Start a Napa or Sonoma STR: Two City Doors Are Closed

Starting a legal overnight in Napa or Sonoma is a hall question first. City of Napa Hall sits at 955 School Street, P.O. Box 660, Napa, CA 94559, and 707-257-9500, and the 101-cap file is closed, and waitlists exist. New permit and waitlist applications are not being accepted until permits are available and the waitlist is exhausted. City of Sonoma Hall sits at 1 The Plaza, Sonoma, CA 95476. Main 707-938-3681, and clerk, and new vacation rentals were banned December 4, 2017.

What you can file on day one is the published year and the locked hall path, not a turnkey furnish number. Napa AirROI, vintage August 2025 through July 2026, prints $41,517 on 605 listings, ADR $447, occupancy 33.2 percent, RevPAR $153. Sonoma prints $110,370 on 239 listings, ADR $827, occupancy 40.9 percent, RevPAR $357. Keep those years apart, and peak-3 differs. January is the hole on both, and n=605 is not 101 legal City permits. The Sonoma cell is not open City of Sonoma supply.

Permit Sonoma is. Unincorporated Napa County is Code Compliance, not the 101 window. The Napa County Clerk-Recorder is records, and do not start there. Four phones, and four jobs. Identification kills more files than paint, and the cap is not occupancy. Leave out unverified a furnish number. A San Francisco blend on the tile does not change which clerk owns the driveway.

Hall Path Starts at the Desk the Map Names

The first cost is time on the correct phone. City of Napa is at 955 School Street. City of Sonoma is at 1 The Plaza, clerk. Permit Sonoma is. Unincorporated Napa County is Code Compliance, not the 101 window. The Napa County Clerk-Recorder is records, and do not start there. Four phones, and four jobs, and the one the driveway actually has.

A listing that starts with a sofa and ends with the hall is already backwards. Confirm the parcel before you confirm the stay. If the tax map says City of Napa, call School Street. If it is City of Sonoma, call the Plaza. If it is unincorporated Sonoma County, call Permit Sonoma. If it is unincorporated Napa County, do not call School Street.Parcel identificationis the registration checklist, and start there, and airROI is a scrape. The live stack is four rulebooks and two closed city doors. Hall first, and shopping later.

Ask whether the parcel sits in city or county, whether the zoning even allows the use, and what 2026 still requires. Bring the address, and bring the tax listings. Bring the platform URL you intend to run. Do not ask this page to invent a furnish number. Do not ask School Street to speak for a county driveway. A San Francisco blend on the tile does not change which clerk owns the driveway. Keep the answer the desk actually gives. Occupancy is still 33.2 percent or 40.9 percent after you hang up. Typical years are still $41,517 and $110,370, and january is still the hole.

City of Napa Is Closed Until the Waitlist Moves

City of Napa vacation rental means lodging fewer than 31 days under section 17.52.515. The cap is 101 total: 41 non-hosted and 60 hosted. Non-hosted permits may transfer, and hosted permits do not. Hosted means the owner on-site and no more than two bedrooms. All 101 are issued, and waitlists exist, and new permit applications are not being accepted. New waitlist applications are not being accepted until permits are available and the waitlist is exhausted. Submittal periods are advertised on the city page. Rank leftover that says no waitlist exists is wrong. The waitlist exists, and applications are closed.

n=605 is the AirROI cell. It is not 101 legal city stays. A startup plan that treats 605 listings as open city supply is already wrong.Permit transferis the 41-versus-60 split if you are buying an existing file, not a blanket yes. Ask School Street which of the 101 you are even discussing. Hall is 955 School Main Street, Rank leftover tiered fines of $1,500 to $5,000 are not on the city vacation-rental page body this pass. Flag unknown, and Leave out unverified a fine schedule.

A closed cap is not a furnish problem, and it is a door problem. Typical Napa year is still $41,517, and occupancy is still 33.2 percent. Peak-3 is still October, May, and September, and january is still the hole. Those extract facts do not open the window. If the map is City of Napa and you do not already hold one of the 101, stop shopping sofas. Confirm remaining movement live, and Keep the desk as closed. Keep the waitlist as real, and Keep applications as not accepted. Do not advertise a stay the 101 file will not take.

City of Sonoma Is Closed to New Vacation Rentals

City of Sonoma Council prohibited new vacation rentals on December 4, 2017, effective about 30 days later. Vacation rentals are no longer conditionally permitted in Mixed Use and Commercial. They were already prohibited in Residential. Exception: adaptive re-use of a historic structure. Existing licensed vacation rentals may continue with updated standards: occupancy two per bedroom plus two, no outdoor amplified sound, a property manager, and license and TOT numbers on ads. New ones do not walk in the Plaza door. A startup budget for a new City of Sonoma stay is already wrong unless the historic exception actually applies.

n=239 is the Sonoma AirROI cell. It is not open city supply. Fifty point six percent of that sample already set 30-plus. That share is a listing fact and a likely blend.Buying a rentalstill has to name which desk. Do not Keep the 2022 county moratorium as current. That moratorium expired May 9, 2023, and the live city file is the 2017 ban. The live county file is Ordinance 6427, and they are not one door.

Typical Sonoma-cell year is $110,370, and occupancy is 40.9 percent. ADR is $827, and peak-3 is August, October, and May. January is the hole, and those figures describe 239 listings. They do not reopen the Plaza. Confirm the license is live before you buy an existing story. Hall is 1 The Plaza,, clerk. Hours Monday through Thursday, 8 to 5, Fridays by appointment. If you are starting a new stay inside city limits, ask this clerk whether you are even allowed. Most of the time the answer is no, and Keep that no. Then hang up before you shop a sofa.

Permit Sonoma Is the Unincorporated County Desk

Unincorporated Sonoma County is Permit Sonoma. Ordinance 6427, adopted May 16, 2023, is the vacation-rental business license. Ordinance 6423, adopted April 24, 2023, added a cap and exclusion zones on specific parcels in the first, fourth, and fifth supervisorial districts. Ordinance 6386, adopted August 22, 2022, relocated older vacation-rental rules. The June 14, 2022 new-vacation-rental moratorium expired May 9, 2023. Do not Keep that moratorium as current, and the live file is 6427 and 6423. Hours sit on the Permit Sonoma page and should be confirmed live.

A county license is not a City of Sonoma license. A county license is not a Napa 101 permit. Rank leftover that natural persons only may hold a license is widely reported against 6427. It is not in the summary paragraph this pass. Confirm in the ordinance text before you Keep it as fact. Do not flatten Permit Sonoma onto the Plaza. Do not flatten it onto School Street. Healdsburg, Glen Ellen, Kenwood, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Petaluma, and Windsor are Keep desks. They are not this cell.

If the parcel is unincorporated Sonoma County, call before you advertise. Ask whether the parcel sits in an exclusion zone. Ask whether a license is even available, and bring the tax map. Typical Sonoma-cell year stays $110,370, and typical Napa-cell year stays $41,517. Those years do not bless a county driveway, and unincorporated Napa County is a different flagged file. Secondary reporting says short-term stays under 30 days are prohibited there. Confirm at County Code Compliance, and tax is not permission. Do not send that host to School Street. Do not send that host to Permit Sonoma either. the desk that matches the map.

Leave out unverified a Furnish Number

Turnkey blogs love a single furnish figure, and this pair does not get one. A Napa one-bedroom, a Sonoma eight-plus house, a city-permitted stay, and a county 30-plus listings do not share a shopping cart. This page will not mint a sofa total so a packet looks finished. Photograph what you have, and price what you actually buy. Leave the invented number off the page, and do not file a blog kit as diligence. Do not file a neighbor’s cart as this cell’s budget. Do not file visitor spend of $771 as a furniture allowance.

What you can Keep without inventing is the year you might earn after the hall knows your name. Napa $41,517, ADR $447, occupancy 33.2 percent,, and sonoma $110,370, ADR $827, occupancy 40.9 percent,. One-bedroom dominant on Napa, and three-bedroom dominant on Sonoma. Capacity four on Napa, eight-plus on Sonoma, and those are not furnish budgets. They are the reason a costume shopping list does not belong here. Stay is 5.4 nights and 4.7 nights, and lead is 70 days and 69 days.

If a vendor quotes you a turnkey package, treat it as that vendor’s quote, not as a Napa or Sonoma fact.The market reportwill not back a sofa total this file did not spend.Tourism datawill not let 3.8 million visitors become a furniture allowance. Buy the bed you can photograph, and occupancy is 33.2 percent and 40.9 percent. January is the hole, and price the receipt. Leave the invented number off the packet.

Identification Kills More Files Than Paint

Pull the tax map before you pull a paint chip. City of Napa, unincorporated Napa County, City of Sonoma, and unincorporated Sonoma County are four files. They are not one license. A lot that cannot take the use has an infinite startup cost. Paint will not fix that, and a gallery will not fix that. includes listings that are not 101 permits, and includes listings that are not open city supply.Remote staysalready said 263 and 121 listings set 30-plus as a likely compliance blend. That blend is why identification comes first.

Zoning and the city line can stop the file before a sofa is ordered. City of Napa hosted permits are two bedrooms or fewer with the owner on-site. A three-bedroom city plan on a hosted file is already wrong. City of Sonoma new stays are banned. A residential city lot in Sonoma is already wrong for a new listings. Unincorporated Napa County may prohibit short stays under 30 days. Confirm. Permit Sonoma exclusion zones can stop a county listings. Do not flatten those tests, and bring the parcel number. Bring a survey if you have one.

If the district cannot take the use, stop shopping. Do not ask a tasting room to settle a city-limit question. Do not ask a San Francisco title desk to settle a Napa or Sonoma line. Peak-3 still differs, and january is still the hole. The clerk does change, and confirm the line. Then spend. A wrong clerk is a wasted week before night one. Typical years stay $41,517 and $110,370, and identification first. Paint later.How to marketcan wait until the hall has a name on the file.

The Cap Is Not Occupancy

A City of Napa permit lets the listings exist inside the 101 file. Occupancy on the Napa cell is 33.2 percent, and typical year is $41,517. January remains the hole, and peak-3 remains October, May, and September. Stay remains 5.4 nights, and two hundred sixty-three listings already set 30-plus. A new license, if one ever opens, joins that sample. It does not rewrite it. Do not tell a lender the certificate is a rent roll. The cap is 101, and the cell is 605. Those are different counts.

A City of Sonoma existing license lets that listings continue. Occupancy on the Sonoma cell is 40.9 percent, and typical year is $110,370. January remains the hole, and peak-3 remains August, October, and May. Stay remains 4.7 nights, and one hundred twenty-one listings already set 30-plus. The 2017 ban is not occupancy either, and scarcity is diligence. Scarcity is not T12.Financingshould carry the named cell, not a cap story in place of rent.

If a packet treats 101 or the Plaza ban as a reason to raise the year, send the packet back. Cite $41,517 on Napa, and cite $110,370 on Sonoma. Michelle leads Napa, and wright Lux Stays leads Sonoma. Do not mint Vacasa as this Napa published market year, and a certificate does not fill January. Occupancy is the percent the named cell published, and do not replace the year with the cap. Do not advertise a stay the cap will not take. Do not underwrite a stay the ban will not take. Scarcity is diligence, and scarcity is not T12. Stay is 5.4 nights on Napa and 4.7 on Sonoma.

What You Spend Before Night One

You spend the hall path, live fees the desk names, inspection if the ordinance requires it, a policy if the ordinance requires it, time, a house that passes, and a gallery that can stand next to the Napa River or Sonoma Plaza. You do not spend an invented furnish package. You only join either sample if the hall says the driveway can. City of Napa is closed until the waitlist moves. City of Sonoma is closed to new vacation rentals. Permit Sonoma is a license, not a sofa, and unincorporated Napa County may be a no. Confirm.

Carry both extracts, Napa $41,517,, ADR $447, occupancy 33.2 percent, peak-3 October, May, and September, January hole. Sonoma $110,370,, ADR $827, occupancy 40.9 percent, peak-3 August, October, and May, January hole. Carry 263 and 121 as 30-plus settings, not as occupancy. Carry Michelle on Napa and Wright Lux Stays on Sonoma. Carry four desks.DIY versus hirecan wait until the tile can name the town. Marketing is later. The lock stays with the host who confirmed the hall.

If a packet still starts with a sofa, send the parcel. Confirm City of Napa at 955 School Street,, and confirm City of Sonoma at 1 The Plaza,. Confirm Permit Sonoma at, and price the hall path. Confirm which desk is even open, and then photograph the river or the Plaza. Then decide whether a night one even exists, and a Napa cell can earn $41,517. A Sonoma cell can earn $110,370, and neither can earn a blend year. Hall first, and shopping later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I even start if I'm considering a Napa or Sonoma short-term rental?

Call the desk that matches your parcel's actual jurisdiction — there are four distinct possibilities (City of Napa, unincorporated Napa County, City of Sonoma, or unincorporated Sonoma County), and each has its own rules and its own office. Confirm the parcel and its zoning before spending on furnishings, inspections, or marketing. Identification comes before anything else in this market.

Is the City of Napa currently accepting new vacation rental permits?

No. The City of Napa caps vacation rentals at 101 total (41 non-hosted, 60 hosted), all of which are currently issued, and new permit and waitlist applications are not being accepted until existing permits open up and the waitlist clears. City Hall is at 955 School Street, P.O. Box 660, Napa, CA 94559, phone 707-257-9500, if you want to confirm current status directly.

Is the City of Sonoma accepting new vacation rentals?

No. The Sonoma City Council prohibited new vacation rentals on December 4, 2017, effective about 30 days later, and that ban remains the current city rule. An existing, already-licensed vacation rental may continue operating under updated standards (occupancy limits, no outdoor amplified sound, a property manager, license and TOT numbers on ads), but a new listing inside city limits generally cannot be permitted, aside from a narrow adaptive-reuse-of-historic-structure exception. City Hall is at 1 The Plaza, Sonoma, CA 95476, main line 707-938-3681.

What's the process for a property in unincorporated Sonoma County?

Unincorporated Sonoma County vacation rentals go through Permit Sonoma, not the City of Sonoma's Plaza office. The current governing rule is Ordinance 6427 (adopted May 16, 2023), with Ordinance 6423 (April 24, 2023) adding a cap and exclusion zones in specific supervisorial districts. A June 2022 moratorium on new vacation rentals in the county expired May 9, 2023, so don't treat that moratorium as still in effect — confirm current availability and any exclusion-zone status directly with Permit Sonoma.

What about a property in unincorporated Napa County?

That's a separate jurisdiction from both the City of Napa and City of Sonoma, handled through Napa County Code Compliance rather than the City of Napa's 101-permit system. Secondary reporting indicates short-term stays under 30 days may be prohibited in unincorporated Napa County, so confirm current rules directly with Code Compliance before assuming any city process applies to a county parcel.

Does a large number of listings on a data platform mean permits are actually available?

No. AirROI's sample counts (roughly 605 listings in the Napa cell and 239 in the Sonoma cell) reflect scraped listing activity, not confirmed legal permit counts — the City of Napa's cap is 101 total permits, a much smaller number than the 605-listing data sample. A high listing count on a third-party platform is not evidence that new permits or licenses are actually obtainable; confirm permit availability directly with the relevant city or county desk.

Should I budget a specific furnishing total before I confirm my permit path?

No — Napa and Sonoma cover very different property types (a Napa one-bedroom versus a Sonoma eight-plus-bedroom house, for instance), so there's no single furnishing figure that applies across both markets, and this guide won't invent one. Confirm your permit path first, then price furnishing to the specific house you're working with, using vendor quotes for that property rather than a borrowed regional average.

What does the market actually look like in each area?

In the Napa cell, the typical year runs about $41,517 across roughly 605 listings, with occupancy around 33.2 percent, ADR near $447, and peak months of October, May, and September (January is the slowest). In the Sonoma cell, the typical year runs about $110,370 across roughly 239 listings, with occupancy around 40.9 percent, ADR near $827, and peak months of August, October, and May (January is also slowest there). Keep these two figures separate — they describe different markets with different permitting realities, not one blended Napa-Sonoma number.

Does a full permit cap or a city ban mean I should expect higher revenue from scarcity?

No — treat scarcity as a diligence factor, not as evidence that revenue will be inflated. The City of Napa's 101-permit cap and the City of Sonoma's 2017 ban on new vacation rentals affect supply and competition, but they don't rewrite the underlying market figures ($41,517 typical year for Napa, $110,370 for Sonoma) or guarantee a new listing would outperform the existing sample.

What do I actually need to confirm before spending on a Napa or Sonoma short-term rental?

Confirm which of the four jurisdictions covers your parcel (City of Napa, unincorporated Napa County, City of Sonoma, or unincorporated Sonoma County), then confirm with that specific desk whether a permit or license is currently available at all. Only after that's settled should you move on to inspections, any required policy or insurance, and furnishing. Don't let marketing or photography plans get ahead of confirming the permit question.

Related Reading

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• Napa and Sonoma STR Report 2026: Two Cells,

• Market a Napa or Sonoma Stay: Overnight Guest, Not Day Trip

• Napa and Sonoma STR Rules: Four Desks, Two Closed Caps

• Napa and Sonoma Shoulder: Two Calendars, January Hole

• Napa and Sonoma Remote Stays: 263 and 121 Already 30-Plus

• DIY vs Hire in Napa and Sonoma: Michelle, Not Vacasa

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Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Napa's 101-permit cap is closed to new applications, and Sonoma has banned new vacation rentals since 2017 with only a narrow exception. A listing that treats either city door as open is selling something that doesn't exist.

We help Napa and Sonoma hosts write listing copy that names the correct closed door, city cap, city ban, or the separate unincorporated-county path. Send your parcel address and we'll confirm which one applies.

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