Can I run a business from home in Hillsborough, California?
Allowed with a permit
Yes, with an annual Hillsborough home business permit from the Finance Department. The business must be run entirely inside the home, with no signs and no more traffic or parking than a normal household.
| Approval | Home business permit (annual, renew by June 30) [6] |
| Where conducted | Entirely inside the dwelling [3] |
| Signs | None allowed [4] |
| Customer traffic/parking | No more than a typical home [5] |
| Commercial vehicles | Not parked on streets or right-of-way [7] |
| Prohibited | Commercial cannabis [10] |
| Family daycare | Residential use; no business license fee [11] |
Permit required
A home business is any business run from your Hillsborough home that provides goods or services for pay [1]. It is allowed only with a town home business permit, and only if it meets every listed standard [2]. You apply to the Finance Department with an annual fee; the permit lasts up to 12 months and must be renewed by June 30 each year [6]. Operating without a valid permit is an infraction and grounds for revocation.
Standards
- Inside the home only: the business must be conducted entirely within the dwelling with no ongoing outside evidence of business [3], must be clearly secondary to living there, and its space must be entered from inside the house with no non-residential alterations.
- No signs: no signs or structures anywhere on the property or in town that advertise or identify the business [4].
- Traffic and parking: no more customer, pedestrian or vehicle traffic or parking than is usual for a comparable home without a business [5]. Commercially marked vehicles can't be parked on any street or right-of-way [7].
- No nuisances: no radio interference, noise, dust, smoke, odor or fumes.
- No cannabis: commercial cannabis activity can't be a home business [10].
Employees and customers
The code doesn't set a numeric employee limit. Without a permit, having anyone in the home whose main role is helping with the business is a prohibited commercial use [8], as are customer visits, deliveries and using your address on a website. Work done using only phone and mail, without those activities, isn't treated as commercial [9]. Using your street address with a business name is allowed only while a permit is in effect.
Exceptions
Small and large family daycare homes are a residential use, and the town can't charge a business license fee or tax for them [11]. State law also says cities can't prohibit home cottage food operations (they may be permitted or approved through a non-discretionary permit), so state law may override provisions that would bar them.
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Next steps
- Confirm your business can run entirely inside the house, with no signs and no unusual traffic or parking.
- File a home business permit application with the Town Finance Department ((650) 375-7400) and pay the annual fee.
- Renew the permit every year by June 30, and keep the permit in effect before using your Hillsborough address with a business name.
Common questions
- Can I run a business from my home in Hillsborough, California?
- Yes, with an annual Hillsborough home business permit from the Finance Department. The business must be run entirely inside the home.
- Can I put up a sign for my home business in Hillsborough, California?
- No. Signs are not allowed, and the business can't create more traffic or parking than a normal household.
- When do I renew a home business permit in Hillsborough, California?
- The permit is annual and must be renewed by June 30.
- Is a home daycare allowed in Hillsborough, California?
- Family daycare is a residential use, and there is no business license fee. Commercial cannabis is prohibited as a home business.
California state protections for home-based businesses
California has no general statewide home-occupation law. Cities and counties set the rules on employees, signs, customer visits and parking. State law protects a few specific home businesses:
Family child care homes (Health & Safety Code §1597.45):
- A licensed small (up to 8 children) or large (7 to 14 children) family daycare home is a residential use by right under all local ordinances, including zoning. A city can't require a use permit.
- Cities can't charge a business license, fee or tax for operating one, and it isn't a change of occupancy under building codes.
- Local rules may apply only if they are identical to those for other homes in the same zone, whether the home is rented or owned.
Cottage food operations (Gov. Code §51035; AB 1616, effective 2013):
- Cities and counties can't prohibit home cottage food operations. They must allow them as a permitted use or through a permit limited to reasonable spacing, traffic, parking and noise standards.
- A cottage food operation has no more than one full-time-equivalent employee besides family or household members. Class A (direct sales only) is capped at $75,000 a year and Class B at $150,000, adjusted for inflation (H&S Code §113758).
- You must register (Class A) or get a permit (Class B) from the county environmental health agency.
Home kitchens selling meals (microenterprise home kitchen operations): allowed only where the city or county has authorized them, with a permit and a limit of 30 meals a day and 90 a week (§113825).
What the ordinance says
- Sec. 17.16.015(A), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
A home business is one that is conducted from a resident's dwelling in the town and provides goods or services for compensation, including, but not limited to, the services performed by sales representatives; provided, however, that a home business does not include activities conducted in the resident's dwelling that are merely incidental to a business that is conducted outside of the town.
- Sec. 17.16.015(B), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
Home businesses shall be allowed upon issuance of a home business permit by the town when that use conforms to all of the following standards:
- Sec. 17.16.015(B)(2), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
The use is conducted entirely within the dwelling, and there is no ongoing external evidence of business activity;
- Sec. 17.16.015(B)(4), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
There are no signs or structures anywhere on the premises (as defined below) or otherwise in town which advertise, identify, or otherwise relate to the home business;
- Sec. 17.16.015(B)(5), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
The home business does not cause pedestrian or vehicular traffic or the parking of vehicles either on the real property on which the dwelling is located (the "premises") or on public or private streets or sidewalks adjacent to the premises in numbers or volumes which exceed that which is usual in the town at comparable dwellings where there is no home business;
- Sec. 17.16.015(C), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
Such permit shall be valid for up to twelve months and shall be renewed annually by June 30 of each year.
- Sec. 17.16.015(B)(7), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
Any vehicle having any commercial marking related to the home business shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 10.56 for vehicles on private property and furthermore shall not be parked on any street, highway, parking strip, or other right-of-way in the town;
- Sec. 17.16.020(D)(2)(e), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
Activities (which are profit-making or are intended to be profit-making) conducted by a resident in his or her own home that include the presence in the home of any person (employee or otherwise) whose sole or primary purpose is to participate in or assist with the activities and for which activities a valid home business permit is not in effect;
- Sec. 17.16.020(D)(3)(c), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
Activities (which are profit-making or are intended to be profit-making) conducted by a resident in his or her own home using only the telephone and/or U.S. or private mail service and which do not include any of the underlined activities, listed in subsections (D)(2)(d) through (D)(2)(h) of this section.
- Sec. 17.16.015(B)(10), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
The home business is not a commercial cannabis use, as defined in Section 17.65.010, and does not otherwise involve any commercial cannabis activity including but not limited to, the sale of cannabis, the operation of a cannabis delivery service or the storage of cannabis in excess of those amounts permitted for personal use pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 11362.1 et seq.
- Sec. 17.16.040(E), Municipal Code Title 17 Ch. 17.16 Uses Permitted (17.16.015 home business permit; 17.16.020 commercial uses incl. transitory lodging prohibited), p. 1
The use of a dwelling as a small or large family daycare home shall be considered a residential use of property. No business license fee or tax shall be imposed by the town for the privilege of operating a small family or large family daycare home.
This page summarizes Hillsborough's posted ordinances as of 2026-10-05. Ordinances are amended, and individual lots can have overlays, subdivision covenants, or HOA rules that are stricter. Confirm with Town of Hillsborough Code Enforcement (Code Compliance Coordinator), 1600 Floribunda Ave.; Building Division (650) 375-7411, Planning (650) 375-7422 ((650) 375-7572) before you build. Spot an error?