Cavmir Market Data · Kentucky · July 2026

Kentucky Short-Term Rental Permit Data

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.

See the numbers Where Cavmir works in Kentucky

Where The Licenses Are

Kentucky's most-licensed markets

Kentucky's public data comes from its two largest cities. Louisville Metro and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government each run a short-term rental registry, and together they account for the records here — Louisville the larger of the two.

01Louisville 997records

02Lexington 725records

Every record on this page comes from Louisville and Lexington; no other Kentucky jurisdiction publishes a registry we could verify yet. Where a property sits inside those markets still matters: a dense top market and a small permit pool ask for different marketing.

Kentucky top markets at a glance

Records are permit and license records on file with the registries named on this page, as of July 2026. Share is each market’s slice of the 1,722 records compiled for Kentucky. Free to cite with a link to this page.

#	Market	Records on file	Share of state	Cavmir market page
1	Louisville	997	57.9%	Louisville market page
2	Lexington	725	42.1%	Lexington market page

How To Read These Numbers

What this number is — and is not

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 Kentucky's legal short-term rental market — not a census.

Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — short-term rentals
Louisville Metro — short-term rental registry

Cavmir Market Guides

Where Cavmir works in Kentucky

Four Kentucky markets carry a Cavmir guide: Louisville, Lexington, Lake Cumberland and the Red River Gorge. Louisville and Lexington are the two cities with a published registry.

LouisvilleOn the registry

Cavmir markets Louisville rentals the Derby way: event pricing, bourbon-country storytelling and direct-booking website design that cuts OTA fees.

LexingtonOn the registry

Cavmir markets Lexington short-term rentals - photography, direct booking, local SEO and ads in a city where the rental cap is measured in feet.

Lake CumberlandMarket guide

Cavmir markets Lake Cumberland rentals in southern Kentucky — photography, direct booking, local SEO and ads for a houseboat and lake-house market.

Red River GorgeMarket guide

Cavmir markets Red River Gorge cabins to the climbers and Lexington families who book them — real photography, October pricing and direct-booking websites.

What It Means For Hosts

Reading Kentucky like a marketer

These are event-and-tradition markets. Louisville fills for the Derby and a steady run of conventions and bourbon tourism; Lexington runs on the horse calendar, the university, and Keeneland. Demand spikes around dates everyone can see coming, which puts a premium on a pricing calendar and on being booked early for the weekends that matter.

Because both cities license openly, the competitive field is countable, and the differentiator is presentation plus local search — showing up for the neighborhood and the occasion, and looking like the obvious choice for a Derby party or a Keeneland weekend. Cavmir markets Kentucky rentals around those anchor dates, with photography and a booking path built to catch demand that arrives in waves.

Questions

Kentucky STR data, answered

How many licensed short-term rentals are in Kentucky?

The official registries we compiled show 1,722 short-term rental permit and license records on file with 2 local registries as of July 2026. Not every Kentucky jurisdiction publishes its data, so the true statewide figure is higher.

Who licenses short-term rentals in Kentucky?

In the Kentucky markets covered here, short-term rental permitting runs through city and county programs. The registries in this compilation: Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — short-term rentals, Louisville Metro — short-term rental registry. Rules and requirements vary by jurisdiction — always confirm with the local program directly.

Which Kentucky cities have the most short-term rentals?

By records on file: Louisville (997), Lexington (725). Louisville leads with 997.

Where does this data come from?

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.

How many Kentucky communities have ten or more licensed short-term rentals on file?

2 communities in Kentucky have ten or more permit or license records on the registries we compiled, as of July 2026. Louisville leads with 997 records, followed by Lexington (725).

What share of Kentucky's licensed records sit in Louisville?

About 58%. Louisville holds 997 of the 1,722 records on file for Kentucky. One license can cover several units, so the share of rentable inventory can differ from the share of licenses.

Which Kentucky markets does Cavmir publish guides for?

4 market guides: Lake Cumberland, Lexington, Louisville, Red River Gorge. Each one covers the season, who books there, what wins in that market and how Cavmir markets rentals in it. They are listed on this page under "Where Cavmir works in Kentucky".

Cite this data

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, “Kentucky Short-Term Rental Permit Data,” compiled from official state, city, and county registries, July 2026. https://cavmir.com/data/kentucky-short-term-rental-permits/

Keep Exploring

Where to go from here

Free Regulation Alerts

Be first to know when Kentucky changes its rules

New permit requirements, caps, moratoriums, new registries in Kentucky — one plain-English email when something actually changes. If nothing changes, you hear nothing.

Work With Cavmir

Marketing for Kentucky's licensed hosts

Cavmir markets short-term rentals in Kentucky — 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.

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