Raleigh zoning codes
IX and IH are Raleigh's industrial districts. CX, NX and DX are where the shops and businesses go. OX and OP are office. In a code like CX-5-PL-CU, the 5 is the most stories you can build, PL says how the building meets the street, and CU means the rezoning came with conditions.
Checked against the city's UDO in October 2026. The city's zoning map is the legal record.
Click any property to see its zoning code.
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This data is for information purposes only and may not reflect recent changes. Verification or certification of information in this record can only be obtained through the North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State.
The districts
| Code | What it is | Our filter |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial | ||
| IX | Industrial Mixed Use. Light industry and manufacturing, plus shops and services. Homes only on upper floors. | Industrial |
| IH | Heavy Industrial. Heavy manufacturing, quarries and waste operations. | Industrial |
| Business | ||
| CX | Commercial Mixed Use. Retail, service and business, with homes and offices mixed in. | Commercial |
| NX | Neighborhood Mixed Use. Shops and services near neighborhoods. Lots top out at 10 acres. | Commercial |
| DX | Downtown Mixed Use. Dense, mixed development downtown. | Commercial |
| Office | ||
| OX | Office Mixed Use. Offices, with housing and small retail allowed. | Office |
| OP | Office Park. Offices and jobs. It can also buffer a busier district from a neighborhood. | Office |
| Housing | ||
| RX | Residential Mixed Use. A mix of housing types at more than 10 units an acre, with a little retail. | Mixed use |
| R-1 to R-10 | Residential. Minimum lots run from 40,000 square feet in R-1 to 4,000 in R-10. R-10 allows apartments. | Residential |
| MH | Manufactured Housing. Manufactured home parks and subdivisions. | Residential |
| Special | ||
| CMP | Campus. Colleges, universities and hospitals. | Other |
| PD | Planned Development. A project with its own master plan. | Other |
| CM | Conservation Management. Permanent open space. | Other |
| AP | Agricultural Productive. Farmland. | Other |
The city calls CX, NX and DX mixed use. Our filter puts them under Commercial, since that's where Raleigh's retail and business land sits.
Reading a full code
Take CX-5-PL-CU:
- CX is the district.
- 5 is the height limit in stories. Every mixed-use code has one: 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 20, 30 or 40.
- PL is the frontage, Parking Limited: at most two rows of parking and one drive aisle between the building and the street. UL and UG put the building on the sidewalk. SH is a main-street storefront. You'll also see PK, DE, GR and GP.
- CU means conditional. The rezoning added conditions, and where they're stricter than the district, they win. iMAPS links to them.
Overlays
An overlay adds rules on top of the district without replacing it. CX-3-PL with -SHOD-1 is still CX. Raleigh's overlays include -SHOD (highway buffers), -AOD (under the airport flight paths), -TOD (near transit stations), -HOD (historic review), -NCOD (older neighborhoods) and the watershed overlays -UWPOD, -FWPOD and -SWPOD.
Older codes
Some parcels still carry codes from before 2013: R-15, R-20, R-30, SpR-30, O&I-1 to O&I-3, RB, BC, SC, NB, BUS, TD, I-1, I-2 and PDD. The city can't add new ones or move their lines. If a parcel you care about has one, check it on the city's map.
Checking a parcel yourself
- Open iMAPS.
- In Layers, turn on Zoning, then Raleigh Zoning. Overlays are under Planning and Development.
- Search the address, PIN or owner name.
- Click the parcel with the Identify tool (the "i"). For a CU parcel, Link to Conditions is at the bottom of the Raleigh Zoning tab.
For something official, request a Zoning Verification Letter through the city's Permit and Development Portal, or call the Permit Helpline at 919-996-2500.
The UDO covers Raleigh only. Cary, Apex, Garner, Wake Forest and the other Wake towns have their own codes.
On NC CRE Map
Click a parcel and the card shows its full code. In Find, pick Wake, check Industrial under Zoning category, and you get every commercial parcel zoned IX or IH, plus industrial land in the other Wake towns. Parcels with no zoning on record don't show up when that filter is on. The map shows commercial parcels and developable land, not single-family homes, so Residential here means commercial buildings on land zoned residential.
See Raleigh's zoning on one map
The county record is free. Sign in with Google or an emailed code, no card, and you get 10 LLC owner lookups and 5 owner contact lookups to see who's behind it.
Open the mapQuestions
What is CX zoning in Raleigh?
Commercial Mixed Use. It's for retail, service and business, with homes and offices allowed. The number after it is the height limit, so CX-3 means up to 3 stories.
What is IX zoning in Raleigh?
Industrial Mixed Use. Light industry and manufacturing, plus shops and services, with homes only on upper floors. Heavier industry goes in IH.
What does CU mean on a Raleigh zoning code?
The rezoning came with conditions. The parcel follows its district's rules plus those conditions, and the stricter one wins. iMAPS links to the conditions.
What's the difference between NX and CX?
Both allow shops, services and homes. NX is meant to sit near neighborhoods and caps lots at 10 acres. CX has no cap and leans more commercial.
Sources: City of Raleigh UDO, sections 1.3.1, 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 1.3.4, 2.1.1, 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, and Find My Zoning. This page is a guide, not legal advice.