Boone County, IN Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 157.035(A) frames a home occupation as customary and traditional work that is incidental to using the property as a residence and is not to be treated as an independent business; it cannot change the residential character of the district or interfere with neighbors' reasonable enjoyment of their own property, and it is limited to personal-service work such as domestic crafts and professional services. Table 10 in the same section splits occupations into three tiers: crafts trades such as dressmaking, tailoring, carpentry and hair grooming are permitted outright; professional advice fields such as law, medicine, architecture, engineering, accounting, real estate and insurance are permitted but limited to advice and consultation; and a list of higher-impact uses, covering walk-in offices, clinics, funeral homes, bed and breakfasts, multi-student instructional studios, day care centers, animal hospitals, kennels, trailer rental and any vehicle dealer, repair or service use, is flatly prohibited.

Subsection (B)'s standards then apply to whatever occupation is allowed: the operator must remain a resident of the dwelling and the sole entrepreneur, aside from one non-family employee; no more than 25% of one floor's area may be devoted to the occupation; no structural change may give the home a business appearance; outside storage of equipment or materials is barred; and no more than two extra off-street parking spaces beyond the zone district's normal requirement may be added, none of them in a required setback. The Area Plan Commission's Director administers these standards through the improvement location permit process that already governs any change of use on the property.