County seat: Livingston
Building in Park County
How zoning works here
This county does not administer general zoning outside incorporated cities and towns. That is common in Montana and frequently misunderstood: no zoning does not mean no rules. Subdivision review, sanitation review, floodplain regulation, covenants and state building code can all still apply.
Park County has only 6 citizen-initiated zoning districts and 1 county-initiated zoning district in specific areas (including Paradise Valley, Cooke City, East Yellowstone corridor, and others); most of the unincorporated county has no county zoning.
Building permits
This county issues building permits for unincorporated areas
Park County does NOT have a certified county building department. Non-exempt building permits in unincorporated Park County are issued by the Montana State Building Codes Bureau (DLI). The Park County Planning Department issues zoning compliance permits for structures within zoning districts, but those are land-use compliance permits, not building code permits. Within the City of Livingston and other incorporated municipalities, local city building departments apply.
Who to call
Building permits
Montana Department of Labor & Industry Building Codes Program (state authority for unincorporated Park County)
Floodplain administrator
Park County Planning Department (Floodplain Administration)
Cities with their own jurisdiction
Inside these limits the municipality, not the county, is generally the planning and permitting authority: Livingston, Gardiner.
Check a specific parcel in Park County
County rules are only part of the picture. Terrain, soils, septic feasibility, flood, wetlands and access are parcel-specific.
County authority details researched from primary county sources and verified 2026-08-14. County rules change and this page is a starting point, not a determination. Confirm anything you intend to rely on directly with the office that administers it. Sources: www.parkcountymt.gov, www.parkcountymt.gov, www.parkcountymt.gov, www.parkcountymt.gov