Waco, TX Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

The occupancy cap sits inside Article XIII of Chapter 13, the bed and breakfast and short-term rental facility licensing article the city adopted by Ordinance No. 2017-704 and amended in 2020. Section 13-471(e)(1) sets the baseline formula citywide: two adults per bedroom plus two additional adults per rental unit, regardless of zoning district. Section 13-471(e)(2) layers a stricter, unrelated-persons cap on top of that formula inside the R-E, R-1A, R-1B and R-1C single-family zoning districts, where a bed and breakfast homestay establishment, short-term rental type I, or short-term rental type II may not be occupied by more than four individuals who are not related by blood, marriage, or adoption at any one time.

The two caps work together: even a large house with enough bedrooms to clear the per-bedroom math cannot legally host a five-person unrelated group in those residential districts. The planning services department enforces the limit administratively rather than only through police calls: under Section 13-470(e), the department furnishes contact information for the designated operator to every property owner within 200 feet of the rental, and requires a sign posted in the common area of each unit listing the owner or operator's contact information, the license number, and the occupancy limits and requirements set forth in the license.

Section 13-470(f) goes further and requires the license number and occupancy limit to appear in all marketing materials, advertisements, and online listings for the property, so a host cannot advertise beds for more guests than the license allows. Because the occupancy rule is a license condition, not a freestanding offense, the practical enforcement path runs through Section 13-472, which lets the director of planning services revoke, suspend, or deny a license for any violation of the article's conditions.