Walworth County, WI Home Business: Zoning & Home Occupation Permits (2026)

Section 74-45 defines a minor home occupation or professional home office broadly, covering things like a home office, data processing, telephone answering, direct sales such as Amway or Tupperware, dressmaking, jewelry making, tutoring, music lessons and computer programming, and treats it as an accessory use available in the towns under Walworth County zoning. The activity has to stay inside the principal structure and cannot take up more than 25 percent of any floor's area, and it must remain incidental and secondary to the home's residential use, with no outside storage allowed.

Only residents of the parcel can work the business: no outside employees or their vehicles are permitted on site, and there can be no on-site retail sales or display area. Deliveries are limited to what a typical household receives, and the parcel has to have enough on-premises parking to handle the activity without spilling onto the street. One business vehicle is allowed, a pickup, truck, commercial trailer or cargo van of 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight or less, provided it is licensed as a truck and used to haul the business's property or equipment.

Signage tops out at two square feet, hazardous materials and chemicals are off-limits, and the ordinance bars any alteration to the dwelling, such as a second kitchen or extra plumbing, made just to support the home business, along with any exterior entryway built solely to serve it. More than one minor home occupation can run out of the same residence as long as every operator lives there and the combined floor-area use still stays within the 25 percent cap.