Short-Term Rental Permits in San Diego, 2026

San Diego had 8,425 short-term rental licenses on October 22, 2026, and one ZIP code, 92109 (Mission Beach and Pacific Beach), holds 30% of them. Since July, 411 licenses joined the list and 425 left it.

Compiled by Cavmir from the City of San Diego public permit register · Published October 23, 2026 · All city reports

Key findings

What the numbers say

The city's license list held 8,425 short-term residential occupancy licenses on October 22, 2026: 4,855 Tier 3 (whole home), 2,337 Tier 2 (home sharing), 1,097 Tier 4 (Mission Beach whole home) and 136 Tier 1 (20 days a year or less).
ZIP code 92109 alone has 2,555 licenses (30%). La Jolla's 92037 has 815, Ocean Beach and Point Loma's 92107 has 731 and downtown's 92101 has 517.
The total barely moves. Between July 6 and October 22, 2026, 411 licenses were added and 425 dropped off. The city caps whole-home licenses (see the questions below), which keeps the total close to flat.
Every license belongs to a different name: on the October 22 list, no name appears on more than one of the 8,425 licenses.

Licenses by tier, October 22, 2026

Tier 3: whole home4,855 58%

Tier 2: home sharing2,337 28%

Tier 4: Mission Beach whole home1,097 13%

Tier 1: 20 days a year or less136 2%

Show the numbers

	Licenses	Share
Tier 3: whole home	4,855	57.6%
Tier 2: home sharing	2,337	27.7%
Tier 4: Mission Beach whole home	1,097	13.0%
Tier 1: 20 days a year or less	136	1.6%

Licenses by ZIP code (top 12)

921092,555 30%

92037815 10%

92107731 9%

92101517 6%

92104458 5%

92103410 5%

92102391 5%

92117326 4%

92116303 4%

92110209 2%

92106176 2%

92115175 2%

Show the numbers

	Licenses	Share
92109	2,555	30.3%
92037	815	9.7%
92107	731	8.7%
92101	517	6.1%
92104	458	5.4%
92103	410	4.9%
92102	391	4.6%
92117	326	3.9%
92116	303	3.6%
92110	209	2.5%
92106	176	2.1%
92115	175	2.1%

Licenses added to and removed from the list, by monthTracked from July 6, 2026. October runs through October 22.

Added
Removed

119126July

113106August

116138September

6355October

Show the numbers

	Added	Removed
July	119	126
August	113	106
September	116	138
October	63	55

What it means if you rent in San Diego

In a capped market the license is the scarce thing, and the city's own rules decide how many whole homes can rent. With supply fixed, the difference between two Mission Beach listings is how guests find them and whether they book again.

Turn a permit into bookings you keep

A permit lets you rent. Guests still have to find you, and every booking that comes through Airbnb or Vrbo pays the platform's fee. Cavmir builds websites for short-term rentals, including in San Diego: a site in your own brand that ranks for the searches guests make, with live direct booking from your PMS or a button that sends guests to your listing.

Vacation rental website design A website for your Airbnb

How this report was made

Source

Compiled by Cavmir from the public permit register:

City of San Diego, STRO Licenses (open data)

Date range

Licenses on the city's list on October 22, 2026 (8,425); additions and removals tracked daily from July 6, 2026.

What we counted

Each license counts once, by its tier and ZIP code. A license counts as removed when it was on the list in an earlier check and was missing on October 22.

Limits

The file has no issue dates, so this report shows the list as it stands and the changes since July 6, 2026, not earlier years.

Privacy

This report publishes totals only. No owner name, street address or map location from the register appears on this page or in the download.

Download and citation

Download the totals (CSV). Free to use under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page: “Cavmir, Short-Term Rental Permits in San Diego, 2026, cavmir.com/research/san-diego/”.

Common questions

How many short-term rental licenses does San Diego have?

8,425 on October 22, 2026: 4,855 Tier 3, 2,337 Tier 2, 1,097 Tier 4 and 136 Tier 1.

What are San Diego's short-term rental tiers?

The city defines four: Tier 1 for 20 days a year or less, Tier 2 for home sharing with the host living on site, Tier 3 for whole-home rentals outside Mission Beach, and Tier 4 for whole-home rentals in Mission Beach. Tier 3 is capped at 1% of the city's housing units outside Mission Beach and Tier 4 at 30% of Mission Beach's, per the City Treasurer.

Which San Diego ZIP code has the most short-term rentals?

92109, which covers Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, with 2,555 of the city's 8,425 licenses.

Where does this data come from?

From the City of San Diego open data portal's STRO licenses file. Cavmir compiled it from the city's public permit register and publishes only totals.

Short-Term Rental Permits in San Diego, 2026

What the numbers say

What it means if you rent in San Diego

Turn a permit into bookings you keep

How this report was made

Common questions

Other city permit reports