Pitkin County short-term rental supply decreases in 2025
Ray K. Erku/The Aspen Times
Short-term rental supply for 2025 decreased in Pitkin County, in large part to a rule limiting who can apply for new licenses each year.
The rule in question is a requirement enacted 2023, when the Pitkin County Commission created a licensing system for STRs. It requires new applicants for licenses to have a demonstrable history of operating an STR out of their property between May 2017 and May 2022.
That rule, which limits the pool of prospective STR operators, has led the number of active STR licenses in the county to decrease from 118 between 2024 and 2025, to 75 today, according to Pitkin County data.
“They didn’t want to penalize people,” said Jeanette Muzio, short-term rental administrator for Pitkin County. “But they also didn’t want corporations coming in and scooping up property without contributing to the community.”
Many of the STRs that have stopped operating in Pitkin County have done so because they transferred ownership.
Muzio, however, doesn’t believe that the rule limiting STR applications to those who have operated them in the past is the only reason STRs are declining in Pitkin County and in other places.
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“Booking companies are adding on the taxes, additional fees like occupancy fees and cleaning fees,” said Muzio. “It’s really hard for the average home to really turn a profit on it. So you see luxury homes that are profitable, which are more like a lodge.”
Those lodges don’t pay a significantly greater fee either, compared to someone renting out a more moderate home.
The current fee structure for STR licenses in Pitkin County is based on 2022 home assessment values. Depending on the number of days that an STR is rented out per year, the license fee will be between .05% and .07% of the 2022 assessed home value.
For example, a home assessed at $1 million that is operating as an STR would be charged $500 annually if rented out less than 20 nights per year and a maximum of $700 if they rented for between 61 and 120 nights per year.
That means an entire home being rented out is charged very similarly to someone renting out just one bedroom of their house.
Pitkin County commissioners considered altering the eligibility rule and considered reassessing fee structures, but decided to conduct an impact study on STRs before opening the spigot. According to Muzio, the impact study could be done by the end of this year.
