Short-Term Rental Laws by City (2026): Airbnb Rules in 20 Major Markets
Last reviewed: July 2026
Short-term rental regulation is the biggest single risk factor in Airbnb investing, and it is decided city by city. New York effectively banned investor Airbnbs in 2023, San Francisco and Denver restrict rentals to a host’s primary residence, Honolulu requires 30-day minimum stays outside resort zones — while Phoenix and Houston remain broadly open with simple registration. This guide compares permits, primary-residence rules, night caps, taxes, and enforcement across 20 major US markets, with links to each city’s official STR page.
Analyzing a specific deal? Model revenue, occupancy, and expenses with the Lofty Airbnb calculator before you commit to a market.
General information, not legal advice. Verify with the current statute or a local attorney before acting.
20-city comparison table
Click any city for the full breakdown: key rules, taxes, enforcement history, and the official government source.
| City | Status | Primary residence required | Night caps | Permit / license |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York City | Heavily restricted, registered, host-present stays only under Local Law 18 | Yes | No cap on registered hosted stays, but unhosted stays under 30 days are prohibited | Registration with the Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) required before listing; modest registration fee |
| Los Angeles | Permitted with registration, primary residence only under the Home-Sharing Ordinance | Yes | 120 nights/year standard; unlimited with extended home-sharing approval (higher fee and conditions) | Home-Sharing registration with the Planning Department; annual fee (a few hundred dollars); registration number must appear on listings |
| San Francisco | Permitted with certificate, primary residence only, 90-night cap on unhosted stays | Yes | 90 unhosted nights/year; hosted stays (host present) are not capped | Short-term residential rental certificate from the Office of Short-Term Rentals plus a business registration; hosts must live in the unit at least 275 nights/year |
| San Diego | Permitted with tiered licensing, whole-home STRs capped citywide by lottery | No for whole-home licenses (Tier 3/4), but those licenses are capped and allocated by lottery | Tier 1 (whole home, part-time) limited to 20 days/year; other tiers uncapped but license-limited | Short-Term Residential Occupancy (STRO) license required; four tiers from part-time home sharing to whole-home; annual fees vary by tier |
| Seattle | Permitted with license, most operators limited to 2 units | No, but the 2-unit limit generally means a primary residence plus one other unit | None | Short-term rental regulatory license plus a business license tax certificate; annual per-unit fee |
| Denver | Permitted with license, primary residence only | Yes | None | Short-term rental business license from Excise & Licenses; annual fee around $100 plus lodger's tax registration |
| Austin | Permitted with license, regime loosened after courts struck down owner-occupancy limits | No, non-owner-occupied (Type 2) rentals operate under licensing after court rulings against the prior phase-out | None | Short-term rental license from the Development Services Department; annual fee several hundred dollars |
| Dallas | Restricted by zoning, banned in single-family districts, but enforcement paused by litigation | No (where STRs are allowed by zoning) | None | Annual STR registration with the city plus hotel occupancy tax account |
| Houston | Permitted with registration, first citywide STR ordinance adopted 2025 | No | None | Annual STR registration certificate (roughly $275/unit) required under the 2025 ordinance |
| Nashville | Permitted with permit, non-owner-occupied STRs restricted to non-residential zones | No for non-owner-occupied permits, but those are barred from most residential zoning districts | None | Short-term rental property permit from Metro Codes (owner-occupied or non-owner-occupied type); annual fee and renewal |
| New Orleans | Heavily restricted, residential STRs capped per block with owner/operator residency requirements | Yes for residential-zone permits (operator must live on site); commercial zones differ | None for permitted units, but permit caps sharply limit supply | Residential or commercial STR permit plus operator permit; caps limit residential permits to one per block face (lottery when oversubscribed) |
| Miami | Varies sharply by zone and municipality, permitted in designated zones with registration; Miami Beach heavily restricted | No in zones where STRs are allowed (City of Miami); Miami Beach bans STRs in most residential districts | None where permitted | State vacation-rental license (DBPR) plus local business tax receipt and certificate of use; Miami Beach requires separate registration where allowed |
| Orlando | Restricted inside city limits, home sharing only; whole-home STRs thrive in surrounding counties | Yes for city home-share registration (host present); whole-home short stays are generally not permitted in most residential zones | None for registered home shares | City home-share registration plus state DBPR license; unincorporated Orange County and Osceola County have their own (more permissive) regimes |
| Atlanta | Permitted with license, owner limited to primary residence plus one additional unit | For the second permitted unit the owner need not reside there, but every host must hold a permit tied to their own primary residence | None | Short-term rental license from the Department of City Planning (roughly $150/year per unit) |
| Chicago | Permitted with registration, primary-residence rule for most single-family homes and small buildings | Yes for single-family homes and units in buildings of 2-4 units (with limited exceptions) | None | Registration through the city's shared-housing system (or a vacation-rental license); platforms transmit registrations; fees on the order of low hundreds of dollars |
| Boston | Heavily restricted, registered, owner-occupant-tied units only; investor units banned | Yes, only owner-occupied units (or owner-adjacent units in the same 2-3 family building) qualify | None for eligible registered units | City STR registration (modest annual fee) plus Massachusetts state lodging registry; both numbers required to operate |
| Washington, DC | Permitted with license, primary residence only, 90-night cap on unhosted rentals | Yes | 90 unhosted nights/year (vacation-rental endorsement); hosted rentals uncapped | Short-term rental license from DLCP (host present) or vacation-rental endorsement (unhosted); two-year license terms with modest fees |
| Las Vegas | Permitted with license in the City of Las Vegas under strict conditions; unincorporated Clark County (the Strip area) is far more restrictive | For unhosted rentals licensing is tightly limited; owner-occupied rentals face fewer hurdles, rules differ between the city and unincorporated Clark County | None where licensed, but minimum-stay and occupancy rules apply | City of Las Vegas STR business license with distance and inspection requirements; Clark County runs a separate capped licensing program required by state law AB363 (2021) |
| Phoenix | Permitted with registration, Arizona state law preempts bans | No | None | City STR permit/registration (roughly $250/year) plus state transaction privilege tax (TPT) license |
| Honolulu | Heavily restricted, 30-day minimum stay outside designated resort zones | Not the framing, location controls: short stays are allowed only in resort-zoned areas (mostly Waikiki) or for a small pool of legacy permit holders | N/A, minimum-stay rules (30 days outside resort zones) are the binding constraint | Registration required for legal STRs; new whole-home short-term rentals outside resort zones are effectively unavailable |
The regulatory landscape for Airbnb investors
City STR rules cluster into a few recognizable regimes. Effective bans on investor units (New York City, Boston, New Orleans residential zones, Honolulu outside resort zones) remove whole-home Airbnbs from the market entirely. Primary-residence regimes (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Washington DC, Chicago for most small buildings) allow home sharing but exclude pure investment properties. Capped or lottery systems (San Diego, New Orleans, Clark County near Las Vegas) permit investor units but ration them. Open registration markets (Phoenix, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Seattle) allow investor operation with a license, sometimes with unit limits.
Two structural forces matter as much as any single ordinance: state preemption (Arizona and Florida bar their cities from banning STRs, while Texas courts have repeatedly limited city restrictions) and platform enforcement (cities that force Airbnb and Vrbo to verify registration have compliance rates traditional code enforcement never achieved). Rentals of 30 days or longer fall outside nearly all of these laws, which is why furnished mid-term rentals are the standard fallback strategy in restricted markets.
Frequently asked questions
- Are short-term rentals legal in the United States?
- There is no federal short-term rental law, legality is decided city by city (and sometimes state by state). The spectrum runs from effectively prohibited for investors (New York City, Boston, Honolulu outside resort zones) through primary-residence-only regimes (San Francisco, Denver, Washington DC, Los Angeles) to open, registration-based markets (Phoenix, Houston, Austin). A few states, notably Arizona and Florida, preempt their cities from banning STRs outright, while others leave cities free to regulate or ban. Always confirm the rules for the exact parcel: jurisdiction lines (city vs. county) and zoning districts frequently decide the answer.
- What is a primary-residence requirement?
- A primary-residence requirement means only the home the host actually lives in, typically defined as residing there 6+ months or a specific night count per year, can be rented short-term. It is the single most common tool cities use to block investor-owned Airbnbs: San Francisco (275 nights residency), Los Angeles, Denver, Washington DC, and New York City all use versions of it. Where it applies, a pure investment property cannot legally operate as a short-term rental, and cities like Denver have prosecuted hosts for faking primary residence.
- What are night caps and how do they work?
- Night caps limit how many nights per year a unit can be rented short-term, usually targeting unhosted stays. San Francisco and Washington DC cap unhosted rentals at 90 nights per year, and Los Angeles caps standard home-sharing at 120 nights unless the host obtains extended approval. Hosted stays (host present) are typically uncapped. Caps are enforced through platform data-sharing and host reporting, and exceeding them can mean fines or losing the registration.
- What taxes do Airbnb hosts pay?
- Short stays are taxed like hotel rooms: state and local lodging or occupancy taxes commonly total 10-18% of the booking, reaching over 21% in Chicago and around 18% in Honolulu. Platforms often collect and remit these automatically, but the host remains responsible for registration and any gaps. On top of lodging taxes, rental income is subject to ordinary federal and state income tax, and hosts providing hotel-like services may owe self-employment tax. Stays of 30+ days are usually exempt from lodging taxes.
- How do cities enforce short-term rental rules?
- Modern enforcement is platform-based: cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago legally require Airbnb and Vrbo to verify registration numbers and refuse bookings for unregistered listings, which is far more effective than complaint-driven inspections. Cities supplement that with data-sharing agreements, dedicated STR offices, fines that can reach tens of thousands of dollars (Clark County, Miami Beach), and in some cases penalties for merely advertising an illegal rental (Honolulu).
- Which major cities are most friendly to Airbnb investors?
- Among the 20 markets in this guide, the most investor-friendly are Phoenix (state law preempts bans, no primary-residence rule), Houston (registration only, no zoning), Austin (investor STRs lawful after court rulings), Seattle (up to two units per operator), and Atlanta (primary residence plus one investment unit). The least friendly are New York City, Boston, Honolulu (outside resort zones), New Orleans (residential zones), and Miami Beach. Markets in litigation, like Dallas, carry elevated regulatory risk in both directions.
- Do these rules apply to rentals of 30 days or more?
- Generally no. Most short-term rental ordinances only cover stays below a threshold, usually 30 days (31 in some cities). Furnished monthly rentals ("mid-term rentals") aimed at travel nurses, relocations, and remote workers typically fall outside STR laws and lodging taxes, which is why they are a popular workaround in restricted markets like NYC and DC. Standard landlord-tenant law applies instead, and some cities are beginning to study mid-term rental regulation, so verify the current threshold locally.
- How should regulation factor into an Airbnb investment analysis?
- Treat regulation as a first-order underwriting input, not a footnote. Before modeling revenue, confirm: (1) the exact jurisdiction and zoning of the parcel, (2) whether a permit is available to a non-resident owner, (3) night caps and minimum-stay rules, (4) total lodging tax load, and (5) pending litigation or ordinance changes. Then stress-test returns with the property running as a 30-plus-day furnished rental or a traditional lease, using Lofty's Airbnb calculator and rental property calculator, so a rule change does not turn the deal negative.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Laws change — verify with the current statute or a local attorney before acting. Summaries reflect widely documented ordinances as of July 2026; several markets described here have active litigation or pending amendments.