Short-Term Rentals in Washington (2026)

Bellevue requires STR operators to file a Registration Notice with Development Services and obtain a business license…

Operators must register their Kirkland STR through the FileLocal business license portal, state DOR, and include the…

Vancouver adopted an STR ordinance in December 2023 requiring all short-term rental operators to obtain a city business…

Every short-term rental operator in Bellingham must obtain a city permit, reviewed as a Type I or Type II land use…

Everett Municipal Code 19.13.250 requires a city business license to operate a short-term rental, caps any one operator…

Anyone renting out a short-term rental in unincorporated Grant County needs an annual operational permit from the Grant…

Seattle makes it unlawful to run a short-term rental without a Director-issued operator license, and unlawful to…

Yakima treats short-term rentals as a home occupation and requires them to meet all thirteen home-occupation conditions…

Any short-term rental in unincorporated Yakima County needs a conditional use permit before it can host paying…

Auburn STR operators must obtain a City business license and comply with Washington RCW 64.37 requirements. Platforms…

There is no county STR registry for unincorporated Clark County. Hosts must instead register with the Washington…

Edmonds regulates short-term rentals through the Community Development Code. Bed & breakfasts are covered under ECDC…

Federal Way STR operators must register with WA DOR through the Business Licensing Service, obtain a Federal Way…

Kennewick has not codified a dedicated short-term rental licensing chapter in the Kennewick Municipal Code. STR…

Kent zones short-term rentals as an accessory use in residential districts, but operators need a city business license…

Short-term rentals in Lakewood, WA appear to require that the listed property be a primary residence based on available…

Instead of a license, Pierce County Code 18A.37.040(B)(6) requires the owner to file a Vacation Rental Affidavit with…

Port Townsend requires a business license for every short-term rental, plus a land use permit application before the…

Renton doesn't use a separate short-term rental permit; instead, RMC 4-4-055(B)(1) requires every owner operating a…

In unincorporated Snohomish County there is no standalone "Airbnb" license. Guest lodging in a home is regulated as a…

Spokane STR operators must obtain a city business registration via Taxes and Licenses Division and a WA state UBI…

Unincorporated Spokane County has no standalone short-term-rental ordinance. A whole-home or B&B rental is regulated…

Tacoma requires short-term rentals that rent individual guest rooms to keep a chronological guest register with names…

Washington's short-term rental law, RCW 64.37.010, defines what counts as a short-term rental and sets baseline safety…

Kitsap County's zoning code sets no general permit process for vacation rentals in the unincorporated area. Section…

Bellingham short-term rental hosts must prevent unreasonable disturbances to neighbors and cannot host weddings…

Short-term-rental guests in unincorporated Benton County follow the same rules as everyone: WAC 173-60 property-line…

Grant County's Unified Development Code requires every short-term transient residence rental to be operated so it…

Kirkland requires every short-term rental agreement to include provisions urging guests to avoid noise, littering…

Lakewood, Washington bars paid parties at short-term rentals: LMC 18A.40.090(B)(2)(i)(viii) says STR guests 'are not…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 sets no rental-specific quiet hours; vacation-rental guests must follow the countywide…

Snohomish County has no STR-specific noise cap, but SCC 30.28.020(3)(e) requires a bed-and-breakfast to be run so as…

There is no STR-specific noise rule in the county. A rental's noise is subject to Spokane County's public-disturbance…

STR guests must meet the same noise limits as residents: WAC 173-60 and, in Bellingham, the public disturbance code…

Yakima requires short-term rentals to operate without disturbing the neighborhood's residential character: no excess…

Short-term rental guests must obey the same noise limits as residents: WAC 173-60's 55 dBA daytime and 45 dBA nighttime…

Washington imposes statewide sales tax and lodging taxes on short-term rental stays under 30 days. Operators must…

BMC 20.10.037(D)(13) requires every short-term rental operator to meet all local, state and federal license and tax…

Short-term stays in Benton County owe Washington retail sales tax and B&O tax on the rental, plus a 2% Tri-Cities-area…

Hosts renting under 30 days must collect and remit Washington retail sales tax plus lodging and convention/trade-center…

Short-term rentals in unincorporated Grant County collect the county's 4 percent lodging excise tax under GCC §…

Kent levies a 1 percent special excise (lodging) tax on lodging furnished for under a month, including short-term…

Kirkland collects a one percent lodging excise tax on every short-term rental charge, and KMC 7.02.310 makes it the…

A Lakewood, Washington short-term rental permit is not free: LMC 18A.40.090(B)(2)(f)(vii) requires the application to…

Short-term rentals in Pierce County owe the county lodging (hotel-motel) excise tax, set by the Department of Revenue…

Port Townsend levies a 4% special excise tax on short-term rental lodging charges, on top of state sales tax.

Renton levies a 1% special excise tax on short-term lodging charges under RMC 5-18-2, on top of state sales tax…

Seattle charges short-term rental operators $75 per dwelling unit annually and bed and breakfast operators $75 per…

Lodging rented for less than one month in Snohomish County is subject to two stacked 2% county lodging excise taxes…

A short-term rental in Spokane County collects Washington retail sales tax plus local sales tax on lodging under 30…

Tacoma sets a flat $75 annual license fee for transient accommodations, including short-term rentals renting individual…

Unincorporated Thurston County levies a 2% excise tax on short-term lodging charges, including hotels, motels, tourist…

Short-term rental operators in unincorporated Yakima County must hold the state and local business licenses the…

Bellingham requires short-term rental hosts to provide at least one off-street parking space for guests on-site during…

Unincorporated Clark County sets no dedicated STR parking standard. For a bed-and-breakfast, CCC 40.260.050 requires…

Everett's Unified Development Code sets a specific off-street parking count for every short-term rental. Renting a…

A transient residence short-term rental in unincorporated Grant County must provide at least one additional…

Kirkland requires short-term rental owners to meet the same parking standards imposed on bed-and-breakfast houses in…

Lakewood, Washington requires a short-term rental applicant to disclose its off-street parking under LMC…

Port Townsend requires bed and breakfast inns and tourist homes to add at least one parking space beyond what the…

Renton requires off-street parking for a short-term rental under the standard Title IV parking standards, plus one…

Unincorporated Snohomish County requires a bed-and-breakfast (STR) to provide 2 off-street parking spaces plus 1 per…

Spokane County has no STR-specific parking count. For a bed-and-breakfast home industry, SCC Title 14 states parking…

Whatcom County requires one off-street parking space per sleeping unit for a vacation rental, per line item (59.1) of…

Yakima bars short-term rental hosts from using their front yard for guest parking unless the parking area is screened…

Every short-term rental in unincorporated Yakima County must provide one off-street parking space for each guest unit…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040(B)(4) sets no numeric parking-space count for vacation rentals. It requires only that the…

Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 6.600 does not impose a dedicated off-street parking requirement on short-term rentals…

Bellingham caps every short-term rental at two overnight guests per bedroom, not counting children five and under…

Unincorporated Clark County sets no whole-home STR occupancy cap. For the county-regulated bed-and-breakfast use, up to…

Everett limits every short-term rental to eight overnight guests per site, requires a city business license to operate…

Kirkland limits any single detached home to two short-term rental agreements in effect at once, and owners must keep…

Lakewood, Washington does not print a flat guest-count cap for short-term rentals; instead LMC 18A.40.090(B)(2)(i)(x)…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040(B) caps a vacation rental at five guest rooms and two guests per bedroom, not to exceed…

Renton caps short-term rental occupancy at two guests per bedroom, and that same two-per-bedroom count includes the…

Seattle Municipal Code Chapter 6.600 limits a short-term rental operator to a maximum of two dwelling units citywide…

Occupancy in unincorporated Snohomish County is limited by guest rooms, not headcount. A bed-and-breakfast guesthouse…

Home-occupation short-term rentals in Yakima's urban area may offer no more than five lodging or guest rooms, capping…

Yakima County caps how many guests a short-term rental can sleep by tying the number to the International Building Code…

Tacoma's zoning code sets no separate headcount for short-term rentals: maximum occupancy follows the Minimum Building…

Washington requires short-term rental operators to maintain at least $1 million in primary liability insurance, or to…

Bellevue requires STR operators to carry at least $1,000,000 in liability insurance under LUC 20.20.800…

RCW 64.37.040, part of the statewide Washington Short-Term Rental Operations Act enacted in 2019, requires every…

Washington RCW 64.37 requires Kent short-term rental operators to maintain at least $1 million in liability insurance…

RCW 64.37.050 requires all Washington short-term rental operators to carry at least 1 million dollars in liability…

Redmond STR hosts must carry at least $1 million in liability insurance under RCW 64.37.030. Coverage can come from a…

Bellingham short-term rental operators must carry at least $1,000,000 in liability insurance covering the rental use…

Every short-term transient residence rental in unincorporated Grant County, defined in Unified Development Code §…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 sets no local insurance mandate, but Washington's statewide Short-Term Rental Act…

Renton RMC 4-4-055 sets no specific STR insurance minimum, but operators should carry commercial liability since…

Every licensed short-term rental operator in Seattle must carry liability insurance covering the rental use in an…

The county's bed-and-breakfast code sets no specific liability-insurance requirement for STRs. It instead requires…

Vancouver Municipal Code Chapter 20.835 (Short-Term Rentals), adopted by the City Council on December 18, 2023…

Washington's RCW 64.37 requires STR operators statewide to carry at least $1 million in liability coverage. Standard…

In residential areas, a Bellingham primary-residence short-term rental can only be rented out as a whole unit up to 95…

Kirkland caps short-term rentals at one hundred twenty nights a year for owners who aren't continuously living on site…

Unincorporated Snohomish County imposes no cap on rental nights. SCC 30.28.020(3)(f) states there is no limit on the…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 sets no limit on how many nights per year a vacation rental may operate. A rental meeting…

Port Townsend requires the owner of a licensed tourist home to be on site whenever short-term rental activity is…

Unincorporated Clark County does not require a host to be present at a short-term rental. For a bed-and-breakfast, the…

Kirkland ties short-term rental legality to someone being on hand: an owner living there continuously gets unlimited…

Lakewood, Washington requires every short-term rental to have a live point of contact: LMC 18A.40.090(B)(2)(i)(iii)…

Renton requires a short-term rental to be owner-occupied whenever multiple parties are renting at the same time. A…

Snohomish County's bed-and-breakfast rules require a host to be present: SCC 30.28.020(3)(c) directs that the owner…

The county does not require a host to be on-site during stays. However, the bed-and-breakfast home industry is a…

For room-share short-term rentals, Tacoma requires the owner of record to live in the dwelling during the rental term.

Whatcom County splits short-term lodging into two zoning categories by host presence. A "vacation rental unit" is, by…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 does not require a host or manager on-site during a vacation-rental stay. It requires…

A Seattle short-term rental operator license covers just one dwelling unit unless one of the units is the operator's…

Tacoma requires the property owner to live in either the main house or the ADU before either one can be used as a…

Bellingham's Primary Residence short-term rental permits require the dwelling to be the applicant's actual residence at…

Whole-home short-term rentals are not restricted to a primary residence in unincorporated Clark County. However, a…

Kent limits short-term rentals to homes where the owner or a nontransient tenant actually lives at least six months a…

Kirkland only permits short-term rentals of a detached home when it is the owner's or authorized agent's primary…

Port Townsend limits short-term rentals in residential zones to bed and breakfast inns and tourist homes operated out…

Unincorporated Snohomish County effectively requires an owner-occupied STR: SCC 30.28.020(3)(c) states the owner shall…

Unincorporated Spokane County has no blanket primary-residence-only STR mandate, but the bed-and-breakfast pathway is…

Pierce County Code 18A.37.040 does not limit vacation rentals to a host's primary residence. It permits rentals in any…

Bellingham's larger "Primary Residence" short-term rental category, up to five bedrooms including an ADU, needs Type II…

Kirkland lets owners who aren't always home still run a short-term rental, up to one hundred twenty days a year, as…

Seattle normally caps a short-term rental operator license at one unit, or two if one is the operator's primary…

Bellingham bars a revoked short-term rental or bed-and-breakfast operator from getting a new permit for two years…

Seattle doubles the civil penalty for repeat short-term rental violations: a first violation under SMC 6.600.120 draws…

Booking platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo are directly liable under Seattle's short-term rental ordinance for letting…