Can You Airbnb a Property in San Diego? Short-Term Rental Rules for 2026

Short answer: sometimes. It depends entirely on which city your address sits in — and "San Diego" is eighteen incorporated cities plus a big chunk of unincorporated county, each writing its own rules.

Two houses four blocks apart can land in different jurisdictions with completely different answers. One can be a legal Airbnb. The other can't be rented for fewer than 26 nights, period. This is the single most expensive thing buyers get wrong when they're shopping for a vacation rental down here.

Below is a city-by-city breakdown of where things stand as of August 2026. Verify your specific address before you write an offer — these rules move, and some of them are mid-change right now.

City of San Diego

The biggest market and the most detailed framework in the county. Everything runs through the Short-Term Residential Occupancy (STRO) ordinance, in effect since May 1, 2023.

• Four license tiers. Tier 1 (part-time, 20 days or less per year, host doesn't need to be on site), Tier 2 (home sharing, host lives on site), Tier 3 (whole home outside Mission Beach), Tier 4 (whole home inside the Mission Beach Community Planning Area).
• Tier 3 is the investor tier. Whole-home, more than 20 days a year, host not on site. Capped at 1% of the city's housing stock outside Mission Beach.
• Tier 3 availability as of August 14, 2026: 829 licenses remaining. 4,836 have been issued. That number has been grinding down steadily — it was in the 880s in April.
• Tier 4 (Mission Beach) is closed. 1,099 issued, zero remaining. Capped at 30% of Mission Beach dwelling units. The waitlist application window closed August 15, 2025, and a lottery-ordered waitlist was created. New applications reopen only after that list is exhausted.
• One license per host, ever. A host may hold only one license and operate only one dwelling unit at a time. If you own multiple STRs, each unit needs its own separate host.
• Licenses are not transferable. Not between hosts, not between properties. When a licensed STR sells, the license does not go with it. The buyer applies fresh — and if the cap has closed by then, they're out of luck.
• Two-year term. Licenses expire two years from issuance. Fees as of March 2025: Tier 1 — $33 app + $193 license. Tier 2 — $33 + $284. Tier 3 and Tier 4 — $41 + $1,129.
• Tier 3 and 4 have a use-it-or-lose-it rule. You must rent the unit a minimum of 90 days each year and file quarterly utilization reports. There are no exceptions for cancellations or slow seasons. Fall short and the license can be revoked.
• The 21-to-89 day dead zone. Whole-home STR between 21 and 89 days a year isn't allowed under the ordinance. You're either under 20 days (Tier 1) or over 90 (Tier 3/4).
• Two-night minimum stay for Tier 3 and Tier 4 guests.
• ADUs are mostly out. Only companion units permitted before the October 15, 2017 prohibition may be used for STR. Anything permitted on or after that date is a code violation. Get the permit date in writing before closing.
• No RVs, campers, tents, sheds, or tree houses. And no STR use of the "work" portion of a live/work unit.
• No per-bedroom occupancy cap in the STRO ordinance itself — unlike Escondido, Oceanside, and Vista, which cap heads per room. Building and fire code still govern, and the Good Neighbor Policy still applies, but the city isn't dictating your sleeping layout. That's why a lot of well-run San Diego properties use double bunks or side-by-side queens to lift revenue per square foot.
• Also required: an active TOT certificate, a current Rental Unit Business Tax account, exterior host signage in 20-point bold caps, human trafficking awareness training, a Good Neighbor Policy posted for guests, and a local contact who responds to complaints within one hour.
• TOT is zone-based. Under Measure C (effective May 2025), the rate varies by distance from the Convention Center. Confirm your property's zone — it changes your net.

Official page: https://www.sandiego.gov/treasurer/short-term-residential-occupancy

North County Coastal

Oceanside

Regulations adopted June 2019, amended January and May 2024. This one is actively in flux.

• STR permit required for all STR properties as of June 7, 2024. Two narrow exceptions: units inside a gated HOA of 50+ units with adequate parking and 24-hour security or on-site management, and hosted units in the Coastal Zone.
• New non-hosted STRs are prohibited outside the Coastal Zone as of February 10, 2024. If you want a whole-home rental in Oceanside, it has to be coastal.
• A pending amendment would tighten the Coastal Zone too. Awaiting Local Coastal Plan approval: a cap of 480 non-hosted permits in residential zones west of Coast Highway (excluding R-1), plus a prohibition on new non-hosted STRs in R-1. Watch this one closely.
• ADU rule is brutal — and it kills the main house too. If the property has an ADU or JADU permitted on or after September 9, 2017, neither the ADU nor the primary residence can be used as an STR. A newer granny flat disqualifies the whole parcel.
• Prohibited in mobile home parks and on non-conforming panhandle lots.
• Tenants can't operate an STR. Owner only.
• Permits are non-transferable and must be renewed annually.
• Fees: $250 permit, renewed yearly, plus a $220 property inspection fee at initial application and at least every three years after.
• Hosted properties require a signed affidavit that the home is the owner's primary residence and that they stay on site during rentals.
• 24/7 complaint hotline: (760) 435-5460.

Official page: https://www.ci.oceanside.ca.us/government/financial-services/short-term-rentals

Carlsbad

The rule here is geography, and it's absolute.

• STRs are permitted only inside Carlsbad's California Coastal Zone and in the La Costa Resort and Spa Master Plan area (including the Balboa and Cortez buildings at 2003 and 2005 Costa Del Mar Road). Strictly prohibited everywhere else in the city.
• Roughly: parts of 92008 and 92011 are coastal. East of El Camino Real, or 92009 and 92010, is not. Confirm on the city's E-Zoning map — don't eyeball it.
• Business license plus a short-term vacation rental permit, renewed annually.
• Application requires the number of bedrooms and a local 24-hour contact.
• Impact Response Plan required — you have to notify neighbors that the property is a short-term rental.
• Three-strike revocation. Three or more violations in a 24-month period revokes the permit, and the property is barred from STR use for 36 months.
• No commercial use, and on-site parking is required.
• HOA CC&Rs in Aviara, La Costa, and other communities frequently prohibit STRs regardless of what the city allows.

Official page: https://www.carlsbadca.gov/departments/community-development/short-term-vacation-rentals

Encinitas

Currently operating under the 2021 framework (effective January 2022) while a tighter set of rules works through certification. Read this section carefully — the rules on the books today are not the rules that were approved.

In effect right now:

• STR permit required, renewed annually. Fee is $425.
• Single-family homes and duplexes only. Not permitted in condominiums or apartments. Newly constructed ADUs are out.
• Three-night minimum stay for non-hosted units. Hosted units have no minimum.
• 24/7 local contact required, must resolve complaints within one hour.
• Exterior posting required with the responsible party's 24-hour number, bedroom count, and maximum occupancy.
• TOT must be current to get or keep a permit.
• 443 permitted STRs as of May 2025. About 96% are in the Coastal Zone; about 80% are west of I-5.
• City hotline for problem rentals: (760) 249-7767.

Approved but not yet effective:

• A 2.5% citywide cap on non-hosted STRs and a 4% cap within Leucadia, Old Encinitas, and Cardiff-by-the-Sea.
• A 200-foot minimum distance between non-hosted STRs.
• The Coastal Commission certified these on February 5, 2026 — but with a modification cutting the three-night minimum to two nights for non-hosted units. The City Council balked in April 2026 and voted to keep three nights. The caps can't take effect until the city adopts an implementing ordinance, so as of now they're approved on paper and not enforceable. If you're buying in Encinitas, assume the caps are coming.

Official page: https://www.encinitasca.gov/government/departments/development-services/policy-planning-housing/policy-planning/short-term-rentals

Solana Beach

The quietest deal-killer in North County. Solana Beach doesn't ban STRs — it bans the profitable kind.

• Rentals of fewer than seven consecutive days are prohibited in residential zoning districts. No weekend stays. No three-night stays. The standard 2-to-5 night vacation rental model does not work here.
• Short-Term Vacation Rental (STVR) permit required for stays of seven to thirty consecutive days. Applied for annually, per calendar year.
• Rentals over 30 days need no STVR permit and fall outside the rules.
• Applies to all building types — single-family, duplexes, and multi-family included.
• Permit must be displayed inside the main entry, and a 24-hour complaint number must be posted on the exterior and provided to adjacent neighbors.
• TOT is 13%, filed monthly even in months with zero revenue.
• Escalating fines: $500 first violation, $1,000 second in the same year, permit revocation on the third.
• Historically 250–350 permits issued per year, roughly 5% of the housing stock. The city has been discussing a rewrite of the nearly 20-year-old ordinance — worth checking for movement before you commit.

Official page: https://cityofsolanabeach.ca.gov/en/city-services/permits-licenses-rentals/short-term-vacation-rentals-transient-occupancy-tax

Del Mar

Ten years in the making. Finally certified by the Coastal Commission on February 5, 2026, and in effect immediately upon that vote.

• Citywide cap of 129 permits — 5% of Del Mar's total dwelling units.
• Neighborhood sub-caps: 77 in North Beach, 32 in South Beach, 19 in the Hills.
• The cap is effectively full. 150 existing operators registered with the city and are being accommodated above the cap. No new permits will be issued until the total drops below 129. New STR owners can only join a waitlist.
• Primary residence requirement. STRs are only allowed in homes where the owner lives at least six months of the year. This is the provision that shuts out most investors, and it's the one the Coastal Commission specifically wanted.
• One STR per owner.
• Three-night minimum stay.
• Two-year permits. $815 for the first permit, $598 to renew.
• Existing STRs are grandfathered — but only until the permit expires, isn't renewed, or the property sells. A sale ends legacy status. If you're buying a Del Mar property marketed as a legal vacation rental, understand that the rental history does not convey.
• The permit application window for existing STRs ran March 2 to May 1, 2026 and has closed.
• TOT is 13%.
• Self-certification required attesting the unit complies with all applicable life-safety regulations.

Official page: https://www.delmar.ca.us/563/Short-Term-Rentals

South Bay & Coronado

Coronado

• Rentals of 25 consecutive days or less are prohibited. The minimum stay is 26 nights. This has been on the books for decades, reaffirmed by Council in 2010, and it predates Airbnb entirely.
• Applies to rooms too, not just whole homes. A room or portion of a residence counts as a "habitable unit."
• Applies to ADUs and guest houses as well.
• Governed by Coronado Municipal Code Chapter 86.78 (Transient Occupancy), which defines a transient as someone occupying for 25 consecutive days or less.
• HOAs pile on. The Coronado Cays handbook prohibits leases of 25 days or less, treats STRs as prohibited commercial use, and states that advertising a short-term lease can itself be treated as evidence of a violation.
• Practical read: Coronado is a monthly and long-term rental market. If a client wants vacation rental income, look elsewhere.

Imperial Beach

• STRs are prohibited in residential zones. They're allowed only in designated commercial and mixed-use areas — primarily the Seacoast Commercial Zone and Seacoast Mixed Use Overlay, with a limited allowance in the R-1500 zone.
• Short-term rental means 30 consecutive days or less.
• Business license required, plus TOT.
• TOT is 14% (increased from 10% effective January 1, 2023).
• ADUs cannot be used for stays under 30 days.
• Confirm the exact zone on the city's GIS map. If your property is in the Coastal Zone, a coastal permit may also apply.

Official page: https://www.imperialbeachca.gov/537/Transient-Occupancy-Tax-TOT

Chula Vista

Chapter 5.68, adopted December 2021, effective February 2023. The residency requirement is the whole story here.

• You must be a Chula Vista resident to operate an STR in Chula Vista. Your primary residence — where you live at least 275 days a year — has to be in the city. A San Diego-based investor cannot own and operate a Chula Vista Airbnb.
• Maximum two permits per person: one primary residence and one non-primary residence.
• Whole-home rental of a non-primary residence is capped at 90 days per year, with a two-night minimum stay per guest.
• ADUs and JADUs permitted January 1, 2020 or later are ineligible.
• Also ineligible: deed-restricted affordable units, special group residences, single-room occupancy units.
• Tenants need written owner approval to sublet as an STR, and owners can proactively block it.
• $1 million liability insurance required — either carried directly or supplied by a hosting platform with equal or greater coverage.
• Noise monitoring device required. Quiet hours 10 p.m. to 9 a.m.
• Outdoor fires and fire pits are prohibited. No signage advertising the property as an STR.
• Special events (weddings, corporate functions) require a separate STR Event Permit.
• Fines run $100 to $2,000. Three or more citations in 12 months can suspend or revoke the permit.
• Permits renewed annually; TOT certificate and business license required first.

Official page: https://www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/development-services/short-term-rentals

National City

Brand new and still standing up. Treat this as a "not yet operational" market.

• Chapter 6.30 adopted September 2, 2025. Before this, National City had no STR regulations at all.
• Cap of 45 licenses per council district — 180 citywide across four districts.
• Criminal background checks required for license applicants.
• STRs are prohibited from operating until the permit process is live. The city is still selecting a third-party vendor to administer the program. Once selected, that vendor will contact existing operators about coming into compliance.
• TOT is 10%.
• Before doing anything here, call Planning at 619-336-4310 or email [email protected] to confirm where the program stands.

Official page: https://www.nationalcityca.gov/government/community-development/planning/short-term-rental-ordinance

North County Inland

Vista

Adopted May 28, 2024, effective July 1, 2024. One of the friendlier ordinances in the county for investors — no cap.

• STR permit, business license, and TOT registration all required. TOT is remitted quarterly.
• No cap on the total number or percentage of STRs citywide. That makes Vista unusual.
• Maximum five STRs per owner.
• Two-night minimum stay for non-hosted rentals.
• Occupancy is capped at double the number of bedrooms, plus one.
• Quiet hours 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. — earlier than most cities.
• ADUs are excluded from STR use under the Vista ordinance and under state law (ADU rentals must be 30+ days).
• Trailer coaches and oversized RVs are excluded.
• 24/7 local designated contact required, must respond within 60 minutes.
• Exterior complaint-line signage required (provided by the city at permit issuance).
• Escalating fines: $500, then $1,000, then $1,500 — with permit revocation on the third citation in a one-year period.
• The city contracts with Deckard Technologies to identify and monitor unpermitted STRs. They're finding them.
• Note: many properties with a Vista mailing address are actually in unincorporated county. Confirm jurisdiction first.

Official page: https://www.vista.gov/city-services/community-development/permits-forms/short-term-rentals

Escondido

A three-year pilot program, effective July 1, 2025. The permit portal opened July 7, 2025 and code compliance began investigating unpermitted rentals that September.

• Owner-occupied units only. This is the headline. Escondido's pilot does not allow non-owner-occupied investment STRs.
• Citywide cap of 2% of total housing inventory.
• Eligible property types: single-family detached, duplexes, two- and three-unit dwellings, townhomes, and multi-family with caps (a complex of 2 to 50 units is allowed one STR).
• Occupancy: two guests per bedroom, plus two additional guests. A three-bedroom maxes out at eight.
• One booking per property per day. A booking is either one or more bedrooms or the entire home — you can't split the house across multiple parties.
• 500-foot buffer from schools. This provision alone affected roughly 30 existing rentals.
• Quiet hours 10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
• On-site parking only. Street parking by guests is not permitted.
• No events — no weddings, no commercial functions.
• Required: TOT registration permit, STR permit, and city business license. Roughly $250 annual application plus a $231 inspection fee.
• Safety inspections at application and renewal.
• Escondido addresses in unincorporated county fall under County rules instead. Check the parcel.

Official page: https://www.escondido.gov/1271/STR-Community-Guide

San Marcos

• No STR-specific ordinance. Short-term rentals are treated as ordinary rental property under existing regulations.
• TOT still applies. Register and remit.
• Zoning and any HOA CC&Rs still govern.
• No ordinance today doesn't mean no ordinance tomorrow. Several cities on this list had nothing five years ago.

Poway

• Does not permit short-term rentals. Poway is one of four San Diego County cities with no STR permitting pathway.
• Confirm directly with Poway Development Services before assuming any workaround exists.

East County

El Cajon

• No STR-specific ordinance. STRs operate subject to normal rental property regulations.
• TOT applies.
• Verify zoning for your specific parcel.

La Mesa

• No STR-specific ordinance. Allowed subject to standard rental regulations.
• TOT applies.

Santee

• Does not permit short-term rentals.

Lemon Grove

• Does not permit short-term rentals.

A note on these four: this reflects a jurisdictional survey compiled by National City staff in 2025 during their own ordinance process. East County cities have been quiet on STRs, but "quiet" and "permanent" aren't the same thing. Call the city's planning division before you list — and definitely before you buy.

Unincorporated San Diego County

Alpine, Ramona, Julian, Fallbrook, Valley Center, Lakeside, Spring Valley, Bonita, Rancho Santa Fe, Borrego Springs, Jamul, Pine Valley, Descanso, Rainbow, Pauma, Warner Springs, and dozens of other communities.

• No county STR permit ordinance. The County has not adopted a licensing framework the way most of its cities have.
• TOT registration is required. Since June 11, 2024, operators in unincorporated areas register through the Treasurer-Tax Collector's portal and receive a registration number. Reporting began July 1, 2024.
• A TOT certificate is not a permit to operate. It doesn't excuse you from any other applicable requirement.
• County zoning still applies. Verify that transient lodging is allowed at your parcel.
• The City of San Diego's STRO ordinance does not apply to unincorporated land, even where addresses read "San Diego."
• This is currently the most permissive corner of the county for STR investment. It's also the one most likely to change, since the County has been under steady pressure on housing and neighborhood-impact issues.

County TOT page: https://www.sdttc.com/content/ttc/en/tax-collection/transient-occupancy-tax.html

One correction worth making

Murrieta is not in San Diego County. It's in Riverside County, roughly 20 minutes north of the county line. Worth covering as an adjacent investment market, but it doesn't belong in a San Diego County guide.

For reference, since it comes up a lot with Temecula Valley investors:

• Short-term vacation rental permit required, capped at 300 citywide, first-come first-served, with a waitlist beyond that.
• Hosted rentals are allowed in residential zones.
• Whole-home non-hosted rentals are limited to larger estate and rural zoning areas.

Murrieta STR page: https://www.murrietaca.gov/1101/Short-Term-Vacation-Rentals Municipal code: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/murrieta/latest/murrieta_ca/0-0-0-38543

Five things that trip people up everywhere

1. ADU permit dates matter more than you'd think. San Diego cuts off at October 15, 2017. Oceanside at September 9, 2017 — and there, an ineligible ADU disqualifies the main house too. Chula Vista cuts off at January 1, 2020. Vista and Imperial Beach exclude ADUs entirely. Get the permit date documented before closing, not after.

2. Permits don't convey with a sale. San Diego, Del Mar, Oceanside, and Chula Vista all treat STR permits as non-transferable. A listing advertising "$140K in rental income last year" is describing income the seller earned under their license. The buyer starts from zero — and in San Diego and Del Mar, may not be able to get a license at all.

3. HOAs can be stricter than the city. Encinitas Ranch prohibits STRs outright in its CC&Rs. So do many Carlsbad and Coronado communities. City approval means nothing if the association says no. Pull the CC&Rs and the last two years of board minutes.

4. The Coastal Commission is the wild card. Any city with coastline needs Commission certification to restrict STRs, which is why Del Mar took ten years and Encinitas is still stuck mid-process. Also worth tracking: SB 1318, which would let coastal jurisdictions restrict non-owner-occupied STRs without going through the Commission. As of mid-2026 it was still moving through the Legislature and had not been signed. If it passes, several of the rules above get tighter fast.

5. Mid-term is the pressure valve. A stay of 31 or more consecutive nights falls outside every ordinance on this page. No license, no TOT, no tier system, no cap. Traveling nurses, corporate relocations, insurance displacement tenants, and clients between escrows are a real and steady demand pool in this county — and in coastal neighborhoods during the off-season, a furnished monthly can come surprisingly close to STR revenue with a fraction of the compliance headache.