St. Petersburg, FL Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

3 defines a home occupation as "a business which is an accessory use to a single or multifamily dwelling unit where a residence is the principal use of the property and which has obtained a business tax receipt": the tax receipt is the operative permit mechanism rather than a separate zoning permit. 1 layers on the criteria a business must meet to qualify as home-based in the first place: employees working at the dwelling must generally reside there, except that up to a total of two employees or independent contractors who don't live at the property may work on-site, and the business may also have additional remote employees who don't work at the dwelling at all.

The business's parking demand can't exceed what a similar residence without a business would normally generate, and any vehicles or trailers used for the business must sit in legal parking spaces, not in the right-of-way, on a sidewalk, or on an unimproved surface. Signage, noise, vibration, heat, smoke, dust, glare, fumes and odor rules can't be made locally stricter than what applies to an ordinary residence, and storage, use or disposal of corrosive, combustible or hazardous materials must meet state and federal standards without a stricter local overlay.