Wilmington, NC Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

Sec. 18-812 of the Land Development Code defines a family child care home as a home or facility, licensed under North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 110, Article 7, where at least two but no more than eight children under 13 receive care away from their own home, from someone other than a parent, legal guardian or relative within the fourth degree of kinship, on a regular basis of more than once a week for more than four hours a day. The facility can operate no more than 12 hours a day, and every child other than the operator's own must be counted toward the eight-child cap.

Cooperative arrangements where parents trade off watching each other's children as a convenience, with no paid staff, fall outside the definition entirely and are unregulated. Because the code classifies a family child care home as a home occupation, it is permitted by right in every residential zoning district, R-15, R-10, R-7, R-5, R-3, MHP and the multifamily MF series, with no conditional use permit or board hearing required; the state licensing agency, not the zoning administrator, reviews capacity, staffing and safety. The definition adds two conditions specific to the use: the operator must reside on the premises, so an absentee-owned care business does not qualify, and the home must meet the applicable requirements of the North Carolina State Building Code.

Because the use is folded into the home occupation category, the general home occupation standards in Sec. 18-279, which cap a home business's footprint, restrict signage to a single small wall plaque and limit outside employees and daily patron traffic, apply alongside the child-care-specific licensing rules.