Cabarrus County, NC Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Chapter 7, Section 7-3, Item 27, Home Occupation, General, permits a defined list of low-impact occupations in the AO, CR, LDR, MDR, HDR and Limited Commercial districts and in townhomes in MDR, HDR or LC. Permitted occupations include accounting, bookkeeping, appraisal, architecture, computer repair or programming, legal services, real estate sales, insurance sales, drafting, dressmaking and alteration services, engineering, financial planning, a fine arts studio limited to creation of individual works, tutoring, musical instruction, and a one-chair beauty or barber shop, among others. To qualify, the use must be conducted entirely within the interior of the residence, must be clearly incidental and secondary to residential occupancy, and cannot change the residential character of the dwelling.

The floor-area cap limits the occupation to no more than 25% of one floor of the principal building, and staffing is capped at the resident plus no more than one nonresident assistant. No activity involving outdoor storage may take place as part of a home occupation. All parking needs, including customer parking, must be met through an off-street parking arrangement, and any home occupation that allows clients or customers to visit may be subject to Accessibility Standards, with applicants directed to contact Building Standards before applying for the Home Occupation Permit.

A separate, less restrictive track, Item 28, Home Occupation, Rural, applies in AO, CR, LDR and MDR districts and allows the business to be run from a separate accessory building rather than inside the house itself, with a graduated table capping the accessory building's square footage and employee count by parcel acreage, from one nonresident employee on 1-5 acres up to five employees on qualifying bona fide farm tracts.