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

Under California H&S §1597.40 and §1597.45, family child care homes operated in the licensee's own residence are treated as residential uses for zoning, building code, and fire code purposes, and local governments cannot require a conditional use permit, special zoning, or business license tax different from that of a residence. Small family child care homes serve up to 8 children (including the provider's own children under 10); large family child care homes serve up to 14 children with an approved assistant. Both require a state license issued by the California Department of Social Services, Community Care Licensing Division. Riverside County may only impose standards that also apply to neighboring residences, such as spacing requirements for large family daycares (at least 300 feet between large daycares was historically allowed and is now limited by SB 234), fire inspections for large homes, and normal parking on the property. SB 234 (2019) further strengthened these protections and prohibited discriminatory CC&R enforcement against family daycares. Drop-off and pick-up traffic that is reasonable for the licensed capacity cannot be used as a basis for abatement.