Pacific City vs. Oceanside, Oregon: Confirm the Right Permit Desk Before You List

Thomas Garner
Aug 21
8 min read

Updated: 18 hours ago

Empty Pacific City driftwood beach, no people

Pacific City sits in unincorporated Tillamook County, which means short-term rental oversight runs through Tillamook County Community Development at 1510-B Third Street, Tillamook, OR 97141 (503-842-3408) rather than through a city hall. Oceanside, a few miles north along the coast, is a separate town with its own licensing process. Hosts who assume the two share a permit file end up calling the wrong desk, and county staff will not confirm a driveway, a setback, or a license status for a parcel outside their jurisdiction. Confirm which office covers your address before you advertise, not after a booking platform flags the listing.

The revenue numbers explain why the mix-up matters. AirROI's trailing twelve-month data, August 2025 through July 2026, puts a typical Pacific City listing at roughly $40,828 in annual revenue across 286 active rentals, with an average nightly rate of $363 and 35.4 percent occupancy. Revenue per available night landed at $141, down 4.7 percent year over year, while active supply held flat. Oceanside is a smaller, separately tracked market: about $34,813 per listing across 97 active rentals over the same period. Two towns, two regulatory files, two different revenue pictures , keep them on separate lines when you budget or compare markets.

Booking patterns follow a predictable seasonal curve. August is Pacific City's busiest month, with June and July close behind; February is the slowest, and January posts the weakest occupancy of the year. Most guests arrive from Portland, followed by Bend, and the typical stay runs 3.4 nights, booked about 60 days out. None of that changes which office issues your permit, but it's useful context when you're deciding how aggressively to market shoulder months versus peak summer weekends.

Start With Tillamook County, Not a City Hall

Pacific City has no incorporated city government of its own, so short-term rental oversight runs through Tillamook County Community Development at 1510-B Third Street, Tillamook, OR 97141, reachable at 503-842-3408. A county short-term rental operator license applies to properties in the unincorporated area, which includes most of Pacific City and the land around Cape Kiwanda. As of this writing, the county's primary public page does not list a single confirmed dollar figure for the 2026 license fee, so do not assume last year's number, or a figure quoted on a listing site, still applies. Call and ask for the current amount before you budget for it.

Cape Kiwanda, the sandstone headland that draws most of Pacific City's visitor traffic, does not have its own permitting authority , it falls under the same county jurisdiction as the rest of the area. If a property manager or a neighbor offers a shortcut around the county process, that advice carries no weight with the office that actually issues the license.

Office Hours and What Actually Counts as Confirmation

County office hours shift throughout the year, so do not promise a walk-in visit to a client or a lender without checking the current schedule first. A phone confirmation from a staff member, noted with the date and the name of who you spoke with, is worth far more than an assumption carried over from a previous host's experience or an old blog post. Call 503-842-3408 and ask directly whether your parcel needs a new license, a renewal, or nothing at all.

If you're weighing whether Pacific City is worth the paperwork against nearby markets, the annual figures are a reasonable starting point: about $40,828 in typical revenue across 286 listings for the twelve months ending July 2026. That is the number to cite for Pacific City specifically, not a blended figure that folds in Oceanside or another nearby town.

Oceanside Runs a Separate Permit Track

Oceanside is a distinct town with its own licensing desk, its own fee schedule, and its own staff , none of which has authority over a Pacific City parcel, and vice versa. Its short-term rental market is also smaller: typical listings there earned about $34,813 last year from 97 active rentals, well under half of Pacific City's 286. Do not call the Pacific City/county office about an Oceanside address, and do not call Oceanside's office about a Pacific City one; each desk can only speak to properties inside its own boundary.

If you manage or are evaluating properties in both towns, keep separate files for each: separate permit numbers, separate renewal dates, and separate revenue figures. Treating them as one market on a spreadsheet is how hosts miss a renewal deadline or misquote occupancy to a lender.

Confirm Which Jurisdiction Covers Your Address

Before you call anyone, pull the parcel's tax map and confirm which jurisdiction it actually sits in. Pacific City's boundary and Oceanside's boundary are not always obvious from a street address alone, especially for properties near the edge of either area. Tillamook County's assessment office can confirm the tax lot number tied to your address, which is the detail the permitting desk will ask for first.

Write down the correct number for your parcel's jurisdiction before you need it, 503-842-3408 for the Pacific City/Tillamook County side, so you are not tempted to dial whichever number is easiest to find when a guest or a platform asks about your license status.

Aggregator Listings Are Not a Permit Record

Sites like AirROI aggregate publicly visible listings to estimate market performance; they do not verify permits, and a listing showing up in that data is not evidence that the property is legally operating. AirROI's description of an area as low-regulation reflects how few restrictions surface in scraped listing data, not an official read on the county's actual rules. Treat that kind of data as useful for revenue benchmarking and useless for compliance questions.

The county has not published a single confirmed short-term rental permit fee figure for Pacific City on its primary page as of this pass, and that gap is worth raising directly with the office rather than filling in with a guess from a forum post or a property manager's memory.

Oregon's Lodging Tax Runs Separate From Local Zoning

Oregon collects a statewide transient lodging tax on short-term rental stays, layered on top of whatever Tillamook County collects locally, and that obligation applies regardless of whether your zoning and permit paperwork is fully sorted. Paying the tax does not substitute for holding a valid county operator license, and having a license does not exempt you from collecting and remitting the tax. They are two separate compliance tracks handled by two different offices, and getting one right does not clear you on the other.

This is also where the revenue numbers matter for planning: at $141 revenue per available night and 35.4 percent occupancy, Pacific City hosts are working with real but modest margins once the county license, state and local lodging taxes, and standard operating costs are factored in. Budget for both tax lines before you set your nightly rate.

Verify Your Parcel's Jurisdiction Before You List

With 286 active listings already competing in the Pacific City market, skipping the jurisdiction check is not a shortcut , it's a liability you carry quietly until a neighbor complaint or a platform audit forces the issue. About 54.5 percent of Pacific City listings are professionally managed, and even professional managers get this wrong when a client owns property near a town line.

Confirming jurisdiction takes one phone call: 503-842-3408, with your address and tax lot number ready. Do it before you publish a listing, not after a guest asks why your permit number does not match what the county has on file.

What to Bring When You Call or Visit

Have four things ready before you call or walk in: the property address, the tax map/lot number, the platform URL for your listing (Airbnb, VRBO, or your direct site), and a short written list of questions. Ask specifically whether a dedicated short-term rental permit fee applies to your parcel in 2026, whether you need a new license or a renewal, and what documentation the office wants on file.

Typical guest stays in Pacific City run about 3.4 nights and are booked roughly 60 days in advance, which gives you a reasonable runway to sort out licensing before your booking calendar fills in. Don't wait until a guest is confirmed to make the call , confirm the paperwork first, then open your calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which office handles short-term rental permits for Pacific City?

Tillamook County Community Development, located at 1510-B Third Street, Tillamook, OR 97141, and reachable at 503-842-3408. Pacific City is unincorporated, so the county, not a city hall, issues the short-term rental operator license.

Does Pacific City have a confirmed 2026 permit fee?

Not as a single published number. The county's primary page does not list one confirmed dollar figure for 2026, so call 503-842-3408 and ask for the current fee before you budget for it, rather than relying on an old figure or a guess.

How does Oceanside's rental market compare to Pacific City's?

Oceanside is smaller and separately regulated: typical listings there earned about $34,813 last year from 97 active rentals, compared to roughly $40,828 across 286 active rentals in Pacific City over the same period. Different towns, different offices, different numbers.

Should I call the Oceanside office about a Pacific City property?

No. Each town's desk only has authority over parcels inside its own boundary. Confirm your parcel's jurisdiction first, then call the matching office, 503-842-3408 for Pacific City and unincorporated Tillamook County.

Does showing up on a site like AirROI mean my rental is permitted?

No. AirROI and similar sites aggregate publicly visible listings to estimate market performance; they do not verify permits or compliance. A listing appearing in that data says nothing about whether the property holds a valid county license.

Do I still owe Oregon's state lodging tax in unincorporated Tillamook County?

Yes. Oregon's statewide transient lodging tax applies on top of any county-level tax, regardless of whether your zoning and permit paperwork is complete. Holding a license does not exempt you from the tax, and paying the tax does not substitute for the license.

How do I confirm my parcel is actually inside Pacific City and not Oceanside?

Pull your tax map and lot number from the county assessor's records, then call 503-842-3408 with that number in hand. Street addresses alone can be misleading near town boundaries, so the tax lot is the detail the permitting office will actually check.

What should I bring when I call or visit the permit office?

Four things: the property address, the tax map/lot number, your listing's platform URL, and a written list of questions, including whether a dedicated permit fee applies in 2026 and whether you need a new license or a renewal.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Pacific City hosts who market a call to "the city" are naming an office that doesn't exist; oversight runs through Tillamook County, and that gap shows up fastest in listing copy guests can't verify.

We help hosts fix listing language that points guests and platforms to the wrong permitting authority before it becomes a compliance headache. Send your live listing and we'll flag any Cape Kiwanda or county mix-ups.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.