Peoria County, IL Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

The Peoria County Code regulates short-term paid lodging in the unincorporated county exclusively through its bed and breakfast establishment article (Chapter 6, Article III), which it interprets alongside the Illinois Bed and Breakfast Act, 50 ILCS 820/1 (§ 6-51). Section 6-52 defines a bed and breakfast establishment as an operator-occupied residence that offers accommodations for a charge with no more than five guest rooms for rent, operating for more than ten nights in a twelve-month period; it explicitly excludes motels, hotels, boarding houses and food service establishments from the category.

The same section caps each guest room at no more than two adult transient guests per night, meaning a fully-booked five-room establishment can lawfully house roughly ten overnight paying guests at once, not counting the resident operator or family. The definition of operator reinforces the occupancy structure by requiring the establishment's owner, or the owner's agent, to reside in the bed and breakfast building itself or within 150 feet of it, so a rental operated entirely absentee does not fit the category or its licensing pathway. 5).