Home Business in Pennsylvania (2026)

A Home Occupation in Erie must be clearly secondary to the residential use and generate no more customer, delivery or…

Home occupation permits are issued by individual Allegheny County municipalities under authority of the PA…

Allentown requires a zoning permit before commencing any new home occupation. Type 1 (no-impact) businesses are allowed…

Bethlehem's zoning code allows a home occupation only as a personal service run entirely by the resident family inside…

Delaware County issues no home-occupation permit. You apply to your borough, township, or city under its zoning…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania permits home occupations in agricultural and residential zones under…

Lancaster County issues no home occupation permits. A qualifying no-impact home-based business needs no zoning approval…

Penn Hills Zoning Ordinance 2420 permits no-impact home occupations by right in all residential zones under PA Act 43…

Philadelphia Zoning Code Section 14-604(10) recognizes only three home-occupation categories - home office, home…

Pittsburgh requires a home occupation permit from the Division of Zoning and Development Review. Applicants must waive…

Pottstown allows no-impact home occupations by right in every zoning district, capped at 25% of a dwelling's floor area…

Reading requires a zoning permit for every home occupation. Minor home occupations get a free permit by right; major…

Scranton zoning splits home businesses into two tiers: the traffic-free 'No Impact' category allowed citywide, and…

Upper Darby allows non-impact home occupations by right if they use only resident family labor, generate no outside…

York County issues no home-occupation permit. Whether a permit or zoning approval is needed depends on your borough or…

Allentown's sign table allows only exempt signs on residential buildings of 1-4 units, and small attached signs in N…

A Home Occupation in Erie may have no sign at all - the Zoning Ordinance prohibits any outside appearance of a…

A home office under Section 14-604(10)(b)(.1) may not have any accessory sign at all. Other home occupations are…

Upper Darby's home occupation ordinance flatly bars any outside sign advertising a home-based business. § 550-41B(4)…

A home business in Reading gets one small identifying sign: a 1.5-square-foot non-illuminated nameplate, or a…

Delaware County sets no sign rule for home businesses. Signage is governed by your municipality's zoning ordinance…

Lancaster County sets no sign rule. State law bars any outside sign of business for a no-impact home-based business…

Penn Hills, Pennsylvania limits home occupations approved by the Zoning Hearing Board to one non-illuminated…

Home-based businesses in Pittsburgh can display only the sign required by their occupancy license: capped at 4 square…

A Pottstown home occupation may post exactly one identification sign, capped at two square feet, under Zoning Section…

A commercial flag flown at a Scranton home-based business is capped at 15 square feet per side, versus 40 square feet…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania allows one sign identifying a home occupation, capped at two square…

Type 1 home occupations may have no clients or non-resident workers at all. Type 2 home occupations may have up to 2…

Erie's Home Occupation definition allows 'no customer, client or patient traffic, whether vehicular or pedestrian…

Scranton's 'Home Based Business, No Impact' zoning category is the only home-business type allowed in single-family…

Upper Darby's by-right home occupation category only covers businesses with zero customer, client or patient traffic…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania limits a home occupation to 12 client or customer visits per day under…

Penn Hills limits how much traffic a home occupation can create: no more vehicle or foot traffic than a typical…

A Philadelphia home business may have only 3 non-resident people present at once, including one employee, and…

Pittsburgh caps home occupations at six one-way vehicle trips per twenty-four-hour day, limiting customer and delivery…

A by-right home occupation in Pottstown cannot generate customer or delivery traffic beyond what a normal residence…

A minor home occupation in Reading can't routinely draw daily customer visits: cross that traffic threshold and the…

Pennsylvania never enacted a cottage food law, so there is no sales ceiling to stay under and no exemption to claim…

Pennsylvania has no classic cottage food law and Chester County does not license home food producers. Instead you…

Pennsylvania has no cottage food exemption. To sell home-baked goods you register your home kitchen as a 'limited food…

Pennsylvania has no cottage food law and no county food rule. A home food business registers as a Limited Food…

Pennsylvania has no traditional cottage-food law. Home food producers must register as a Limited Food Establishment…

Pennsylvania has no cottage-food law and no county rule. Home food sellers register with the state as a "Limited Food…

Pennsylvania requires Department of Human Services certification for family child day care homes serving four to six…

Lancaster County does not license daycares. Under 55 Pa. Code Chapter 3290, a family child care home caring for four to…

Pottstown treats family child or adult day care for up to six people as a major home occupation. That classification…

Reading zoning caps in-home family child care and adult care homes at four to six children or up to six adults…

Family and group child care homes are expressly exempt from Allentown's home-occupation regulations but remain subject…

A home caring for four, five, or six unrelated children is a Family Child Care Home and must hold a Certificate of…

A family child care home caring for four, five, or six unrelated children is licensed by the PA Department of Human…

A home daycare in Delaware County is certified by the PA Department of Human Services, not the county. Caring for four…

Erie's zoning code lists family day-care homes as a permitted, by-right use in every residential district from R-1…

Franklin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania allows a state-licensed day-care home to operate as a home occupation…

A home caring for four, five, or six unrelated children must be certified as a Family Child Care Home by the PA…

Family home daycare in Penn Hills is permitted subject to PA Department of Human Services licensing and local zoning…

Philadelphia zoning treats a home daycare as a "Family Child Care" use: it must run inside a single- or two-family…

Pittsburgh exempts in-home child care for 3 or fewer children from home occupation rules. Larger operations need a PA…

Upper Darby caps in-home child care at five non-resident children under 16, restricts operating hours to 7 a.m.-6 p.m…

Home daycare is licensed by the PA Department of Human Services, not York County. A family child care home caring for…

Scranton's zoning code allows a "Day Care Home, Family," caring for four to six unrelated children and registered with…