45(a), as amended by SB 234 (2019), the use of a home as a small or large family daycare home is a residential use of property and a use by right for the purposes of all local ordinances, including zoning ordinances. 78). 45(b) provides that a local jurisdiction shall not impose a business license, fee, or tax for the privilege of operating a small or large family daycare home, and the County cannot require a use permit or conditional use permit.

Local rules cannot directly or indirectly prohibit or restrict the use of a home as a family daycare home; permissible restrictions on building height, setbacks, and lot dimensions are allowed only if identical to those applied to all other residences with the same zoning designation. 46). Because the activity is residential by right, it is not treated as a commercial home occupation under Zoning Code Section 26-88-121.