Salt Lake County, UT Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Primary use requirement
- Dwelling must stay residential
- Operator residency
- At least 9 months/year
- Floor area cap
- 25% or 500 sq ft, whichever less
- Scope
- Unincorporated county only
Summary
Unincorporated Salt Lake County permits a home business only as a secondary use of a dwelling the operator actually lives in at least nine months a year, confined to the home or attached garage and capped at 25 percent of the floor area or 500 square feet, whichever is less.
A. The primary use of the dwelling must be residential. B. The person operating the business must reside in the dwelling on a full-time basis (at least nine months per year). ... G. All business activities must take place within the dwelling and/or attached garage and shall not occupy more than twenty-five percent or more than five hundred square feet (whichever is less) of the floor area of the home.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 49).
Full Breakdown
020 stacks three conditions on any home business in the unincorporated county. Under subsection A, the primary use of the dwelling must remain residential, so the property stays a home first and a workplace second. Subsection B ties the business to the operator personally: the person operating it must reside in the dwelling on a full-time basis, which the code pins down as at least nine months per year. That residency floor blocks running a licensed home business out of a house the operator only nominally occupies.
Subsection G then confines all business activities to the dwelling and/or its attached garage, and caps the space they occupy at no more than twenty-five percent of the home's floor area or five hundred square feet, whichever is less. The whichever-is-less structure makes the two caps trade places depending on the house: in a larger home the flat 500 square foot ceiling controls before the percentage does, while in a smaller home the 25 percent figure bites first. All of this governs only the unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County.
Salt Lake City, Sandy, Murray, and the other valley cities adopt their own home-occupation zoning, so an address inside city limits follows that city's rules instead.
Violations & Fines
Violating the standards in §19.85.020 is a civil penalty under §19.94.070, and the county can schedule a hearing to revoke the home business license.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I run a business out of my house in unincorporated Salt Lake County?
How much of my home can the business use?
Do these rules apply inside Salt Lake City or Sandy?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Salt Lake County
How Salt Lake County compares: Easiest Cities to Run a Home Business·Compare Salt Lake County to another location·View the Utah home business overview
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