St. Louis County, MO Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

The occupancy limit sits in Section 1003.020 of the Zoning Ordinance, the definitions section. A dwelling unit is defined as a room or group of rooms forming a habitable unit for one family, and a family is defined as an individual, or two or more persons related by blood or marriage, or a group of not more than three persons who need not be related, living together and subsisting in common as a single non-profit housekeeping unit that uses not more than two kitchens. The text counts people living together.

It does not carve out a separate rule for guests or for paying occupants, and Chapter 1003 does not define a short-term rental at all.\n\nThe arithmetic is simple. A household of related people has no numeric ceiling in the definition. An unrelated group stops at three. Four unrelated adults sharing one dwelling unit fall outside the family definition, and a unit built or altered with a third kitchen fails the two-kitchen condition no matter who lives there.\n\nThe same section draws a hard line around renting rooms.

A home occupation may include the keeping of not more than two roomers or boarders, alongside supervising not more than four outside children or tutoring up to eight students per day. Tourist homes, expressly including bed-and-breakfasts, are not deemed home occupations. Hotels are a different use entirely: a building where lodging is provided to the public on a transient basis, and the definition of dwelling excludes hotels and motels.\n\nThe definitions were last amended by Ordinance No. 29528 on February 12, 2026, and that is the text in force.

Enforcement runs through Section 1003.200. The Director of Transportation and Public Works acts as Code Official, issues occupancy permits, and can post stop-use orders, while the Director of Planning serves as Zoning Administrator and verifies zoning compliance before permits issue.