Short-term rental rules in the United States: a guide for owners

There is no single American rulebook for short-term rentals. Whether you may rent a house for a weekend in Scottsdale, a condo in Miami or a cabin near Door County depends on three stacked layers of law, plus a fourth, private layer that owners too often discover late: the homeowners association. This page explains how those layers fit together, where states have stopped cities from banning short stays, what taxes follow every booking, and how to read the state and market pages on this site.

State, county, city: who writes which rule

Zoning in the United States is a local power. Cities decide what may happen inside their limits; counties usually do the same for unincorporated land. That is why two houses a few miles apart can sit under completely different regimes. States enter the picture in two ways. First, they collect their own taxes on lodging and often require a state license or tax registration. Second, some legislatures have chosen to limit what local governments may do about short-term rentals at all. Lawyers call that preemption.

So the practical question for any address is always the same: what does the state allow the city or county to do, and what has that city or county actually done with the room it has?

The preemption states

A small group of states has written into statute that local governments cannot prohibit short-term rentals outright. The protection varies a great deal in strength, which is why we treat each state separately:

• Arizona forbids cities, towns and counties from banning vacation rentals, while letting them require a permit, an emergency contact, neighbor notice and insurance, and punish repeat violations.
• Florida bars local laws that prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented, but ordinances adopted on or before June 1, 2011 survive. Local registration is still allowed.
• Idaho went furthest in 2026: since July 1, 2026, cities and counties may not ban short-term rentals or require a special license, permit or registration to operate one.
• Iowa requires cities to treat short-term rentals as a residential use and forbids them from adopting rules or charging license fees aimed specifically at them.
• Nebraska stops municipalities from prohibiting short-term rentals, leaving them health, safety and tax tools.
• Wisconsin protects rentals of seven consecutive nights or longer; shorter stays remain within local control.
• Tennessee offers a narrower shield: its 2018 act protects rentals already operating when a local ban arrives, not new ones.

Indiana sits nearby, with a statute that protects owners renting their primary residence but lets cities require zoning approval for investor-owned units. Texas, by contrast, has no statewide preemption at all, and its big cities have gone in very different directions. We cover these nuances in a dedicated article on preemption states.

Occupancy taxes: the constant

Even where a city cannot say no, the tax collector always says yes. Almost every state treats stays of under a month (the threshold differs) as taxable lodging. Expect a combination of state sales tax or a dedicated lodging tax, a county or tourist development tax, and sometimes a city hotel tax. Airbnb and similar platforms collect many of these automatically, but rarely all of them, and some states still require the owner to register and file even when the platform remits. Our state pages list which bodies are involved; our article on occupancy taxes explains how the pieces combine.

HOAs and condo boards

State preemption laws restrain governments, not private contracts. The covenants, conditions and restrictions of a homeowners association or a condominium declaration can forbid short stays even in a state where the city cannot. Nebraska's statute says so expressly. Florida goes further and lets associations adopt new limits on rentals shorter than six months that bind every owner. Before buying anywhere with an association, read the governing documents. Our HOA article covers what to look for.

How to read our state and market pages

Our American atlas covers 181 markets where short-term renting is workable for an owner today. Each carries one of three labels:

• Open: no dedicated local short-term rental permit beyond state requirements, tax registration and ordinary codes, or a local framework that stays light.
• Registration: the city or county requires you to register the unit, sometimes with an inspection, but does not cap numbers or demand that you live there.
• License: a real permit regime, with conditions that can bite, such as density limits, separation distances or special approval for non-owner-occupied homes.

Markets where a ban, a freeze or a tight cap makes investment unrealistic (several California coastal cities, New York City, parts of Hawaii) are deliberately left out. State pages group each state's markets by label and explain the legal reasons behind them; market pages go street level, with the figures box showing revenue, occupancy and nightly rate estimates.

The atlas was compiled in early September 2026 and every guide on this site has been checked against official sources since. Laws move quickly in this field. Idaho's rules changed on July 1, 2026, Houston's registration program is still phasing in, and Omaha is debating a registry. Treat our pages as a serious starting map, then confirm with the city before you sign anything.

Working with us

Hexuvium has managed short-term rentals since 2015, starting in Brussels. We write for owners and investors, not travelers, and we would rather tell you a market is difficult than sell you a dream. If you own or are considering a property in one of these markets, send us the address: we study every request and tell you honestly whether and how we can help.