Sioux City, IA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Maximum occupancy of a Sioux City short-term rental is governed by two overlapping frameworks. (1) Inspection Services rental registration: Sioux City applies a practical working cap of three persons per bedroom rented when reviewing STR registrations, consistent with the city's published occupancy guidance and the same standard applied to other residential rentals (Iowa Code §414.1(2) bars the city from imposing a stricter cap on STRs specifically). (2) International Property Maintenance Code: Sioux City has adopted the IPMC through its housing code, which sets minimum sleeping-room area at 70 square feet for the first occupant plus 50 square feet for each additional occupant (IPMC §404.4.1), a minimum 70-square-foot habitable-room floor area (§404.4.2), and a dwelling-unit total-area floor based on total occupants (§404.5). Children under 12 typically count as one-half occupant. Sioux City's housing stock includes many older single-family homes in the Morningside, Riverside, and West 7th districts with small bedrooms, so the IPMC math can produce a lower legal cap than the bedroom-count rule. The legal occupancy is the lower of (a) 3 × bedrooms or (b) the IPMC area-based calculation. Inspection Services measures rooms during the rental inspection cycle and can order an overcrowded unit vacated.