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North Oregon Coast STR Market Report 2026: Heritage, Scarcity, and Scenery from the Columbia River to Haystack Rock

Updated: Jul 18

Haystack Rock, Oregon

Ask most travelers what "the Oregon coast" means, and you'll get one blurry answer: gray beaches, driftwood, maybe a lighthouse. Ask a short-term rental investor the same question, and the honest answer is that "the Oregon coast" isn't a market at all — it's a string of small, structurally different markets that happen to share a highway and a feeder city. Nowhere is that truer than the stretch running from the mouth of the Columbia River down to the sand dunes north of Tillamook, where three towns share a Portland drive-market audience but earn their identity — and their investment thesis — in three completely different ways.


Astoria trades on genuine river-mouth heritage: the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains, a hilltop historic district of Victorian homes, and a working waterfront that has nothing to do with beach access. Neskowin and Pacific City trade on a rare combination of a singular physical hook — a dory fleet that still launches straight off the beach, and an eerie ancient forest that surfaces at low tide — layered on top of a hard regulatory ceiling that has physically frozen who is allowed to own a license. Cannon Beach and Manzanita trade on landmark authority: Haystack Rock is one of the most photographed sea stacks in North America, and Manzanita sits quietly next door as the lower-key alternative for travelers who want the same coastline without the crowds.

This report is the decoder for that region — a working map of what separates these three markets, so a host, investor, or agency can place any specific listing or opportunity into the right competitive and regulatory context before delving into the market-level reports for each individual town.


The Portland Drive-Market Throughline

All three markets share one structural advantage: they sit within an easy weekend drive of Portland, Oregon's largest metro and a feeder market with a strong culture of coastal getaways. That shared feeder base is what makes it tempting to treat "north Oregon coast" as a single demand pool. It isn't. Astoria pulls a heritage-and-culture crowd that overlaps with wine-country and Columbia Gorge travelers. Neskowin and Pacific City pull an outdoors-and-scenery crowd chasing a specific, hard-to-replicate beach experience. Cannon Beach and Manzanita pull the classic "iconic Oregon coast photo" crowd, split between travelers who want to be in the middle of Cannon Beach's arts-and-shopping scene and those who'd rather stay a few miles south in a quieter town with the same views.


The practical implication for anyone evaluating a listing here: proximity to Portland tells you almost nothing about who's booking, what they're willing to pay, or how seasonal the calendar will be. The town does.


Astoria: River Heritage, Not Beach Access

Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, not on an open beach, and that's the whole point. Founded in 1811 as a fur-trading outpost, it has a genuine claim to being the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains — a historical distinction that shows up in the town's identity in a way marketing copy can't manufacture. The housing stock is dominated by a hilltop historic district of Victorian homes with river views, giving listings here a visual identity closer to that of a small heritage city than a beach town. Layered on top of that base is a genuinely growing arts-and-brewery scene that extends Astoria's appeal beyond a narrow summer window — this is a town that can plausibly sell a rainy November weekend on food, beer, and history in a way a pure beach market can't.


Astoria's demand base is therefore distinct from every other market in this cluster: it's a heritage-and-culture weekend destination for Portland-area travelers, not a beach getaway with a river view. That distinction matters for marketing and for realistic revenue expectations — a listing here is competing on maritime character and walkability to a historic downtown, not on beach frontage.


Regulation is where Astoria diverges sharply from the rest of this cluster, and it actually runs two separate STR programs, not one. The older "Homestay Lodging" program (owner-occupied, 1-2 bedrooms) caps permits citywide at roughly 30 inside a defined overlay zone near downtown and along certain commercial corridors, with a rule against two STRs operating next door to each other; that cap has been fully allocated for some time, and the waitlist itself is reportedly full as of late 2024. Separately, in May 2025, the city council approved a newer "Vacation Rental" license program for whole, non-owner-occupied units — a two-year pilot capped at 50 citywide licenses, with roughly 43 in use at the time of passage. That second program is the one that matters most to an investor eyeing a whole-unit purchase, and it's newer and less saturated than the older Homestay cap. Astoria sits in Clatsop County, whose separate unincorporated-area ordinance (capping STRs west of Highway 101 at roughly 10% of existing single-family units) does not apply within Astoria's city limits — the city runs its own programs.


Neskowin & Pacific City: The Scarcity Story

Neskowin and Pacific City sit inside unincorporated Tillamook County, and together they carry the strongest structural scarcity story of any market in this cluster. Pacific City is where dory boats still launch directly off the open beach at Cape Kiwanda — a fishing tradition that survives almost nowhere else on the West Coast — and Neskowin is home to the "Ghost Forest," a stand of ancient Sitka spruce stumps, roughly two thousand years old, that emerges from the sand near Proposal Rock during low tide and heavy winter erosion. Those two hooks alone would make this a defensible niche market. The regulatory backdrop makes it genuinely scarce.


Tillamook County's 2023 short-term rental ordinance update capped licenses in unincorporated subareas — including Neskowin and Pacific City/Woods — at roughly 1% growth above the number of licenses already active when the ordinance took effect, with the county running formal waitlists for both subareas once the cap is reached. Neskowin's cap sits at 191 licenses, with a current waitlist of 6 households as of July 2026, and no exemption zone of any kind — the standard capped-and-waitlisted rule applies to the entire subarea.


The county has since made one significant adjustment specific to Pacific City: in January 2025, commissioners approved a cap-exemption zone (Board Order #25-002) — the "West Division" — stretching from the Nestucca River to the ocean and from Alder Street south to Bob Straub State Park, based on local support tied to the area's long rental history and housing stock. That exemption pulled roughly 236 of Pacific City's approximately 326 existing licenses — and 18 of the 28 households then on the waitlist — outside the capped pool, leaving the remaining, still-capped portion of Pacific City/Woods set at 95 licenses, with a current waitlist of 13 households as of July 2026. The West Division itself is fully uncapped: a new buyer purchasing a property inside that zone can obtain a license outright, with no waitlist. Everywhere else in Pacific City/Woods, and all of Neskowin, license availability is not guaranteed — hosts should plan on a waitlist rather than an open application.


What that mechanism means in practice: outside the West Division, a license here isn't a formality you apply for and receive — it's a scarce asset tied to a specific property, with a real waitlist behind it. That scarcity has kept inventory concentrated in the hands of longtime local owners and independent or boutique managers rather than consolidating under a single national platform, because there simply isn't a large enough open pool of new licenses for a chain to buy its way into dominance. Manzanita, just south in this same cluster, runs a comparable — though separate — model: STRs are capped at roughly 17.5% of homes in most residential zones (R2, R3, SR-R), with a waitlist active in some of those zones.


Unverified / flagged: current ADR and occupancy figures specific to Neskowin (data for this micro-market was not independently locatable and should not be assumed to match Pacific City's); and Vacasa's residual share of Pacific City inventory — public listings show Vacasa actively managing at least 15 units in Pacific City, but no reliable source quantifies that as a percentage of the roughly 300+ licensed properties in the market, so any specific share figure should be treated as unconfirmed.


Cannon Beach & Manzanita: Landmark Authority, Paired Towns

Cannon Beach's identity is inseparable from Haystack Rock, the 235-foot sea stack that anchors the town's beach and is one of the most recognized natural landmarks on the West Coast. Around that landmark, Cannon Beach has built out a genuine arts-colony identity — galleries, a walkable downtown, and one of the longest-running short-term rental permit programs on the Oregon coast, regulated since the 1980s. The city runs a three-tier permit system: a lifetime-unlimited pool, a five-year-unlimited tier capped at roughly 92 licenses (of which roughly 35 are currently active), and a 14-day-only tier that is the sole entry point for new applicants — meaning new hosts can generally only enter through the 14-day tier or by acquiring an existing unlimited license, which is tied to a specific owner and specific dwelling and does not transfer automatically at sale. As of February 2026, Cannon Beach's Planning Commission has been drafting a formal cap ordinance to formalize limits the city has effectively operated under for years.


Manzanita, a few miles south, offers a quieter, less-developed version of the same coastline — smaller-scale, fewer galleries and shops, and a slower pace, but under the same Portland drive-market pull and comparable landmark-adjacent scenery. While Cannon Beach sells Haystack Rock and an artsy town atmosphere, Manzanita offers the same beach without the crowds, appealing to travelers and hosts alike who want the north coast's scenery without the intensity of its most photographed town.


Unverified / flagged: current ADR, occupancy, and active listing counts for Manzanita specifically — data sources return figures for Cannon Beach that are not reliable stand-ins for its smaller, quieter neighbor, and no Manzanita-specific figures were independently confirmed.


What Ties the Region Together

Fragmentation, not consolidation, is the throughline across all three markets. Astoria's cap is full but small and city-run; Neskowin and Pacific City's cap is partially exempted and partially waitlisted at the county level; Cannon Beach's unlimited-license pool is full, and Manzanita runs its own separate percentage-based cap. None of these markets is dominated by a single national property manager, as some higher-profile coastal destinations are. That fragmentation — plus regulatory ceilings that actively work against large-scale consolidation — is what makes the North Oregon Coast a market worth marketing into rather than a manager-locked trophy coast where an independent host can't meaningfully compete.


Unverified / flagged at the regional level, to be resolved before any market-level post in this cluster goes to draft: current ADR and occupancy figures for each market relative to typical central Oregon coast peers (directional figures found during research vary meaningfully by data provider and should not be treated as precise); and active listing counts for Neskowin and Manzanita specifically.


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

Is the North Oregon Coast one short-term rental market or several? Several. Astoria, Neskowin & Pacific City, and Cannon Beach & Manzanita share a Portland drive-market feeder base but differ sharply in demand drivers, housing stock, and regulation — treating them as one undifferentiated "Oregon coast" market will misread all three.


What makes Astoria different from the beach towns further south? Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River rather than on an open beach, and its demand is built on river-mouth maritime heritage, a hilltop Victorian historic district, and a growing arts-and-brewery scene — not beach access.


Why is Tillamook County's short-term rental ordinance significant for investors? The county's 2023 ordinance capped STR licenses in unincorporated subareas, including Neskowin and Pacific City/Woods, at roughly 1% growth over existing levels, with formal waitlists once the cap is reached. That scarcity has kept much of the licensed inventory concentrated among independent and local owners rather than large national managers.


Did the Tillamook County cap change recently? Yes, partially. In January 2025, county commissioners approved a cap-exemption zone (Board Order #25-002) covering a defined stretch of Pacific City known as the West Division (roughly the Nestucca River to the ocean, Alder Street to Bob Straub State Park), pulling most of that area's existing licenses and waitlist households outside the cap. The West Division itself is now fully uncapped — a new buyer there can obtain a license with no waitlist. The remaining, still-capped portion of Pacific City/Woods was set at 95 licenses, with a waitlist of 13 households as of July 2026. Neskowin was not included in that exemption; its cap is 191 licenses, with a waitlist of 6 households as of July 2026.


Is Astoria's short-term rental license cap open or full? Astoria runs two separate programs. The older owner-occupied "Homestay Lodging" cap (roughly 30 permits citywide) has been fully allocated for some time, with the waitlist reportedly full since late 2024. A newer whole-unit "Vacation Rental" pilot program, approved May 2025, caps licenses at 50 citywide with roughly 43 in use at passage — a less-saturated path for an investor buying a whole, non-owner-occupied unit. Confirm the current status of both directly with the city.


What is Cannon Beach's short-term rental permit system? Cannon Beach runs a three-tier system — a lifetime-unlimited pool, a five-year-unlimited tier capped at roughly 92 licenses (about 35 currently active), and a 14-day-only tier that's the sole entry point for new applicants — and has regulated STRs since the 1980s, one of the longest-running programs on the Oregon coast. Unlimited permits are tied to a specific owner and dwelling and do not automatically transfer at sale. As of February 2026, the Planning Commission has an ordinance formalizing a citywide cap in active draft.


How is Manzanita's rental cap different from Cannon Beach's or Tillamook County's? Manzanita runs its own city-level cap limiting short-term rentals to roughly 17.5% of homes in most residential zones (R2, R3, SR-R), with a waitlist active in some of those zones — separate from both Cannon Beach's permit-type system and Tillamook County's unincorporated-area ordinance that governs Neskowin and Pacific City.


Is any single national property manager dominant across the North Oregon Coast? No. All three markets in this cluster are fragmented among independent owners and smaller managers rather than consolidated under one dominant platform, though managers such as Vacasa maintain an active presence in markets like Pacific City. The exact scale of any single manager's share in a given town is not independently confirmed and should be verified market by market.


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 such as the North Oregon Coast.


Related Reading

Explore more North Oregon Coast short-term rental insights and host guides:


Sources

Verified via search for this publish, and confirmed by a dedicated regulatory research pass covering this batch (July 2026):

  • Tillamook County's 2023 STR ordinance structure and the January 2025 Pacific City cap-exemption zone (Board Order #25-002, the "West Division"), including the 236/326 license and 18/28 waitlist figures, the resulting 95-license cap for the remaining Pacific City/Woods area with a current waitlist of 13 households, the West Division's fully uncapped status, and Neskowin's 191-license cap with a current waitlist of 6 households (all waitlist figures as of July 2026) — Tillamook Headlight Herald, Tillamook County STR Waitlists page

  • Astoria's roughly 30-permit citywide STR cap, overlay-zone structure, no-adjacent-STR rule, the cap being fully allocated, and the waitlist reportedly full since late 2024 — The Offer Sheet: Astoria OR STR Regulations, Saltaire Coastal Homes: Clatsop County rules by city

  • Clatsop County's separate unincorporated-area ordinance (10% cap west of Hwy 101) and confirmation it does not apply within Astoria, Cannon Beach, or other incorporated cities — Clatsop County Short-Term Rentals

  • Cannon Beach's three-tier permit system (lifetime unlimited, five-year unlimited capped at roughly 92 licenses/~35 active, and 14-day-only for new applicants), 1980s program origin, and the February 2026 Planning Commission cap-ordinance draft review — City of Cannon Beach STR page

  • Manzanita's roughly 17.5%-of-homes cap in most residential zones and a waitlist active in some zones — Tillamook County Pioneer / City of Manzanita STR info

  • Astoria's founding in 1811 and status as the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains — Explore.com, Spokesman-Review

  • The Neskowin Ghost Forest's origin as ancient Sitka spruce stumps roughly 2,000 years old, exposed by erosion near Proposal Rock, and Pacific City's dory-fleet launch tradition at Cape Kiwanda — Oregon Discovery, Kiwanda Coastal Properties

  • Directional ADR/occupancy figures for Cannon Beach, Pacific City, and Astoria — AirDNA Cannon Beach, AirDNA Pacific City, AirROI Astoria — figures varied meaningfully between providers and are treated as directional only, not asserted as precise in the body text.


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