Chattanooga, TN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Sec. 38-9 defines a Day Care Home as a residential dwelling where a permanent occupant of the dwelling provides care for minors, the elderly, and/or functionally-impaired adults from outside households in a protective setting for less than 24 hours per day, expressly excluding a home that cares only for children from a single household. A Day Care Center, by contrast, is defined as a facility where, for a portion of a 24 hour day, care and supervision is provided for minors, the elderly, and/or functionally-impaired adults in a protective setting, and is treated as a nonresidential principal use rather than an accessory home use.

The principal-use standards for both, at Sec. 38-42(k), are short but binding: each day care center or day care home must comply with all applicable state regulations, including required indoor and outdoor space, and the operator license must be displayed publicly. The City's principal-use table shows a Day Care Home caring for eight or fewer children or adults permitted outright in every RN and TRN residential zone, while a Day Care Home for nine or more needs a special exception permit in those same zones. Day Care Centers are permitted in most nonresidential and mixed-use zones.

Day care homes are carved out of the separate Home Occupation accessory-use standards: Sec. 38-43(e)(11) states that day care homes of any type are not considered a home occupation and are regulated separately by this Ordinance as a principal use, so a day care home does not have to meet the Home Occupation traffic, signage or employee-count limits.