Franklin County, NC Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

The Unified Development Code (Appendix A) Table 5-1, Table of Permitted Uses, at § 5.3.3 lists 'Family child care home' with a 'P' (permitted use, by-right) in every district column shown, AR (Agricultural Residential), R-80, R-30, R-8, NB (Neighborhood Business) and GB (General Business), and a '-' (prohibited) only in HI (Heavy Industrial). That means a resident operating a family child care home in an AR, R-80, R-30 or R-8 residential district, or in the county's NB or GB commercial districts, needs no special use permit or conditional zoning approval for the use itself; it is treated the same as a single-family detached house for zoning purposes.

The UDC's definitions article separately defines a related state-licensed category, 'Child Care Home,' at Definitions Article 10 item 50, as a facility licensed to care for five or fewer preschool-age children, including the provider's own preschoolers living in the home, with individuals caring for one or two children exempt from licensure, and up to three additional school-age children allowed without counting toward the limit. A facility caring for six or more children in a residence, or three or more in a non-residential building, is instead classified as a 'Child Care Center' under item 51 and is only a by-right use in AR, R-80, R-30, R-8, NB and GB as well, per the same Table 5-1 row for that use category.

Because both categories carry a 'P' rather than an 'S' across the residential columns, a family child care operator in unincorporated Franklin County does not go through the UDO's special use permit hearing process that applies to, for example, adult day care facilities or group homes in the same districts.