Short-term rental permit and license records on file with 2 local registries, as of July 2026 — compiled, deduplicated, and free to cite. Part of Cavmir's U.S. STR permit data hub.
Colorado's public data runs through city programs, and Denver's is the standard-setter: a clean open-data license file where the active flag actually means something — most of Denver's licenses read as current.
Colorado's three biggest markets — Denver, Aspen — 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 2 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 Colorado's legal short-term rental market — not a census.
Denver's high-active registry and its primary-residence rule describe a stable, professionalized urban market — the competitive set is real hosts, not absentee investors. Winning there is a search-and-trust problem: be findable for the neighborhood and the event, and look established enough that a business traveler or a Rockies-weekend guest books without hesitating.
Aspen is the other end of the spectrum — a small, tightly held permit pool where each property competes at the very top of the nightly range. There the work is justifying the rate: cinematic photography, a real brand, and a direct-booking site as considered as the house. Cavmir markets both Colorados, and the lever differs in each — visibility in Denver, desire in Aspen.
The official registries we compiled show 3,325 short-term rental permit and license records on file with 2 local registries as of July 2026. Not every Colorado jurisdiction publishes its data, so the true statewide figure is higher.
In the Colorado markets covered here, short-term rental permitting runs through city and county programs. The registries in this compilation: City of Aspen — existing STR permits, Colorado Open Data — Denver short-term rental licenses. Rules and requirements vary by jurisdiction — always confirm with the local program directly.
By records on file: Denver (2,578), Aspen (747). Denver leads with 2,578.
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, “Colorado Short-Term Rental Permit Data,” compiled from official state, city, and county registries, July 2026. https://cavmir.com/data/colorado-short-term-rental-permits/New permit requirements, caps, moratoriums, new registries in Colorado — one plain-English email when something actually changes. If nothing changes, you hear nothing.
Cavmir markets short-term rentals in Colorado — 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.
