Wilmington
City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division
In short
City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division issues 11 permits we publish for Wilmington, last verified 2026-09-12. Each carries the fee as the agency publishes it, with a link to the schedule it was read from.
What this agency issues
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Wilmington Business License — Restaurants | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $300 per year (license type code 2009) | annual — City Code § 5-101(a) imposes these rates as annual fees, and § 5-93(a) requires the fee 'per year' | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Contractor/Subcontractor | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $200 per license period (license type code 1004) | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Retailers Non-Edible | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $250 per license period (license type code 6004); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Retailers Edible | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $250 per year (license type code 6002) | annual — City Code § 5-101(a) imposes these rates as annual fees, and § 5-78(a) requires the fee 'per year' | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Retailer Mobile Food Vendor | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $151 per license period (license type code 6006); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Health Spa/Club | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $300 per license period (license type code 2007) | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Veterinarians | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $300 per license period (license type code 5019); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| Food Safety Permit — Delaware Office of Food Protection (Wilmington)only if it applies to you | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | No fee | not applicable | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Day Care Centers | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $200 per license period (license type code 4012); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Beauty Parlors-Barber Shop | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $200 per license period (license type code 4005); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
| City of Wilmington Business License — Gas Station/Auto Repair | City of Wilmington Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division | $300 per license period (license type code 7004); renewal cycle not stated in the published fee schedule | not stated in the published fee schedule | 2026-09-12 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
About each permit
City of Wilmington Business License — Restaurants
$300.00 a year, stated identically in three City texts. City Code § 5-101(a), current on the City's codified ordinances, prices 'Restaurants' at $300.00; Ordinance #0288 (Ord. No. 23-014), effective July 1, 2023, set that figure, striking the previous $181.00, and introduces the same schedule with the words 'The following rates shall be annual fees imposed under this article, except as otherwise specifically provided'; and the City's own Application for Business License fee table ('FEE INCREASE EFFECTIVE 1/1/2024') prints $300.00 against license type code 2009, which requires a copy of Board of Health approval. Section 5-93 licenses restaurants within the entertainment/recreation classification, which 'includes places where food is prepared and sold for consumption on the premises.' Section 5-78(e) treats as a restaurant a retail establishment with 15 or more tables and chairs on the premises, table service and accessible public bathrooms, and provides that 'An establishment failing to comply with any one of the above referenced criteria shall have the designation of retail-edible' — the $250.00 Retailers Edible category listed for a coffee shop in Wilmington. Section 5-101(b) lets a small business with ten or fewer full-time employees that has existed for less than three years pay the fee imposed before the schedule's most recent amendment, on proof satisfactory to the Department of Finance.
City of Wilmington Business License — Contractor/Subcontractor
The City's fee table prints the Construction category's fourteen fee values immediately before the category header rather than beside each code; read in order against the category's fourteen codes, Contractor/Subcontractor (code 1004) carries $200.00 (the figure is not printed directly beside its own line item). This City license is layered on top of Delaware's own state Contractor Business License ($75.00/year, recorded at the state layer). Air Conditioning, Boiler Installation, Heating, Plumbing, and Mechanical/Refrigeration Contractors must additionally pass a City-administered Trade Test through Land Use & Planning before this City license issues — a further local credentialing layer beyond Delaware's own state Board of Electrical Examiners and Board of Plumbing/HVACR Examiners licenses.
City of Wilmington Business License — Retailers Non-Edible
A general retail store licenses under the 'Retailers Non-Edible' code, confirmed at $250.00 from the City's own current fee table, layered on top of (not instead of) Delaware's own state business license, recorded at the state layer. A current State of Delaware Business License must be attached to the City application before it is accepted.
City of Wilmington Business License — Retailers Edible
A coffee shop retailing prepared beverages and edible goods licenses under the 'Retailers Edible' code (6002), $250.00 a year in both the City's own fee table and the codified schedule at City Code § 5-101(a) — the application's own instructions require a copy of 'the Board of Health Certificate' for this category, which refers to a food-establishment health permit; in Delaware that permit is issued by the state Office of Food Protection, recorded at the state layer. The City's 'Restaurants' code (2009) is $300.00 a year, but § 5-78(e) treats as a restaurant only a retail establishment with 15 or more tables and chairs on the premises, table service and accessible public bathrooms, and provides that 'An establishment failing to comply with any one of the above referenced criteria shall have the designation of retail-edible' — so a coffee shop moves to the $300.00 Restaurants category only if it meets all three (see the separate restaurant record below).
City of Wilmington Business License — Retailer Mobile Food Vendor
Confirmed at $151.00 from the City's own current fee table — this is the general Business License a food truck owes like any other business, distinct from the separate, free 'Mobile Food Service Establishment License' and the separate $22.00/day curbside vending-space fee listed elsewhere for this jurisdiction, both specific to the City's own Mobile Food Truck Program.
City of Wilmington Business License — Health Spa/Club
Confirmed at $300.00. A fitness studio licenses under the 'Health Spa/Club' code (2007) in the Entertainment/Recreation block of the City's own current fee table, effective 1/1/2024. The fee table prints two category tables side by side; read by column position, code 2007 'Health Spa/Club' carries $300.00 in the left table's fee column. Unlike Newark, which leaves a fitness business unclassified and assigns the class administratively, Wilmington names the category outright in its fee table, so no interpretation is required here. The same $300.00 figure appears for Restaurants (code 2009) in the codified schedule at City Code § 5-101, which the Restaurants record for Wilmington sets out.
City of Wilmington Business License — Veterinarians
Confirmed at $300.00 from the City's own current fee table, under Professional Services. This is a business-premises license, distinct from the individual veterinarian licensure Delaware's own state Board of Veterinary Medicine issues (recorded at the state layer; the state record names no separate facility permit).
Food Safety Permit — Delaware Office of Food Protection (Wilmington)
No fee applies at the city level. The City's own Business License Application requires a copy of 'the Board of Health Certificate' for a Retailers Edible or Restaurant license, and the Mobile Food Truck Program's own current page separately lists 'health inspections' among the prerequisite documents a vendor must already hold. Both refer to a food-safety permit that the business must already have, and in Delaware the food-establishment permit is issued statewide by the Division of Public Health's Office of Food Protection, recorded at the state layer and banded by establishment type. Neither City document names a separate Wilmington-run food inspection or fee.
City of Wilmington Business License — Day Care Centers
Confirmed at $200.00 from the City's own current fee table, layered on top of Delaware's own state Child Care License (Office of Child Care Licensing, no fee, recorded at the state layer). The City publishes no additional Wilmington-specific childcare inspection fee beyond this general business license and the standard building/zoning/fire process listed elsewhere for this jurisdiction.
City of Wilmington Business License — Beauty Parlors-Barber Shop
Confirmed at $200.00 from the City's own current fee table. The same fee table separately confirms 'Bath-Massage-Tanning Salons' (code 4004) and 'Beautician/Cosmetologist' (code 4023) at the identical $200.00 rate, for a spa or independent cosmetologist operating outside a traditional shop. This City license is layered on top of Delaware's own state Cosmetology or Barbering Establishment License ($142.00/2 years, recorded at the state layer).
City of Wilmington Business License — Gas Station/Auto Repair
Confirmed at $300.00 from the City's own current fee table. The Land Use & Planning, Licenses and Inspections, and Fire Marshal's Office pages publish no dedicated auto-repair-shop license beyond this general business license category. A shop also doing spray-coating/painting work separately needs Delaware's own state Auto Body Shop Air Quality Permit, recorded at the state layer.
Contact
- Jurisdiction
- Wilmington
- Phone
- (302) 576-2415
Contact details are taken from the agency’s own site or its published fee schedule. Where we have not verified a phone number we leave it blank rather than guess.
Sources
Every fee and term above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- City of Wilmington Application for Business License (fee table headed 'FEE INCREASE EFFECTIVE 1/1/2024') — Internet Archive capture of 5/18/2026 of the same City URL, read positionally: '2009*** Restaurants' 300.00 and '6002*** Retailers Edible' 250.00, the '***' footnote reading 'Must provide copy of Board of Health approval.'City of Wilmington, Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- City of Wilmington Application for Business License, fee table effective 1/1/2024 (~90 named license-type codes)City of Wilmington, Department of Finance, Wage/Business License Division · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Doing Business in the City of Wilmington — confirms the separate City business license requirement, head tax, and property tax abatement programCity of Wilmington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Mobile Food Truck Program — the free Mobile Food Service Establishment License and the $22.00/day curbside vending-space feeCity of Wilmington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Ordinance #0288 (Ord. 23-014), 'An Ordinance to Amend Chapters 4, 5 and 12 of the Wilmington City Code to Increase Certain Fees,' effective July 1, 2023 — strike-through/underline amendments to Chapter 4 §109.2.7(c) (zoning board of adjustment application fees), Chapter 5 §5-101 (the full business license Schedule of Fees), and Chapter 12 §§12-64 and 12-99(d) (fire plan review, inspection, event and hazardous-materials permit fees)Wilmington City Council · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-12
- Wilmington City Code § 5-78 (Retailers generally), read on the live Municode page — subsection (c)'s retail licence categories (including Restaurants and Retailers—Edible) and subsection (e)'s restaurant criteria: 15 or more tables and chairs on the premises, table service and accessible public bathrooms, failing any one of which an establishment 'shall have the designation of retail-edible'City of Wilmington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wilmington City Code § 5-93 (Entertainment/recreation), read on the live Municode page — the classification that 'includes places where food is prepared and sold for consumption on the premises,' listing Restaurants among its license categories, each paying per year the § 5-101 feeCity of Wilmington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wilmington City Code Chapter 5, Article II, § 5-101 (Schedule of fees), read on the live Municode page (version dated July 27, 2026, marked current) — subsection (a)'s annual fee schedule, including 'Restaurants .....300.00', 'Retailers—Edible .....250.00', 'Contractor, subcontractor .....200.00', 'Beauty parlors, barbershop .....200.00' and 'Beautician/cosmetologists .....200.00'; subsection (b)'s small-business provision; history note ending 'Ord. No. 23-014(sub 1), § 2, 5-18-23; Ord. No. 24-066, § 1, 12-5-24'City of Wilmington · primary source · retrieved 2026-09-18
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