Every San Diego short-term rental question I get this time of year starts the same way: rent softened over the summer, the unit is sitting, and somebody’s brother-in-law says Airbnb pays triple. Before you furnish anything, you need to know one number — 31 — because it is the line the entire City of San Diego ordinance is built on.
Rent your place for fewer than 31 consecutive nights and you need a city STRO license. Rent it for 31 nights or more and you are outside that ordinance entirely. That single distinction changes your paperwork, your risk, your tax treatment, and in a soft rental market, quite possibly your best move this fall.
Key takeaways
- San Diego’s STRO ordinance covers any rental under 31 consecutive nights. Four license tiers; Tier 3 is the whole-home citywide license and Tier 4 is Mission Beach.
- Tier 3 licenses are capped and running low — roughly 880 remained available as of April 2026. Tier 4 has a closed waitlist.
- On an illustrative San Diego 2-bedroom, short-term nets around $36,000 a year versus about $28,000 long-term — for several times the work and far more volatility.
- Mid-term (31+ nights, furnished) only beats long-term if you keep it near-continuously occupied. At 10.5 months it actually loses.
- With county vacancy at 5.5%, a unit sitting empty is the most expensive option of all three. Fix that before you change strategies.
Who this is for
This one is for San Diego owners with one to four doors — the beach-adjacent condo, the Point Loma duplex, the North Park bungalow — who watched their unit take longer to lease this year than it used to and are wondering whether the whole model needs rethinking.
I understand the impulse completely. There is nothing worse than looking at a listing you priced fairly, sitting on the market at day 25, while somebody on the internet posts a screenshot of their nightly rate. But the screenshot is a gross number. What lands in your account is a very different figure, and the gap between them is where most owners get hurt.
What the San Diego short-term rental rules actually say
The City of San Diego’s Short-Term Residential Occupancy ordinance requires a license for any dwelling rented for fewer than 31 consecutive nights. There are four tiers, and they are not interchangeable:
| Tier | What it covers | Practical reality |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Part-time, up to 20 days per year, primary residence | Fine for occasional rentals. Not a business model. |
| Tier 2 | Home sharing — you live onsite | Room rentals while you are there. |
| Tier 3 | Whole-home, citywide outside Mission Beach | Capped. Roughly 880 licenses remained available as of April 2026. |
| Tier 4 | Whole-home, Mission Beach | Waitlist closed. Effectively unavailable to new entrants. |
Read that Tier 3 line again, because it is the whole ballgame. If you are not already licensed, the conversion you are imagining may not be available to you at all. Check the City of San Diego’s official STRO page before you spend a dollar on furniture. And confirm your HOA’s rules separately — plenty of San Diego associations ban short-term rentals outright regardless of what the city allows.
The 31-night line, and why it matters more than people realize
Cross to 31 nights or more and you are renting a mid-term furnished unit. No STRO license. No transient occupancy tax. No nightly turnovers.
San Diego happens to be an unusually good mid-term market. We have three big hospital systems hiring travel nurses on 13-week contracts, a very large military population cycling through PCS moves, and a steady stream of corporate relocations where somebody needs 90 days while they figure out where to buy. Those tenants pay a real premium over unfurnished, sign for months rather than nights, and generally treat the place like adults.
The gap between night 30 and night 31 is the difference between running a hospitality business and running a rental. Most owners who think they want the first one actually want the second.
The math on all three, side by side
Here is an illustrative San Diego 2-bedroom that would rent unfurnished for about $2,950. County average asking rent is around $2,453 per unit across all sizes, per Kidder Mathews’ Q2 2026 multifamily report, with 2-bedrooms running higher. Every assumption below is labeled so you can swap in your own.
| Strategy | Gross | Costs unique to it | Rough annual net |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-term, unfurnished | $35,400 | 5.5% vacancy, 8% management, $2,400 maintenance | $28,400 |
| Mid-term, furnished, 10.5 months filled | $39,900 | Utilities, furnishing amortization, 10% management | $26,900 |
| Mid-term, furnished, 11.5 months filled | $43,700 | Same | $30,300 |
| Short-term, licensed, 65% occupancy at $295/night | $70,000 | Platform fees, 22% management, utilities, furnishing, heavier wear, licensing | $35,900 |
Three things jump out of that table, and none of them are what owners expect.
One: short-term does win on net — by roughly $7,500, or about 27%. That is real money and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
Two: that $7,500 costs you 100-plus turnovers a year, guest messaging at 11 p.m., a license you may not be able to get, and income that collapses in a soft travel season. Divide the premium by the hours and it is frequently a below-minimum-wage job you gave yourself.
Three: mid-term is not automatically better than long-term. At 10.5 months occupied it loses to a plain unfurnished lease. The furnished premium is real, but so are the utility bills, the furniture you replace, and the gap weeks between contracts. Mid-term wins only when you keep it genuinely full.
When each one is actually the right call
- Stay long-term if you want predictable income, you have a decent tenant, or you do not want a second job. In a 5.5%-vacancy market, the highest-return move is usually keeping the tenant you have — I ran that math in the San Diego lease renewal math for fall 2026.
- Go mid-term if you are near a hospital, a base, or a major employer; if you might want the unit back within a year; or if the property is between a sale and a renovation. It is also the honest answer for owners who want more income without a hospitality operation.
- Go short-term only if you already hold a Tier 3 or Tier 4 license, the property is genuinely in a visitor area, and you have either the time or the budget for professional management at roughly 20–25%.
- Do nothing yet if the unit is currently vacant. An empty unit earns zero under every strategy. Fix the leasing problem first — usually pricing, photos, or speed — then decide.
And whichever direction you go, the screening standard does not relax. A furnished mid-term tenant can do more damage than an unfurnished one, so the process in tenant screening in San Diego applies with more force, not less.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an STRO license for a 32-night rental?
The STRO ordinance applies to rentals of fewer than 31 consecutive nights, so a 32-night stay falls outside it. That said, the lease terms, deposit rules, and habitability requirements of California landlord-tenant law still apply. Confirm your specific situation with the city and with counsel before you rely on it.
Can I still get a Tier 3 license in 2026?
Availability is limited and moving. Roughly 880 Tier 3 licenses remained as of April 2026 and Tier 4’s waitlist is closed. Check current status directly with the City Treasurer’s STRO program rather than assuming, because this is exactly the kind of number that changes without much announcement.
Does furnishing a unit for mid-term tenants actually pay?
Usually a 20–35% rent premium, against real costs: the furniture package, utilities and internet you now cover, and more frequent turnover. It pays when occupancy stays high. It does not pay on a unit that sits two months between contracts.
What about tenant protections on a mid-term rental?
This is the piece owners underestimate. Longer tenancies can bring California’s rent-cap and just-cause provisions into play depending on the property and how long the tenant stays — I covered the framework in how much a San Diego landlord can raise rent in 2026. Get the lease structure right at the front end.
Want the numbers run on your actual unit?
Send me the address and the unit type and I will pull current comparable rents plus a realistic mid-term and short-term estimate for your specific block — not a national average. Free, no obligation, and if the answer is “leave it long-term and stop reading Airbnb screenshots,” that is exactly what I will tell you.
Amara Berg — San Diego real estate and property management with Big Returns. I help owners sell for more and hold smarter, and I would rather talk you out of a strategy change than manage you into one that does not fit.
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This article is general information for San Diego property owners, not legal, tax, or investment advice. STRO tiers, license availability, transient occupancy tax obligations, and state tenant-protection rules change and vary by property, zoning, and HOA — verify your specific situation with the City of San Diego and qualified counsel before converting a rental or applying for a license. All income figures are illustrative and are not projections or guarantees. Amara Berg, CA DRE #01961620. Big Returns, CA DRE #02322119. Equal Housing Opportunity.