Butte County Unincorporated, California Zoning Map
Zoning, overlays and hazards on every parcel — and an answer to what the code actually lets you build. Compiled from current zoning data for all 41 districts.
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What's in the Butte County Unincorporated dataset
Every field below is available for any Butte County Unincorporated parcel, on the map and through the AI.
Zoning
- District code & full name
- Parcel boundary & APN
- All 41 districts mapped
Building controls
- Maximum building height
- Floor area ratio (FAR)
- Front setback
- Side setback
Overlays, hazards & AI
- Flood hazard & environmental layers
- Ask the AI about any parcel
- Powered by live parcel data
Where uses are permitted in Butte County Unincorporated
Share of Butte County Unincorporated's zoned land where each use is permitted.
- Single-family
- 96.30%
- Multi-family
- 1.97%
- ADU
- 96.29%
- Two-family
- 0.15%
- Retail
- 58.52%
- Eating & drinking
- 0.50%
- Office
- 0.48%
- Hotel / motel
- 0.34%
- Industrial
- 92.23%
- Storage & warehouses
- 96.07%
- Short-term rental
- 75.25%
Butte County Unincorporated, California Zoning Districts: What Do They Mean?
Zoning districts are areas regulated by specific laws that determine land use, building types, and development rules. Each district below shows its zone type and which uses it permits.
| Zone Code | Category | Area | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
A Airport | - | 60.2 ac | Standards & uses → |
AG-160 Agriculture | - | 140,378.1 ac | Standards & uses → |
AG-20 Agriculture | - | 54,114 ac | Standards & uses → |
AG-40 Agriculture | - | 107,048.2 ac | Standards & uses → |
Showing 4 of 41 districts
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What should developers know about Butte County Unincorporated zoning?
Unincorporated Butte County is overwhelmingly an agricultural and resource landscape, and the zoning numbers make that unmistakable. The Agriculture districts dominate at a scale no incorporated city approaches - AG-80 covers roughly 173,780 acres, AG-160 about 140,378 acres, AG-40 around 107,048 acres, and AG-20 some 54,114 acres, with the numeric suffixes signaling large minimum parcel sizes. Together these four agricultural zones span hundreds of thousands of acres, framing this as ranch, farm, and large-lot rural land first and foremost.
The residential and conservation framework is built around that rural character. Foothill Residential zones (FR-1 through FR-40) and Foothill Country Residential (FCR-20) carry large-lot rural housing across the Sierra foothills, while Resource Conservation (RC) at roughly 37,313 acres and the Public (P) designation near 31,095 acres protect open and institutional land. Denser housing is comparatively rare and concentrated - Low, Medium, Medium-High, and High Density Residential (LDR, MDR, MHDR, HDR) cluster in and around the county's community centers, with the Medium Density (MDR) zone the largest of those at about 5,171 acres. Commercial and employment land is modest by comparison: General Commercial (G-C), Community Commercial (C-C), Neighborhood Commercial (N-C), the Research and Business Park (RBP), and General, Heavy, and Limited Industrial (GI, HI, LI) zones, plus three Mixed Use districts (MU-1, MU-2, MU-3) in the community cores.
For a developer or investor, the practical reality is that Butte County's vast majority of land is governed by large-minimum agricultural and conservation zoning where parcel size, Williamson Act contracts, water, and resource constraints drive feasibility far more than density. Concentrated growth opportunity exists in the community-center residential, mixed-use, and commercial zones and in Planned Development (PD) areas. Recorded building controls include FAR, density, coverage, lot width, height, and full setbacks. This is pre-development intelligence, not legal advice - verify with the local planning department before acquisition.
Butte County Unincorporated zoning: frequently asked questions
What dominates zoning in unincorporated Butte County?
Agriculture, by an enormous margin. The four agricultural zones - AG-80 (roughly 173,780 acres), AG-160 (about 140,378 acres), AG-40 (around 107,048 acres), and AG-20 (some 54,114 acres) - cover hundreds of thousands of acres combined. The numeric suffixes reflect large minimum parcel sizes, so most county land is ranch, farm, and large-lot rural ground rather than developable subdivision land.
Where is denser residential or community development actually feasible here?
Concentrated growth sits in and around the community centers, in the Low, Medium, Medium-High, and High Density Residential zones (LDR, MDR, MHDR, HDR) and the Mixed Use districts (MU-1, MU-2, MU-3). The Medium Density (MDR) zone is the largest of these at roughly 5,171 acres. Planned Development (PD) areas add tailored growth capacity outside the agricultural matrix.
What should I expect when evaluating large agricultural parcels in Butte County?
Expect large minimum parcel sizes signaled by the AG zone suffixes, plus potential Williamson Act contracts, water availability, and resource-protection constraints that govern feasibility more than any density figure. Splitting or converting agricultural land is heavily regulated. Diligence should start with the parcel's exact AG designation, contract status, and resource overlays before any development assumption.
How do the Foothill Residential zones differ from the agricultural zones?
Foothill Residential (FR-1 through FR-40) and Foothill Country Residential (FCR-20) provide large-lot rural housing across the Sierra foothills, distinct from the working-agriculture AG zones. They still carry substantial minimum lot sizes and foothill constraints like slope, fire hazard, and access. They are the primary path to rural residential development outside the community centers.
What commercial and industrial land does the county offer?
Modest but varied: General Commercial (G-C), Community Commercial (C-C), Neighborhood Commercial (N-C), a Research and Business Park (RBP), and General, Heavy, and Limited Industrial (GI, HI, LI) zones. These concentrate in and near the unincorporated community cores rather than spreading across the rural landscape. Target the community-center commercial and industrial designations for employment or retail product.
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Zoning data is pre-development intelligence, not legal advice. Verify with the Butte County Unincorporated planning department before acquisition or design.