Short-term rental permit and license records on file with 3 local registries, as of July 2026 — compiled, deduplicated, and free to cite. Part of Cavmir's U.S. STR permit data hub.
California has no statewide short-term rental file — the public picture is stitched from county programs. Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, and Marin counties publish theirs, which is why wine country and the Highway 1 corridor dominate the state's numbers here.
California's three biggest markets — Sonoma County, San Luis Obispo County, Marin County — account for about 100% of the state's licensed records; the rest spread across 0 more communities with ten or more on file. Where a property sits on that curve — dense top market or long tail — changes how guests find it, and how hard a listing has to work to stand out.
The headline figure counts short-term rental permit and license records on file with 3 local registries, deduplicated by permit number. A license is not a listing: some licenses cover multiple units, some licensed homes sit unrented, and jurisdictions that publish nothing are missing entirely. Treat it as a verified floor for the size of California's legal short-term rental market — not a census.
These are permit-capped coastal and wine-country markets where a license is a scarce, valuable asset. Guests are paying for setting and story — vineyard views, a coastal drive, a slow weekend two hours from the Bay Area — and the listings that name real places in real neighborhoods take the bookings.
Because supply is limited and rates are high, the leverage is in brand and direct bookings: a site and a photo set that justify the nightly rate, and a channel that keeps repeat guests from booking through a platform every time. Cavmir builds that for Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, and Marin owners — presentation that matches the price, and a direct path that protects the margin.
The official registries we compiled show 4,241 short-term rental permit and license records on file with 3 local registries as of July 2026. Not every California jurisdiction publishes its data, so the true statewide figure is higher.
In the California markets covered here, short-term rental permitting runs through city and county programs. The registries in this compilation: County of San Luis Obispo — vacation rentals, County of Sonoma — transient vacation rentals, Marin County Open Data — registered & active STRs. Rules and requirements vary by jurisdiction — always confirm with the local program directly.
By records on file: Sonoma County (2,030), San Luis Obispo County (1,962), Marin County (249). Sonoma County leads with 2,030.
Directly from the official registries listed on this page, pulled and deduplicated in July 2026. No records are estimated or modeled — see the methodology on the national data page for what was excluded and why.
These numbers are free to use in articles, research, and reports — no permission needed. We ask for one thing: credit Cavmir and link to this page so readers can check the source.
Cavmir, “California Short-Term Rental Permit Data,” compiled from official state, city, and county registries, July 2026. https://cavmir.com/data/california-short-term-rental-permits/New permit requirements, caps, moratoriums, new registries in California — one plain-English email when something actually changes. If nothing changes, you hear nothing.
Cavmir markets short-term rentals in California — photography-led listings, direct-booking websites, and local SEO built around how guests actually search. The registry tells you how many competitors you have; we make sure you do not look like any of them.
