Washington Short-Term Rental Rules, City by City (Verified July 2026)
Program and regulatory figures verified July 24, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
Buying a short-term rental in the wrong Washington jurisdiction is a six-figure mistake, and the Leavenworth permit-transfer trap can cost you the permit at closing. This is the dated, sourced status table we check before writing a single loan.
The 2026 status table
| Jurisdiction | Status (as of July 24, 2026) | Cost | Key rules |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | Legal with operator license; max 2 units, one must be primary residence | $75/unit/yr license + $75 business license + ~$14/night city fee | Non-occupant portfolio impossible; secondary unit under RRIO inspection |
| Spokane | Legal in all residential zones with per-unit permit (since 9/1/2023) | City fee schedule (Accela portal) | 1 STR per SFR/ADU/condo; multifamily 20% of units residential / 30% elsewhere; permit # in ads |
| Tacoma | Legal with business license + STR registration | City fee schedule | A transient accommodation license triggers at 3 or more rented rooms; posted exit signage; safety equipment |
| Leavenworth / Chelan Co. | CLOSED to new permits (98826 area ~70 over the 6% cap) | n/a – no new applications | After September 26, 2026 permits no longer transfer on sale; June 1–July 31 application window |
| San Juan County | Hard island caps; legacy amnesty window closed 6/25/2026 | County permit fee | ~337 on San Juan, 211 on Orcas Island, 135 on Lopez; none on Shaw or Waldron; provisional use permits in village cores |
| Cle Elum / Kittitas / Suncadia | Legal with county registration (3 permit types) | County + resort-association fees | Cle Elum: 250-foot spacing in residential zones, max 3 STRs per owner; Suncadia adds HOA/CCR rules; septic-capacity compliance |
| Long Beach / Pacific Co. | Legal with county vacation-rental license | County license fee | New vacation rentals are barred in the R-1 zone; 300-foot separation in R-2/RR; septic inspection every 3 years, fire/life-safety every 2 |
Fees and statuses verified July 2026 against city, county, and state sources; several regimes are in active cap enforcement or a permit-transfer transition. Confirm current rules with the jurisdiction before purchase.
Does Washington state require anything to run a short-term rental?
Yes, a statewide floor sits under every city regime. RCW 64.37 requires a short-term-rental operator to carry $1 million in liability insurance, or to conduct every booking through a platform that provides equal or greater coverage, and to register with the Department of Revenue for taxes. Platforms themselves must register with the state, and safety-disclosure rules apply. What the state does not do is preempt local caps: there is no statewide permit or cap ceiling, so the city or county you buy in still controls whether you can operate at all.
The Leavenworth trap: a permit you can't inherit
This is the highest-value correction on the page. Chelan County caps short-term rentals at 6% of the housing stock in each zone, and the Leavenworth 98826 area (Leavenworth, Plain, Lake Wenatchee, plus the Peshastin growth area) sits at roughly 16% of its housing stock, about 70 permits over the cap, and closed to new applications. Worse for a buyer: after September 26, 2026, permits no longer transfer on sale. Purchasing a "permitted Airbnb" in that area does not buy you the permit; the buyer has to re-apply, and in an over-cap zone that application is blocked. If a listing markets existing bookings, treat the STR income as unavailable until you confirm your own permit path, which in the 98826 area today means it isn't there.
San Juan Islands: hard caps, and a window that just closed
San Juan County runs island-by-island vacation-rental caps: roughly 337 permits on San Juan, 211 on Orcas Island, and 135 on Lopez, with a small countywide total on the outer islands and none allowed on Shaw or Waldron. Eastsound and Lopez Village commercial cores require a provisional use permit under a September 2025 change. A one-time amnesty let pre-2025 existing rentals claim a cap-exempt permit only if they applied by June 25, 2026; that window has closed, so legacy operators who missed it now fall under the hard caps. Verify a specific parcel's permit status with the county before you assume any STR use.
What taxes do Washington Airbnb hosts pay?
The 30-day line decides everything. A stay under 30 consecutive days is lodging, taxed as retailing B&O (0.471%) plus retail sales tax (6.5% state plus local) plus location-coded local lodging taxes; inside Seattle, King County adds a 7% convention-and-trade-center tax (2.8% in the rest of the county). A rental of 30 or more continuous days owes none of it: no B&O, no retail sales tax. Combined lodging rates are coded to the property address (a general 12% ceiling applies to the sales-plus-hotel-motel stack with exceptions), so look your address up on the Department of Revenue rate tool, and a host under about $90,000 in gross often owes $0 B&O through the small-business credit. Your qualifying rent is measured before lodging taxes; your CPA handles the filings. The mid-term (30-plus-day) angle and the financing side are in short-term rental loans.
Spokane and Tacoma: the workable regimes
Spokane is the permissive one: STRs are allowed in every residential zone with a per-unit permit (required since September 1, 2023, through the city's Accela portal), one STR per single-family home, ADU, or condo, with multifamily buildings capped at 20% of units in residential zones and 30% elsewhere, and the permit number in every ad. Tacoma runs a lighter touch than Seattle: a city business license plus STR property registration, with a transient accommodation license triggered once you rent three or more individual rooms, along with posted exit signage and safety equipment. The city guides go deeper: Spokane and Seattle.
No pressure, no obligation, and no salesy follow-up: a 20-minute call with our team, real numbers, and a straight answer on whether the deal pencils.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still get a short-term rental permit in Leavenworth?
No. The 98826 area sits at roughly 16% of its housing stock, about 70 permits over Chelan County's 6% cap, and is closed to new applications. After September 26, 2026, permits no longer transfer on sale, so buying a permitted Airbnb there does not buy the permit; the new owner must re-apply and gets blocked by the cap. Treat the STR income as unavailable until your own permit is confirmed.
What are the short-term rental rules in Spokane and Tacoma?
Spokane allows STRs in every residential zone with a per-unit permit (required since September 1, 2023): one per single-family home, ADU, or condo, multifamily capped at 20% of units in residential zones (30% elsewhere), permit number in ads. Tacoma requires a business license plus STR registration, with a transient accommodation license once you rent three or more rooms.
How many vacation rentals are allowed in the San Juan Islands?
The islands run hard caps: roughly 337 permits on San Juan, 211 on Orcas Island, and 135 on Lopez, with a small total on the outer islands and none on Shaw or Waldron. The amnesty window that let pre-2025 rentals claim a cap-exempt permit closed June 25, 2026, so legacy operators who missed it now fall under those caps. Verify a parcel's status with the county first.
What taxes do I pay on Airbnb income in Washington?
Stays under 30 days are taxed as lodging: retailing B&O (0.471%) plus retail sales tax (6.5% state plus local) plus location-coded local lodging taxes, and Seattle adds a 7% convention-center tax. Rentals of 30 or more continuous days owe none of it. That 30-day line is the whole tax story; underwriting uses gross rent before lodging taxes.
Does Washington require anything statewide to operate a short-term rental?
Yes: RCW 64.37 requires a host to carry $1 million in liability insurance (or book through a platform providing equal coverage) and to register with the Department of Revenue for taxes, with safety disclosures and platform registration on top. It is a floor under city rules, not a replacement for them; Washington does not preempt local permit caps.
What are the short-term rental rules on the Long Beach peninsula and in Cle Elum?
Pacific County (Long Beach peninsula) requires a vacation-rental license; new vacation rentals are barred in the R-1 zone, need 300-foot separation in R-2/RR, and carry septic inspection every 3 years plus fire/life-safety every 2. Kittitas County registers three STR types with 250-foot spacing and a max of 3 STRs per owner in Cle Elum; Suncadia adds HOA and CCR layers.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. Washington's rent-cap figures, city and county STR rules, and tax figures change; verify current requirements with the city or county, your CPA, or a Washington real estate attorney before you buy. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification.