What permits do you need to open a childcare centre in Maricopa County?

Residential Home Occupation (accessory use)

No separate fee is published for a home occupation in the Zoning Ordinance's Chapter 13 fee table the way other zoning products are. In the unincorporated area, a home business meeting Article 603.9's conditions is an allowed accessory use (the Uses Table marks 'Home occupations P*' — permitted): the number of non-resident employees 'shall not exceed three, unless the non-resident employees are an immediate family member'; the number of customers, clients or students on the premises 'shall not exceed five at any time'; a sign of no more than four square feet is permitted; one commercial vehicle is allowed; no visitors between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.; 'No mechanical equipment or power tools shall be used, except that used for normal household purposes'; and 'No toxic, explosive, flammable... material shall be used, sold, or stored.' Home day care under Art. 602.4 is separately capped at four children under compensated care at any one time. Article 603.9 itself states: 'If these conditions cannot be met, a Special Use Permit per Section 1001.1.5... shall be required,' which is the $3,000-plus-per-acre Special Use Permit recorded separately for Maricopa County. Separately, Article 1204.4 requires a Zoning Clearance for the 'creation... of a... use'; ask Planning and Development at 602-506-3301 whether a specific home business needs a Zoning Clearance, and its $100 residential fee, in addition to meeting the Article 603.9 accessory-use conditions.

Daycare Foodservice Operating Permit

A child care facility that prepares food on site needs this permit: the Code defines 'Daycare Foodservice' as 'a food establishment which prepares food for immediate service on-site, or directly to a consumer where the consumers are facility staff and daycare children,' priced at $524.00 per year (Class 3) in the Chapter I Fee Schedule adopted August 19, 2026 — up from $390.00 in the superseded 2019 schedule. This is the only county permit aimed specifically at a child care operation; the child care facility license itself is issued by the Arizona Department of Health Services and is recorded separately for Maricopa County as a state-preempted item. Applies in unincorporated Maricopa County and in any incorporated city or town that has requested MCESD's services; confirm with a specific city whether it has its own health department instead. Ask Environmental Services at 602-506-6824 whether a centre serving only food delivered from an outside kitchen falls under this permit or a different classification.

Child Care Facility License — Issued by the Arizona Department of Health Services (Maricopa County)

Under A.R.S. § 36-882(A), the Arizona Department of Health Services licenses child care facilities and the County charges no fee for a child care facility license: § 36-882(A) states 'A child care facility shall not receive any child for care, supervision or training unless the facility is licensed by the department of health services,' and § 36-881(3) defines 'child care facility' as one providing care 'for five or more children not related to the proprietor' — the threshold is five or more unrelated children, and the Arizona Department of Health Services, not the county, is the licensing authority. The county's own home-daycare zoning limit under Zoning Ordinance Art. 602.4, capping compensated child care at four children at any one time, keeps a home-based operator under that state five-child threshold rather than duplicating it. A child care facility's Maricopa County obligations are the Daycare Foodservice permit recorded separately for Maricopa County where food is prepared on site ($524.00 per year), plus the Zoning Clearance and Commercial Building Permit in the unincorporated area.

Child Care Facility License

Three bands — $330 up to ten children, $1,330 to fifty-nine and $2,575 above — and this replaced a very different structure in August 2025, when the department converted a three-yearly fee of $1,000, $4,000 or $7,800 into an annual one. Any source quoting those older figures is out of date. The license itself never expires; what keeps it alive is paying the annual fee, and a half-payment plan is available with the balance due within a hundred and twenty days of the anniversary. Licensing starts at five children — four or fewer is below the threshold entirely, and an unsubsidised four-child home needs no state license or certificate at all. A residential group home of five to ten children is certified by the same department at $330, and a subsidised family provider caring for four or fewer is certified free by the economic security department for three years.

Shared with other businesses in Maricopa County

• Environmental Health Plan Review Fee — Maricopa County Environmental Services Department, $141–$919 one-time, per plan review, by establishment type, plan approval lapses one year after approval unless substantial work has begun (Reg. 4.e); a one-year extension costs $169.00 (Reg. 4.f). Also required for restaurants, coffee shops, retail stores and food trucks; what it involves is set out on the retail stores page.