Greenwood County, SC Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Greenwood County Code Sec. 6-3-221 defines a 'home occupation and hobby shop' as any occupation, profession or hobby carried on by an immediate family member residing at the dwelling, with two hard limits: no commodity may be sold on-site except goods actually prepared there, and no one outside the immediate family living on the premises may be employed. The same section ties any equipment used in the business to the performance standards of Sec. 6-3-113, which bar visible smoke, dust or fly ash, perceptible earth vibration, glare, and noxious odor at the property line, plus a written compliance agreement for enforcement.

Home occupation appears as a listed permitted use in the AG-1 (Sec. 6-3-31), AG-2 (Sec. 6-3-32) and AG-3 (Sec. 6-3-32.5) agricultural districts and in the county's residential districts, so a resident does not need a rezoning or special exception to start one, only compliance with these standards. Greenwood County's Building and Planning Department administers zoning compliance for the unincorporated area and can require a site visit if a complaint alleges a home business is generating noise, odor or traffic beyond what these standards allow. A single small identification sign is separately permitted for the dwelling but is capped at four square feet.

Because Greenwood County's own zoning code covers only the unincorporated county, a home occupation inside the City of Greenwood, Ninety Six, Hodges, Troy or the Ware Shoals town limits is governed by that municipality's own separate zoning ordinance, not this chapter.