Wausau, WI Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

28 lists 'in-home daycare (four to eight children)' among the accessory uses permitted by right in Wausau's residential zoning districts, including RH-35 Rural Holding and the SR-2 through MRH-50 single-family, duplex, and multi-family tiers, meaning a qualifying home daycare does not need a conditional use permit or rezoning to operate as an accessory to a residential dwelling. 28(5) itself defines the use narrowly: an in-home daycare is an occupied residence in which a licensed person or persons provide childcare for four to eight children, and the section is explicit that care for fewer than four children is not subject to the regulations of this title at all, meaning the smallest home childcare arrangements sit outside zoning oversight entirely.

The code footnotes a state law reference to Wis. 1017(1)(a) at this section, tying the local accessory-use classification to the state's family day care licensing framework administered separately by the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. Once a home daycare grows past eight children, it no longer qualifies as this accessory use: the code separately defines a 'group daycare center (nine-plus children)' as a distinct principal land use that can be paired with a church, school, business, or civic organization and must be reviewed on its own as a principal use rather than folded into a residential accessory-use approval.

That distinction matters for any Wausau resident planning to expand a home-based daycare, since crossing the eight-child threshold triggers a different, more involved zoning review track rather than a simple accessory-use permit.