14 published records
Business licenses and permits in Kern County, California
Kern County (county seat: Bakersfield) has 11 incorporated cities — Arvin, Bakersfield, California City, Delano, Maricopa, McFarland, Ridgecrest, Shafter, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco — each running its own business-license, building and zoning regime that stacks on top of the county's, per the Kern Council of Governments' own member-agency list. The Sheriff's Office Licensing Unit's Title 5 business license, and the Planning and Natural Resources Department's zoning, Conditional Use Permit, home-occupation, large-family-day-care and liquor-determination programs, reach the unincorporated area only; each incorporated city runs its own equivalent instead. Kern County Public Health Services Department's Environmental Health Services Division runs the opposite pattern: its food, mobile-food, temporary-food, tobacco and hazardous-materials/CUPA permits apply to a business 'within or without an incorporated city' under Kern County Code §8.04.020, reaching every incorporated city as well as the unincorporated area. A business should check which pattern applies to the specific county function in question.
What are you opening in Kern County?
- RestaurantsFull-service restaurants carry the densest permit load of any small business: food, fire, occupancy, waste, and usually alcohol.See the full permit list
- Coffee shopsCafés are permitted as food service establishments even where no cooking happens, and the plan review step catches most operators by surprise.See the full permit list
- Retail storesRetail is the lightest common permit load, but the sales tax permit and the certificate of occupancy are non-negotiable in every jurisdiction.See the full permit list
- Salons and barbersPersonal care is licensed at state board level as well as locally, so the shop license and the practitioner licenses are separate obligations.See the full permit list
- Food trucksMobile food is the one category with no certificate of occupancy — but it gains a commissary agreement, and the unit itself is inspected rather than the premises.See the full permit list
- Fitness studiosPrepaid memberships trigger state registration and often a surety bond, which catches operators who budgeted only for the fit-out.See the full permit list
- Childcare centresThe heaviest permit load of any small business: state agency licensing, per-person background checks, and a stricter fire standard than ordinary commercial use.See the full permit list
- Contractors and tradesLicensed at state board level rather than locally, and the only common category with no premises permits at all — the bond is usually the long pole.See the full permit list
- Auto repair shopsOrdinary commercial permitting plus an environmental layer: waste oil, solvents and stormwater are each registered separately.See the full permit list
- Veterinary clinicsA state facility permit, controlled substances registration at both state and federal level, and a medical waste manifest — none of which a general business license covers.See the full permit list
Permits that apply to every type of business in Kern County
| Permit | Issuing agency | Fee | Renews | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone Changeonly if it applies to you | Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department | $2,080.00 minimum (code PIM-001); the final fee may exceed this minimum depending on the project's scope, per the Land Development Services Fee Schedule effective 1/1/2025. | one-time per application | 2026-10-02 |
| Zone Varianceonly if it applies to you | Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department | $1,352 one-time per application (code PIM-003), per the Land Development Services Fee Schedule effective 1/1/2025 | one-time per application | 2026-10-02 |
Fees shown as a range or formula are set that way by the issuing agency — we do not average them into a single number.
What do these permits involve in Kern County?
Zone Change
Any of the 10 tracked industries operating in unincorporated Kern County may need a Zone Change if its intended use requires rezoning the parcel rather than a variance from an existing zone's standards. The fee is $2,080.00 at minimum (code PIM-001), per the Land Development Services Fee Schedule effective 1/1/2025, with the final amount scaling with the project's scope under the same schedule. This is a one-time, per-application fee and applies only in unincorporated Kern County; a business inside any of the county's 11 incorporated cities instead follows that city's own rezoning process.
Zone Variance
Any of the 10 tracked industries operating in unincorporated Kern County may need a Zone Variance if its proposed use or site plan cannot meet a specific zoning-ordinance standard for the applicable zone. The fee is $1,352.00 (code PIM-003), per the Land Development Services Fee Schedule effective 1/1/2025, confirmed live and unchanged on the county's current fee page. This is a one-time, per-application fee rather than a recurring one, and applies only in unincorporated Kern County; a business inside any of the county's 11 incorporated cities instead follows that city's own variance process.
Sources
Every figure in the table above was read from one of these government pages on the date shown.
- Kern County Land Development Services Fee Schedule, effective 1/1/2025Kern County Planning and Natural Resources Department / Public Works Department · primary source · retrieved 2026-10-02
Who issues business permits in Kern County?
Permitting in Kern County is split across 3 agencies we hold records for, with tax registration handled at state level. No single office issues everything, which is why an opening usually means filing in several places rather than one.
Kern County issuing agencies
- Kern County Planning and Natural Resources DepartmentZoning Compliance Review (Title 5 license companion fee), Home Occupation Permit, Large Family Day Care Home Permit, Conditional Use Permit, Zone Variance, and Zone Change — unincorporated Kern County only · Determination of Public Convenience or Necessity for a state ABC alcohol-license application requiring local input, with a Board of Supervisors public hearing — unincorporated Kern County only; the alcohol license itself is issued by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control7 permits
- Kern County Public Health Services Department, Environmental Health Services DivisionFood Facility, Mobile Food Facility, Temporary Food Facility, Community Event Sponsor, Tobacco Retailer's, and Hazardous Materials Business Plan/CUPA permits — countywide, reaching every incorporated city as well as the unincorporated area, per Kern County Code §8.04.020 · Massage Establishment Permit (Ch. 8.70) — countywide; the dollar fee is set by the department's own uncodified fee ordinance, which is not published in any document on the department's website6 permits
- Kern County Sheriff's Office, Licensing UnitTitle 5 general business licenses for the enumerated business types in Kern County Code §5.04.020 — unincorporated Kern County only; of the 10 tracked industries, only a salon operating as a 'massage establishment,' or offering massage beyond the narrow barber/cosmetologist exemption, falls under this chapter1 permit
Other California jurisdictions we cover
Commercial Compliance Hub publishes information, not legal advice. Requirements change — confirm anything you rely on with the issuing agency before you file.