Background A maternity waiting home is a temporary residence in which pregnant women from remote areas wait for their childbirth. It is an approach targeted to advance access to emergency obstetric care services especially, in hard-to-reach areas to escalate institutional delivery to reduce complications that occur during childbirth. Apart from the availability of this service, the intention of pregnant women to utilize the existing service is very important to achieve its goals. Thus, this study aimed to assess the intention to use maternity waiting homes and associated factors among pregnant women. Methods Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 605 pregnant women using a multistage sampling technique from March 10 to April 10, 2019, by using a structured questionnaire through a face-to-face interview. The collected data was entered into Epi-Data version 3.1 and analyzed using the SPSS version 24 statistical package. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the association. All variables at p-value < 0.25 in bivariate analysis were entered into multivariate analysis. Lastly, a significant association was declared at a P-value of < 0.05 with 95% CI. Results In this study, the intention to use maternity waiting homes was 295(48.8%, 95%CI: 47%-55%)). Occupation (government employee) (AOR:2.87,95%CI: 1.54–5.36), previous childbirth history (AOR:2.1,95%CI:1.22–3.57), past experience in maternity waiting home use AOR:4.35,95%CI:2.63–7.18), direct (AOR:1.57,95%CI:1.01–2.47) and indirect (AOR: 2.18, 1.38,3.44) subject norms and direct (AOR:3.00,95%CI:2.03–4.43), and indirect (AOR = 1.84,95%CI:1.25–2.71) perceived behavioral control of respondents were significantly associated variables with intention to use maternity waiting home. Conclusion The magnitude of intention to use maternity waiting homes among pregnant women is low. Community disapproval, low self-efficacy, maternal employment, history of previous birth, and past experiences of MWHs utilization are predictors of intention to use MWHs, and intervention programs, such as health education, strengthening and integration of community in health system programs need to be provided.