Yuba City, CA Home Business: Home Daycare (2026)

502, the table of permitted, zoning-clearance, and use-permit uses for the One-Family Residence (R-1) District, lists 'Day care home (small and large)' with an 'X' in the Permitted column and nothing in either the Zoning Clearance or Use Permit columns, meaning a family day care home operating out of a residence does not need discretionary Planning approval to open, unlike a stand-alone 'day care center,' which the same table marks as requiring a use permit. 8018 defines a 'day care home, large' the same way but for seven to twelve children.

Both definitions count the licensee's own children under age 12, plus any other children under 18, toward that headcount. Because a home daycare operating within those numeric bands is a permitted use rather than a conditional one, the operator's obligations run mainly through the State's separate childcare licensing process rather than through Yuba City's Planning Division, and the property still has to meet the underlying R-1 development standards, lot coverage, parking, and building code requirements, that apply to the house itself. A home daycare that grows past twelve children stops qualifying as a 'day care home' altogether and becomes a 'day care center,' triggering the use permit requirement and a public hearing before the Planning Commission.