Hillsboro Short Term Rental Regulation: A Guide For Airbnb Hosts

Do you own a place in Hillsboro, Oregon and you're weighing whether to put it on Airbnb or Vrbo? Well, the good news is that you can. This Washington County suburb, just west of Portland, allows short-term rentals under a Community Development Code that was rewritten in early 2024, and the current rules are a lot more workable than what came before them.

That matters because the old system barely worked at all. Before 2024, a short-term rental needed the same Conditional Use permit as a full bed and breakfast, a $2,500 fee, a public hearing, and roughly three months of waiting, and only about five hosts out of an estimated 170 listings ever went through it. Everyone else operated illegally, more or less in plain sight. The city noticed, and rather than banning the practice, it split short-term rentals into two much cheaper, faster tracks.

So this guide covers what applies now: the two permit types and what they cost, the business license every host needs on top of that, the three stacked layers of lodging tax, how seriously Hillsboro polices any of it, and exactly who to call when you get stuck. Every figure below comes from the City of Hillsboro's or Washington County's own pages, checked in July 2026. If you're comparing a Hillsboro property against the wider Portland market before you commit, run the numbers through BNBCalc first.

What are Short Term Rental (Airbnb, VRBO) Regulations in Hillsboro, Oregon?

Hillsboro's rules live in Community Development Code Section 12.40.230, the Short-Term Rental Special Use Standards, which the city adopted through Ordinance 6467 in late February 2024. It defines an STR as a home, or a portion of one, rented for fewer than 31 consecutive days, and it splits every listing into one of two categories.

A Partial-Dwelling STR is the kind where you stay put. You remain on the property while renting out one or more rooms, or a separate dwelling on the same lot, such as a duplex unit or an ADU. A Full-Dwelling STR is the opposite: the owner isn't on site during the rental period at all. That single distinction, present or absent, decides which permit you need, what it costs, and how long approval takes, so it's worth pinning down before you plan anything else.

The code also draws a hard line around what's eligible in the first place. Tents, trailers, RVs, yurts, shipping containers, tipis and tree houses don't count as short-term rentals, and neither do garages, storage areas or closets converted to sleeping space without a permit. Commercial, retail and industrial space is out too, along with Group Housing properties. If your place doesn't fit the city's own definition of a housing type, no application fixes that.

Starting a Short Term Rental Business in Hillsboro

Since the category you fall into decides almost everything downstream, that's the first decision to make. A Partial-Dwelling STR has to be your primary residence, and Hillsboro will only let you run one at a time. Full-Dwelling STRs work differently. If you own more than one property in the city, you're allowed to run up to two of them as Full-Dwelling STRs, even though you don't live in either.

Either way, only one rental can operate per property at a time. Subdividing a single house into two simultaneous listings isn't on the table.

Whichever path you pick, plan for a real business, not an events venue. Hillsboro's code explicitly bars STRs from hosting weddings, reunions, corporate retreats or any other ceremonial or commercial gathering, so don't build a revenue model around that side income. Hiring people is fine, mind you: the city's own FAQ confirms you're allowed to employ housekeeping or yard-maintenance staff for the unit.

Worth sitting with for a second: as of the city's most recent public estimate, roughly 400 short-term rentals were operating in Hillsboro at any given time, and only three or four held a permit. That was the whole reason the ordinance got rewritten. The new fees are low enough, and the room-share track is fast enough, that there's no longer a good excuse for staying unregistered.

Once you've confirmed your property type is eligible and picked Partial or Full, there's still the permit itself to get through. That's where the two tracks really start to diverge.

Short Term Rental Licensing Requirement in Hillsboro

Getting the category right pays off immediately here, because the two tracks lead to very different applications. A Partial-Dwelling STR Permit costs $60 and can typically be issued over the counter or within a few days, no public hearing involved.

A Full-Dwelling STR needs a Development Review Permit, filed through the city's Universal Application. It's a slower, pricier process: a $315 fee, roughly six weeks to complete, and a mailed notice sent to nearby property owners so they can weigh in before approval. The Planning Division's decision can be appealed to the Planning Commission by anyone who took part in that comment period, so make sure you treat a Full-Dwelling application as a real review, not a rubber stamp.

Neither permit is the whole story, though. Every STR, partial or full, also needs a Business License from the city's Finance Department, and that's a separate application with its own fee schedule. A new general Business License runs $105: an $80 application fee plus a $25 base fee.

Operating as a rental or property-management business costs the same $105 base, but it covers your first three units, and each additional unit adds $5 up to a $725 cap. Renewal is $25 a year, with a 30-day grace period after the notice goes out. The city doesn't accept renewal payments online, though, so budget a little extra lead time for mail or an in-person visit.

Required Documents for Hillsboro Short Term Rentals

That business license runs on top of the STR permit fee, not instead of it, so it's worth having every document ready before you file either application. Both the Partial-Dwelling and Full-Dwelling tracks ask for the same core paperwork:

• Proof of ownership, which Hillsboro establishes through your property tax records.
• A scaled site plan showing the dwelling and any accessory structures on the lot.
• A floor plan of the dwelling, marking the areas available for rental.
• A narrative explaining how your use meets the Special Use Standards in CDC Section 12.40.230.
• The permit fee itself, $60 for Partial-Dwelling or $315 for Full-Dwelling.

Full-Dwelling applicants file that same document set through the Universal Application rather than a simple counter form, since the Development Review process needs a complete record before it goes out for neighbor notice. Do check that your floor plan and narrative match what you're advertising online, and keep a copy of everything you submit. A mismatch between what you told the city and what a guest sees on the listing is exactly the kind of detail Code Compliance follows up on later.

Hillsboro Short Term Rental Taxes

Assuming you clear the permit and the business license, there's still tax to deal with, and Hillsboro stacks it three layers deep. Every guest pays the state's rate, the county's rate, and the city's own rate on top, and because two different governments run the county and city pieces, it's worth taking them one at a time rather than guessing at a single combined number.

Layer	Rate	Collected by
Oregon state transient lodging tax	1.5% (rising to 2.75% on Jan 1, 2027)	Oregon Department of Revenue
Washington County transient lodging tax	9.0%	Washington County Finance Division
City of Hillsboro transient lodging tax	3.0%	City of Hillsboro
Combined, as of July 2026	13.5%	all three

The state's 1.5% rate has been locked in since ORS 320.305 took its current form, but that changes soon: enrolled House Bill 4134 raises it to 2.75% for stays on or after January 1, 2027, with the extra revenue earmarked for wildlife conservation. That pushes the combined Hillsboro rate to roughly 14.75% once the new year turns over, so don't quote 13.5% to a guest booking into 2027.

Washington County's 9% rate has held since July 1, 2006, and the county returns 5% of what it collects back to the operator as a service fee for handling the paperwork. Hillsboro's own city-level add-on is 3%, in place since August 17, 2017, which the county's own tax page confirms directly. Keep in mind that both the STR operator and the platform processing the booking are jointly liable for getting this money remitted, so don't assume it's someone else's job by default.

Here's the part that actually simplifies your life: Airbnb's own Oregon tax page names Washington County and Hillsboro specifically among the places it collects and remits automatically, covering all three layers on any booking that runs through Airbnb. I couldn't confirm the same for Vrbo or Booking.com on an official page. So if you list on either of those, do check whether they collect on your behalf before you assume the tax is handled.

For the state layer's registration mechanics and the broader statewide framework, our Oregon short-term rental guide covers the Department of Revenue side in more depth.

Hillsboro wide Short Term Rental Rules

Beyond the tax stack, a handful of rules apply everywhere in the city rather than to one permit type or the other, and getting them wrong is what actually triggers a complaint. No STR, partial or full, can host weddings, parties, reunions or corporate retreats. Only one STR can operate on a given property at a time. A Partial-Dwelling host is capped at one STR, always their primary residence, while a Full-Dwelling operator with multiple Hillsboro properties can run up to two.

Property type still matters as much here as it did at the eligibility stage. Certain spaces are permanently off the table under the code:

• Tents, trailers, RVs and yurts
• Shipping-container sleeping quarters, tipis and tree houses
• Garages, storage areas or closets converted to living space without a permit
• Commercial, retail or industrial buildings
• Group Housing properties

I looked for specific numeric standards on parking spaces, maximum occupancy, and insurance in the published code, and honestly, the city's own summary page doesn't spell those out. I'd rather say that plainly than guess at a number. Watch out for that gap and confirm anything beyond what's listed here directly with the Community Development Department before you finalize a listing.

Does Hillsboro strictly enforce STR rules? Is Hillsboro Airbnb friendly?

Given how loose the property-type rules leave things at first glance, it's fair to ask how hard the city actually checks. The honest answer: not proactively. At least not yet. When Hillsboro rolled out the new ordinance, Planning Division staff said outright that they were not recommending proactive compliance measures against existing STRs, and that it's the city's policy, like many cities, to react to complaints from the public rather than go hunting for violations.

That complaint-driven model is confirmed on the Code Compliance page too: a concern needs a named complainant to fully validate a violation, and it's the Hillsboro Police Department, not a dedicated STR inspector, that handles those reports at 503-629-0111. So in practice, a quiet, well-run listing that doesn't generate neighbor friction is unlikely to draw scrutiny on its own, though a noisy one absolutely will.

None of that makes Hillsboro a free-for-all. I'd stop short of calling it Airbnb-friendly in the way a tourist town is, too. It's Airbnb-tolerant, with a genuinely low-cost legal path if you want it.

Given that roughly 150 to 195 of the estimated ~400 active listings were still operating without a permit even after the 2024 reform took effect, plenty of hosts are clearly betting on that complaint-driven gap holding. That's a real gamble, though, not a loophole. Once a neighbor calls, you're dealing with the city on its terms, not yours.

How to Start a Short Term Rental Business in Hillsboro

Given how much of this comes down to sequencing, working through the steps in order saves you from paying a fee twice. Here's the order that actually holds up:

1. Confirm your property is eligible. Rule out RVs, converted garages, commercial space and anything else the code excludes before you spend a dollar on paperwork.
2. Decide Partial or Full-Dwelling. Will you stay on site, or not? That single answer sets your fee, your timeline, and your household cap.
3. Pull your ownership documents. Hillsboro verifies ownership through tax records, so have those on hand from the start.
4. Draw the site plan and floor plan, and write the narrative explaining how your setup meets CDC Section 12.40.230.
5. File the STR permit, $60 for Partial-Dwelling or $315 for Full-Dwelling, and budget a few days for the first, roughly six weeks for the second.
6. Apply for your Business License through the Finance Department, separately from the STR permit itself.
7. Register for lodging tax collection, or confirm your booking platform already handles it. Airbnb does this automatically for all three Hillsboro layers; don't assume the same for every platform.
8. Set house rules that match the code: no events, one listing per property, and keep your advertised details lined up with what you told the city.

Who to contact in Hillsboro about Short Term Rental Regulations and Zoning?

Whichever step trips you up, one of four offices almost certainly owns the answer.

Short-term rental permits and zoning questions

The Development & Permitting Team, part of Community Development, handles STR permit applications and questions about which category your property falls into.

• Address: Hillsboro Civic Center, 150 E Main Street, 4th Floor, Hillsboro, OR 97123
• Phone: 503-681-6153
• Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, walk-ins welcome
• Online: Email the Development & Permitting Team

Business licenses

The Finance Department's Business License Team issues and renews the license every STR needs alongside its permit.

• Mailing address: City of Hillsboro, Attn: Business Licenses, 150 E Main St, Hillsboro, OR 97123
• Phone: 503-681-6408
• General Finance line: 503-681-6410
• Office: Civic Center, 5th Floor, Hillsboro, OR 97123-4028, Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm

Complaints and code enforcement

The Hillsboro Police Department's Code Compliance Division investigates reported violations, including unpermitted or noisy short-term rentals. A named complainant is required to open a case.

• Phone: 503-629-0111 (non-emergency dispatch)

County and state lodging tax

Washington County's Transient Lodging Tax office handles the 9% county layer and the forms for remitting it.

• Address: 155 N 1st Ave, Suite 270, Hillsboro, OR 97124-3072
• Phone: (503) 846-4448
• Fax: (503) 846-4464
• Contact: Jennifer Bowlin

The state's 1.5% layer runs through the Oregon Department of Revenue, which you register for on Revenue Online before your first filing; our Oregon guide walks through that process in full.

What do Airbnb hosts in Hillsboro on Reddit and Bigger Pockets think about local regulations?

Given how recent the 2024 ordinance is, it's worth asking whether investors have caught up to it yet. Going through BiggerPockets, the honest finding is that dedicated Hillsboro discussion is thin. The one real thread I found dates to 2017, years before the current rules existed, where a local investor asked about Airbnb-ing a three-bedroom flip and got a single general reply about seasonality from an out-of-state host, nothing Hillsboro-specific.

I wouldn't read much into that beyond the obvious. Hillsboro isn't a heavily discussed short-term rental market the way Bend or Portland proper are, at least not yet.

What the public record does show, rather than forum chatter, is a market that quietly outgrew its own rules and then got them fixed. An estimated 400 active listings against three or four permits is about as clear a signal as a city can send that its process is broken. Hillsboro's response, cheaper fees and a faster room-share track instead of a crackdown, reads as pragmatic.

If you're weighing Hillsboro against other Portland-area suburbs, it's worth checking the Beaverton and Gresham guides too, since both sit inside the same Washington County or Multnomah County tax framework with their own local twists. And before you commit capital anywhere in the metro, BNBCalc's Portland market data is the fastest way to see how Hillsboro's numbers stack up against the rest.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you legally run an Airbnb in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2026?

Yes. Hillsboro allows short-term rentals under an ordinance adopted in early 2024, split into Partial-Dwelling STRs (you live on site, $60 permit, approved in a few days) and Full-Dwelling STRs (you don't, $315 permit, about six weeks). Every host also needs a city Business License and owes roughly 13.5% in combined state, county and city lodging tax, rising to about 14.75% in January 2027.

How much does a short-term rental permit cost in Hillsboro?

A Partial-Dwelling STR permit, for hosts who remain on the property, costs $60 and is typically issued over the counter within a few days. A Full-Dwelling STR permit, for an entire home with no owner present, costs $315 and takes roughly six weeks, since it requires a Development Review process with mailed notice to nearby property owners. Both also require a separate city Business License.

How many short-term rentals can one person operate in Hillsboro?

It depends on the type. A Partial-Dwelling STR is capped at one per person, and it has to be your primary residence. If you own multiple properties in Hillsboro, you can operate up to two of them as Full-Dwelling STRs, where you're not present during the stay. Either way, only one rental is allowed per property at a time.

What taxes do Hillsboro short-term rental hosts pay?

Three layers stack on every booking: Oregon's state transient lodging tax at 1.5% (rising to 2.75% on January 1, 2027), Washington County's tax at 9%, and Hillsboro's own city tax at 3%, for a combined 13.5% today. Airbnb's own tax page confirms it collects and remits all three automatically for Hillsboro listings; other platforms should be checked individually.

Does Hillsboro strictly enforce its short-term rental rules?

Not proactively. City Planning Division staff have said they react to complaints from the public rather than search out violations, and Code Compliance requires a named complainant before it opens a case. That said, an estimated 150 to 195 of Hillsboro's roughly 400 active listings were still unpermitted even after the 2024 reform, so plenty of hosts are operating on borrowed time rather than a real loophole.

Last verified: July 2026. Every ordinance, tax rate, state law, and contact detail in this guide links to or comes from its official source.