Short-Term Rentals in Summit County, CO (2026)

Permit Requirements

Summit County (home to Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain, Frisco, Dillon, and Silverthorne) operates one of Colorado's most regulated short-term rental markets. The County's STR Ordinance 20-C, adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on February 15, 2023, divides unincorporated Summit County into a Resort Overlay Zone (ROZ) and a Neighborhood Overlay Zone (NOZ). Every property rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days must obtain a Summit County STR license before advertising or operating. Type II licenses in the NOZ are subject to numeric basin caps (Lower Blue, Upper Blue, Snake River, Ten Mile) that are currently full or nearly full, generating multi-year waitlists; Type I 'Qualified Occupant' exception licenses (uncapped) are available only to applicants who can prove primary residency AND local workforce employment of at least 30 hours/week in Summit County for at least 9 months/year. The County eliminated the Type III 'unlimited nights' license when Ordinance 20-C took effect. Resort Licenses (uncapped) cover Copper Mountain, Tiger Run Resort, parts of Keystone, and unincorporated parcels at the base of Peak 8. Ordinance 22 (adopted September 24, 2024) requires every advertisement to display the valid Summit County STR license number. Operators must also collect Colorado state-administered sales tax (combined 6.375% in unincorporated Summit County) plus the 2% Summit County Short-Term Rental Lodging Tax approved by voters as Ballot Issue 1A on November 8, 2022 (effective January 1, 2023). The Town of Breckenridge runs a separate, even stricter regime: a town-wide hard cap of 2,200 non-exempt accommodation-unit licenses (Ordinance No. 29, Series 2021, effective November 2, 2021, modified by Ordinance No. 28, Series 2022) split across a Resort Zone (uncapped), Tourism Zone 1, Downtown Core Zone 2, and Residential Zone 3 — Zones 2 and 3 are over-cap with multi-year (5-20 year) waitlists and an annual regulatory fee of $756 per bedroom in addition to the base license fee.