Jefferson County, MO Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Jefferson County's Unified Development Order treats a day care or elder care home as an accessory use to a residential dwelling, not a separate commercial use requiring rezoning. 040 in 2008 and placed in Article VIII, Division 3 (Accessory Uses), sets the dividing line at four persons in care at any point during a 24-hour period: at that scale the caregiver needs no zoning approval beyond ordinary residential use. Once the number in care rises above four, up to a ceiling of ten, the operator must obtain a conditional use permit under Article IX before opening.

3010, covering compatibility with the neighborhood, traffic and parking impact, and effect on adjoining property values; the Council can attach conditions such as limits on hours of operation, parking, or screening. This rule reaches only the unincorporated parts of Jefferson County; homes inside Arnold, Festus, De Soto, Hillsboro, or the county's other incorporated cities are governed by those cities' own codes, not the county UDO. A day care or elder care operation caring for more than ten people at once falls outside this accessory-use and conditional-use framework entirely and would need a different, non-residential zoning classification.