Cannon Beach & Manzanita OR STR Market Report 2026: Haystack Rock, Arts-Colony Character, and Oregon's Quieter Coast Option

Thomas Garner
Jul 18
11 min read

Updated: Jul 18

Search "Oregon coast vacation rental" and the results flatten a genuinely varied coastline into one undifferentiated category — sea stacks, salt air, and a rental cottage that could be anywhere from Astoria to Brookings. Cannon Beach and Manzanita get lumped into that same generic bucket more often than almost any other pairing on the coast, because they sit close enough together, roughly 20 minutes apart along Highway 101, to look interchangeable from a distance. They aren't. Cannon Beach carries the scenic-landmark authority of Haystack Rock and a decades-deep arts-colony identity; Manzanita offers a quieter, lower-key version of the same coastal draw, without the crowds, the parking pressure, or the built-out downtown. For a host or investor deciding where to buy, or a self-managing owner deciding how to position an existing listing, the difference between those two identities is the whole marketing question — and treating them as one town wastes real positioning opportunity in both directions.

This report lays out what separates the two markets, what they share, and what still needs verification before either gets built into a full-scale marketing plan.

Cannon Beach: Haystack Rock and Scenic-Landmark Authority

Cannon Beach's identity starts and mostly ends with one object sitting just offshore. Haystack Rock is a roughly 235-foot sea stack — local tourism materials have long claimed it's the third-tallest such formation in the world, though there's no official global registry of monoliths to actually verify that ranking against, so it's worth treating as a well-worn local claim rather than a documented fact. What is documented: In 1990, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife designated Haystack Rock a Marine Garden, one of only seven such protected sites on the Oregon coast, and its intertidal zone is a genuine tide-pool ecosystem — starfish, anemones, chitons, and a nesting colony of tufted puffins that draws birders as reliably as photographers. Accessible on foot at low tide and visible from the beach at all times, Haystack Rock is the single most recognized image associated with the Oregon coast, and it gives Cannon Beach a kind of demand base that most vacation-rental markets simply don't have: guests are not just booking "beach access," they're booking proximity to a specific, photographable, bucket-list landmark.

That landmark sits inside a town that has built a genuine arts-colony character around it rather than just monetizing the view. Cannon Beach's compact downtown is walkable and gallery-dense, with a long-running community identity built around visual art, studio spaces, and a calendar of arts events that gives the town a demand driver beyond pure scenery — travelers come for gallery walks and a weekend-away cultural experience, not only for the rock. That combination — an iconic, instantly recognizable landmark plus a walkable, creative community downtown — is what separates Cannon Beach from a generic "pretty Oregon beach town." It has scenic-landmark authority without the manager-locked consolidation of a trophy market like a Malibu or a Hilton Head; ownership here remains fragmented across independent owners and boutique local managers rather than concentrated under one or two national brands, which is exactly the condition that makes marketing-only positioning valuable rather than a battle against a dominant incumbent's playbook.

Cannon Beach's popularity comes with real friction, though, and any listing positioning should be honest about it. The town's small footprint, limited downtown parking, and high day-tripper volume from Portland mean summer weekends bring real congestion — a factor that matters both to the guest experience a listing is selling and to how an owner should set expectations about noise, foot traffic, and neighborhood character depending on where in town a property sits.

Manzanita: The Quieter Alternative Under the Same Regional Pull

Twenty minutes south, Manzanita trades on the inverse proposition. It's a small town — permanent population in the low hundreds — fronting a long, flat, walkable beach beneath Neahkahnie Mountain, without a single landmark drawing crowds and without Cannon Beach's gallery-and-downtown density. What it offers instead is the same coastal beauty and the same Portland-drive-market accessibility, delivered at a noticeably calmer pace: less traffic, less competition for parking and restaurant tables, a beach that doesn't organize itself around a single photo-op, and a small-town feel that reads as a genuine retreat rather than a scenic day-trip destination.

That positioning — "the quieter alternative to Cannon Beach" — is a real, searchable proposition, not just a marketing framing invented for this report. Manzanita has long maintained one of the strictest short-term rental caps on the Oregon coast, a structural choice that has kept the market small and kept inventory from consolidating under large operators, reinforcing the town's own preference for staying low-key rather than scaling into a Cannon-Beach-style visitor volume. For a guest who wants Oregon coast scenery without the crowds — and for an owner whose listing doesn't have a landmark view to sell — Manzanita's entire value proposition is the deliberate absence of everything that makes Cannon Beach loud.

Same Feeder Market, Different Guest

Both towns pull from the same primary source: the Portland metro drive market, roughly 80 miles and under two hours away, which makes both towns natural weekend and long-weekend destinations rather than fly-in vacation markets. That shared feeder base is part of why the two towns get conflated so often in generic coastal content — the guest searching "Oregon coast weekend getaway" genuinely is choosing between them, often without realizing how different the resulting trip will be.

The choice a listing should help that guest make isn't which town is "better," it's which experience they're actually looking for. A Cannon Beach listing sells proximity to Haystack Rock, walkability to galleries and restaurants, and a genuine arts-town atmosphere — worth the parking hassle and the crowds for the right guest. A Manzanita listing sells space, quiet, and an uncrowded beach — a trade a different kind of guest will pay for precisely because it isn't Cannon Beach. Neither positioning works if the listing copy tries to split the difference and sound like both.

Two Towns, Two Counties, Two Rulebooks

This is the detail that trips up owners and investors moving between the two markets, and it's worth stating plainly rather than assuming it's already understood: Cannon Beach and Manzanita sit in different counties, under different short-term rental regulatory frameworks, despite being a 20-minute drive apart.

Cannon Beach sits in Clatsop County, and short-term rental permitting in Cannon Beach itself is governed by the City of Cannon Beach's ordinance (municipal code Chapter 17.84), not the county. As of 2026, the city's structure includes three permit categories — lifetime unlimited permits, five-year unlimited permits, and 14-day permits — with the five-year unlimited category capped at 92 permits total, with roughly 35 currently active. New applicants face a tighter path: the city has moved toward limiting new permits to the 14-day category rather than issuing new unlimited permits, and the city's Community Development Department has been actively developing further cap-related ordinance changes, with draft materials discussed as recently as a February 2026 Planning Commission meeting. This is a live, evolving regulatory picture, not a settled one — anyone evaluating a Cannon Beach purchase for STR use should confirm current permit category availability and cap status directly with the City of Cannon Beach Community Development Department before assuming any specific permit type is obtainable.

Manzanita, along with the rest of unincorporated Tillamook County, sits under Tillamook County's regulatory umbrella, most notably the county's Ordinance #84 (amended 2023), which governs septic checks, mandatory garbage service, occupancy limits tied to bedroom count, parking requirements, and quiet hours for STRs in unincorporated areas. The City of Manzanita itself, however, layers its own separate municipal licensing requirement on top of the county framework — Manzanita caps STR licenses at 17.5% of existing housing stock in most residential zones (the cap and its accompanying waitlist apply specifically to the R2, R3, and SR-R zones; the R4, C-1, and LC zones are unaffected), with licensing, minimum off-street parking, exterior signage, and periodic re-inspection requirements administered directly by the city. In short, a property inside Manzanita city limits answers to the City of Manzanita's license process; a property in unincorporated Tillamook County near Manzanita answers primarily to the county ordinance. Both frameworks are separate from and stricter in different ways than Cannon Beach's city-run system.

The practical takeaway for anyone comparing the two markets: don't assume rules transfer between them. A permit strategy that works in Cannon Beach has no bearing on what's required in Manzanita, and vice versa. Both markets' current rules, cap numbers, and application backlogs should be verified directly with the relevant city or county office before any purchase or listing decision — permit caps and application categories are the kind of detail that shifts with local ordinance updates, and this report reflects a snapshot rather than a guarantee of current availability.

What the Numbers Currently Show — and Where to Verify Further

Third-party short-term rental data platforms put Cannon Beach's market at roughly 65% occupancy with an average daily rate in the low-to-mid $400s and a fairly wide seasonal swing — one industry source shows peak-month ADR near $500 against a slow-month figure closer to $350, with active listing counts in the low-to-mid 200s and double-digit year-over-year supply growth. Manzanita's figures from the same data source are somewhat lower on occupancy (roughly the low-50% range) with a comparable ADR band, consistent with a smaller, quieter market pulling fewer but often longer or higher-value stays.

These figures come from third-party analytics platforms (AirDNA, AirROI, and similar STR data aggregators) rather than primary MLS or county-level sources, and methodologies vary between platforms — treat any single number here as directional rather than exact. Before using specific ADR, occupancy, or listing-count figures in a client-facing proposal or investment pitch, verify current numbers directly against a live AirDNA or PriceLabs pull for the specific date range in question, since these figures shift meaningfully month to month and platform to platform.

The Bottom Line

Cannon Beach and Manzanita are frequently searched together and just as frequently marketed as though they're the same town wearing two different zip codes. They aren't. Cannon Beach sells landmark-driven, walkable, arts-town energy and comes with crowds, parking pressure, and its own city-run permit system with a hard cap and a shrinking path for new unlimited permits. Manzanita sells quiet, space, and an uncrowded beach experience, governed by a separate Tillamook County framework layered under the city's own strict, housing-stock-tied license cap. Fragmented ownership in both markets — no single manager dominates either town — means the marketing-only opportunity is real in both directions, but only if a listing commits to one identity instead of hedging toward a generic "Oregon coast" middle ground that neither market actually occupies.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Ready to put this strategy to work in North Oregon Coast?

Crest & Cove Creative partners with a select group of independent hosts in the Pacific Northwest each quarter — focused on listing quality, organic search visibility, and direct booking growth. If your property isn't reaching the guests it should be, that's exactly the kind of problem we solve. Reach out directly at crestcove.co or call (256) 998-7502 — we'll take an honest look at where your listing stands and tell you plainly whether we can help.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Cannon Beach and Manzanita in the same county? No. Cannon Beach is in Clatsop County, while Manzanita sits in Tillamook County. They're roughly 20 minutes apart by car but fall under entirely separate short-term rental regulatory frameworks — Cannon Beach's own municipal ordinance versus Tillamook County's ordinance plus Manzanita's separate city license requirement.

What makes Haystack Rock significant beyond being a photogenic sea stack? It's one of only seven Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife-designated Marine Gardens on the coast, protecting a genuine tide-pool ecosystem and a nesting colony of tufted puffins, and is also one of the most recognized coastal landmarks in the Pacific Northwest.

Does Cannon Beach still have STR permits available for new owners? As of 2026, Cannon Beach's five-year unlimited permit category is capped at 92 permits, with roughly 35 currently active. The city has been tightening the path for new applicants toward 14-day-only permits, and the Community Development Department has draft cap-related ordinance changes in progress. Anyone evaluating a purchase for STR use should confirm current permit availability directly with the city before assuming an unlimited permit is obtainable.

How does Manzanita's short-term rental cap work? Manzanita caps STR licenses at 17.5% of the existing housing stock, administered by the City of Manzanita, layered on top of Tillamook County's broader ordinance for unincorporated areas nearby. The cap and its waitlist apply only in the R2, R3, and SR-R zones (the R4, C-1, and LC zones are unaffected); current availability and waitlist status should be confirmed directly with the City of Manzanita.

Is Manzanita actually less crowded than Cannon Beach, or is that just marketing? It's a structural reality, not just positioning. Manzanita is a small town with a long flat beach and no single landmark drawing day-trip traffic, while Cannon Beach's Haystack Rock and walkable arts-town downtown pull significant summer weekend crowds and create real parking pressure — a difference guests notice immediately.

Do both markets pull from the same guest base? Largely yes — both towns sit within a comfortable Portland-area drive market (under two hours), making them natural weekend and long-weekend destinations for the same regional traveler pool. The difference is which experience the traveler chooses on a given trip: landmark-and-arts-town energy in Cannon Beach or a quiet beach retreat in Manzanita.

Is one market more profitable than the other? Third-party STR data platforms generally show Cannon Beach with higher occupancy and a comparably sized or slightly higher ADR than Manzanita, though both markets exhibit meaningful seasonal swings. These figures vary by data source and time period and should be verified against a current platform pull before being used in any investment decision.

Are these markets dominated by large property management companies? No — ownership in both Cannon Beach and Manzanita remains fragmented across independent owners and boutique local managers rather than consolidated under one or two national brands, which is part of what makes differentiated, market-specific marketing a genuine advantage rather than a battle against an entrenched incumbent.

About the Authors

Crest & Cove Creative is a short-term rental marketing agency founded by Thomas Garner and Jacob Mishalanie. We build direct-booking brands, listing optimization systems, and market-specific content strategies for independent STR operators nationwide, including emerging corridors like the North Oregon Coast.