Memphis, TN Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

B, and the same section applies whether the site sits inside the City of Memphis or in unincorporated Shelby County, since both governments share this single zoning code. Every day care facility, regardless of size, must first meet the licensing rules published by the Tennessee Department of Human Services, and the zoning code layers its own site standards on top of that state license. 5 is required along any side of the property that touches a residential use, though the Site Plan Review process can approve an alternative buffer.

A facility sited in a residential district has to keep the residential scale and character of the surrounding area, and the code requires sufficient off-street passenger drop-off space unless the City or County Engineer waives it. No playground equipment may sit within the front building setback. The enrollment cap the operator sets is binding: children related to the provider by blood or marriage still count toward it, and state or local health, fire, or education rules can only push the number down, never up. The 5-12 child Group Day Care Home tier, the size class between a small family home and a full Child Care Center, carries its own street-frontage rule: the lot must be on a connector street, an arterial, or a minor street that serves only nonresidential uses, or a minor street within 150 feet of an intersecting arterial.

A larger Child Care Center must sit on at least 20,000 square feet in a residential district and stay 1,320 feet from the next Child Care Center.