Licensing, explained
The San Diego STRO license: what it costs, how many are left, and how to keep yours.
Every short-term rental in the city of San Diego needs a Short-Term Residential Occupancy license. There are four tiers, two of them capped, and the caps are what make the license valuable: whole-home licenses are limited to 1% of the city's housing stock, and Mission Beach is fully allocated. This guide covers all four tiers with current fees, plus a tracker fed by the city's own license data.
See license availabilityLicense counts as of September 9, 2026, from the City of San Diego open data portal.
The tracker
License availability, from the city's data.
8,440 active STRO licenses citywide as of September 9, 2026. The two capped tiers are the ones to watch: they decide whether a whole-home rental is even possible at a given address.
Where the Tier 3 licenses are
| Community planning area | Tier 3 licenses |
|---|---|
| Pacific Beach | 970 |
| La Jolla | 612 |
| Ocean Beach | 459 |
| Uptown | 416 |
| Downtown | 319 |
| North Park | 316 |
Source: City of San Diego STRO license dataset (data.sandiego.gov), retrieved September 9, 2026. Caps and fees per the City Treasurer's STRO program page. License figures refresh daily.
The four tiers
Which license your rental needs.
The tier depends on how often you rent and whether you live in the home. Fees are the city's current schedule; licenses last two years and are renewable.
Tier 1Part-time rental
$226 total ($33 application + $193 license)
Rent your home 20 days or fewer per year. No residency requirement, no cap on licenses.
Tier 2Home sharing
$317 total ($33 application + $284 license)
Rent a room or rooms more than 20 days per year while you live onsite. You can be away up to 90 days a year. No cap.
Tier 3Whole home, citywide
$1,170 total ($41 application + $1,129 license)
Whole-home rentals over 20 days per year, anywhere except Mission Beach. The license requires at least 90 days of rental use per year to keep.
804 licenses remaining under the city's 1% cap
Tier 4Mission Beach whole home
$1,170 total ($41 application + $1,129 license)
Whole-home rentals in the Mission Beach planning area, capped at 30% of the area's dwelling units. Applications are closed; openings come only from lapsed licenses.
All licenses issued. Waitlist only.
Why it matters
A capped license is an asset. Treat it like one.
Because Tier 3 is nearly full and Tier 4 is closed, a whole-home license you already hold is hard to replace. Three rules protect it.
- Renew on time, every two years. A lapsed license goes back into the pool, and in Mission Beach it goes to the waitlist. There is no grace period worth gambling on.
- Meet the 90-day rule. Tier 3 licenses require at least 90 days of rental use per year. A home that sits idle can lose the license that makes it valuable.
- Keep filings current. TOT registration, remittance, and the city's local-contact designation all have to stay accurate, and each runs on its own schedule.
All three, handled.
Cardo manages STRO applications and renewals, tracks the 90-day utilization requirement, and keeps TOT filings and the local-contact designation current for every home it operates. Nothing slips through the cracks, and nothing depends on your calendar.
Get my free estimateLicensing, answered
Common STRO questions.
As of the current fee schedule: Tier 1 costs $226 in total, Tier 2 $317, and Tiers 3 and 4 each $1,170 ($41 application plus $1,129 license). Licenses last two years and are renewable.
804 as of September 9, 2026. The city caps Tier 3 whole-home licenses at 1% of San Diego's housing units, and 4,853 are currently issued. The count on this page updates from the city's open license dataset.
Not directly right now. All Tier 4 licenses are issued and applications are closed. Openings only appear when an existing license lapses or is revoked, and they go through a waitlist, so if Mission Beach is your plan, get on the list early and keep your registration current.
No. STRO licenses are not transferable between hosts or properties. When a licensed home sells, the license does not convey; the new owner applies for their own, which for a whole-home rental means joining the Tier 3 pool or the Tier 4 waitlist. Factor that into any purchase where rental income is part of the math.
No. The city allows one STRO license per host, covering one dwelling unit at a time.
The license belongs to you, the host, but a full-service manager handles the paperwork around it. Cardo manages STRO applications, renewals, the local-contact designation, and TOT filings for every home it operates, so compliance never depends on your calendar.
Thinking of changing managers without risking the license?The switching guide covers the license handover. →
Compliance, handled
Your license stays protected. Your home stays earning.
Cardo manages STRO applications, renewals, TOT filings, and the local-contact designation for every home it operates. Start with a free estimate of what your home should earn under professional management.
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