State

Texas short-term rental laws (2026)

A Texas city may keep its own regulations on short-term rental units. Effective September 1, 2025, SB 840 curbs how cities regulate mixed-use and multifamily development. It leaves their power to apply short-term rental rules there untouched.^[4]

Every rule below links to the official source it comes from, verified October 1, 2026.

Green fields beside a river under a blue sky in the Texas Hill Country

Is Airbnb legal in Texas?

Legal, with a tax and a city

Texas has no state license. You owe 6% state hotel tax plus whatever your city adds, and your city's ordinance is the only thing that can stop you.

4 official sources · verified October 1, 2026

Photo: Thomas Park on Unsplash

PermitNot required · None issued by the state
Primary residenceNot required
Number on listingNot required
Night capNone published by the state

Texas short-term rental laws

Texas has no state short-term rental law to speak of: no state license, no state register. The one statewide obligation is the hotel occupancy tax. It reaches houses, condominiums and apartments exactly as it reaches hotels. The state takes 6% on any room costing $15 or more a day. A city, county or special purpose district may add its own, on rooms costing $2 or more a day.^[1]

Every Texas rule, sorted by what it asks

Filter by topic. Each line carries the number of its official source, listed at the bottom of the page.

You must

Collect the 6% state hotel occupancy tax on any room costing $15 or more a day.[1]
Collect the local hotel tax too, which starts at rooms costing $2 or more a day and goes to the local taxing authority.[1]
Check your city's own short-term rental regulations, which SB 840 leaves in force.[4]

You must not

Do not treat a long stay as exempt if payments were interrupted during the thirty days.[2]

Not required

You do not need a state license: Texas issues none for short-term rentals.[1]
You do not owe state hotel tax once the same guest has stayed thirty or more consecutive days without interruption.[2]

Occupancy tax in Texas

The state hotel occupancy tax rate is 6 percent of the cost of a room. It applies to bed and breakfasts, condominiums, apartments and houses as well as hotels and motels.^[1]
A guest who occupies a room for thirty or more consecutive days without interruption is a permanent resident and is exempt. Written notice of intent makes the exemption run from the notice date.^[2]

Texas hotel occupancy tax

Cities in this state

Short-term rental rules in 26 Texas cities

Ranked by the share of housing the Census counts as seasonal. Places the Census figure does not cover come first.

Short-term rental rules by city in Texas
City	Local rule	Primary residence	Night cap	Seasonal homes per 1,000
Austin short-term rental rules	Permit required	Not required	None published
Houston short-term rental rules	Permit required	Not required	None published
San Antonio short-term rental rules	Permit required	Varies	None published
South Padre Island short-term rental rulesCameron County, TX	Registration required	Not published	Under 30 consecutive days is the definition	669
Port Aransas short-term rental rulesNueces County, TX	Registration required	Not published	None, but occupancy is set by sleeping rooms	364
Horseshoe Bay short-term rental rulesLlano County, TX	Permit required	Not required	None published by the city	275
Surfside Beach short-term rental rulesBrazoria County, TX	Registration required	Not published	No night limit in the village code	238
Granite Shoals short-term rental rulesBurnet County, TX	Registration required	Not published	None published by the city	208
Rockport short-term rental rulesAransas County, TX	Registration required	Not published	None published by the city	189
Galveston short-term rental rulesGalveston County, TX	Registration required	Not published	None published by the city	160
Aransas Pass short-term rental rulesSan Patricio County, TX	Permit required	Not published	No limit on nights in Chapter 12	136
Port Isabel short-term rental rulesCameron County, TX	Registration required	Not published	Under 30 days is the definition, not a cap	119
Fredericksburg short-term rental rulesGillespie County, TX	Allowed by zone	Not published	None published by the city	115
Bandera short-term rental rulesBandera County, TX	Certificate required	Not published	None published by the city	109
Gun Barrel City short-term rental rulesHenderson County, TX	Permit required	Not published	No night limit, minimum stay of 24 hours	76
Marble Falls short-term rental rulesBurnet County, TX	Permit required	Not required	Under 30 consecutive days is the definition	51
Lago Vista short-term rental rulesTravis County, TX	Permit required	Not published	None published by the city	51
Corpus Christi short-term rental rulesNueces County, TX	Registration required	Not required	Under 30 consecutive days is the definition	24
New Braunfels short-term rental rulesComal and Guadalupe County, TX	Allowed by zone	Not required	None, but residential zoning bars the use entirely	23
Boerne short-term rental rulesKendall County, TX	Capped	Not required	Two per bedroom plus two, and 200 feet apart	22
Granbury short-term rental rulesHood County, TX	Allowed by zone	Varies	Three bedrooms maximum in a residential district	16
Wimberley short-term rental rulesHays County, TX	Allowed by zone	Varies	None published by the city	14
Kerrville short-term rental rulesKerr County, TX	Allowed by zone	Not required	None, but only four zoning districts allow the use	9
El Paso short-term rental rulesEl Paso County, TX	No city ordinance	Not published	None published by the city	7
Dallas short-term rental rulesDallas County, TX	Registration required	Not published	None in force while the 2023 ordinances are enjoined	4
Fort Worth short-term rental rulesTarrant County, TX	Allowed by zone	Not required	No yearly cap, 12 guests at most	4

Five jurisdictions, same questions

The Texas column comes from the official sources on this page. The other columns show the headline rule from each WonderGuest page. Open a page for the full detail.

Short-term rental rules in Texas compared with other jurisdictions
Question	Texas	New Mexico	Louisiana	Florida	Hawaii
Permit	Not requiredNone issued by the state	Not requiredState tax ID only, permits are local	Not requiredNone from the state. Some cities and parishes require one	RequiredState license, $170 a year	RequiredState GET and TAT licenses
Primary residence	Not required	Varies	Varies	Not required	Varies
Night cap	None published by the state	None in state law	None in state law	None published by the state	No state cap, county rules vary
Number on listing	Not required	Not required	Not required	Not required	Required
Where allowed	Under the city's own regulations	Where the local ordinance allows it	Decided by local zoning	No local bans after June 1, 2011	Set by each county
Occupancy tax	6% state, plus a local rate	Local, up to 5% of rent	5% state sales tax, plus parish and city taxes	6% state tax, Airbnb collects	11% state TAT plus county TAT
Fine without permit	None set by the state	Set locally, $500 a day in Albuquerque	Each city or parish sets its own	Second-degree misdemeanor	$500 fine, $2,000 if cash-based
		New Mexico short-term rental rules	Louisiana short-term rental rules	Florida short-term rental rules	Hawaii short-term rental rules

Keep exploring

Coming up

What's changing

No change with an effective date appears in the official sources on this page as of October 1, 2026.

FAQ

Texas short-term rental questions

Does Texas require a license for a short-term rental?

No. The state issues none. The statewide obligation is the hotel occupancy tax, which the Comptroller applies to houses, condominiums and apartments as well as hotels.^[1]

How much hotel tax does a Texas guest pay?

Six percent to the state on a room costing $15 or more a day. Add whatever the city, county or special purpose district levies on rooms costing $2 or more a day. The local authority collects its own share.^[1]

When does a long stay stop being taxable?

At thirty consecutive days without interruption. A guest who gives written notice of that intention is exempt from the notice date. One who does not pays for the first thirty days and is exempt afterward.^[2]

Sources

Hotel Occupancy Tax, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, read on October 1, 2026
Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemptions (publication 96-224), Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, read on October 1, 2026
Local Hotel Occupancy Tax Overview, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, read on October 1, 2026
SB 840 (89th Legislature, 2025), enrolled text, Local Government Code § 218.003, Texas Legislature Online, read on October 1, 2026

This page is not legal advice. It summarizes the official sources listed on this page as they read on October 1, 2026. Rules can change after that date, so check with the issuing office before you apply or publish a listing.

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