Research snapshot · Development · 13 September 2026

Short term rental across the country: 115 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 13 September 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Registration and licensing, unit caps, minimum stays, owner-occupancy limits and enforcement for short-term rentals, together with the moratoria and study committees that precede a rule.Our definition of the class.

Snapshot taken 13 September 2026, based on 195 dated municipal records flagged as short term rental, spanning 115 municipalities across 34 states. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

Source documents 3 of 4 on this page link straight to the town's own record. The rest are available on request. Ask for access.

The story so far

The record starts in Maine, 1 December 2018. Since then 115 municipalities in 34 states have put the topic on a meeting record, at very different speeds: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont hold 63% of the dated events between them.

The last 90 days put 12 meetings on the record, down from 29 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Planning Board, City Council and Town Council.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTownsStates
Sep 2025 to Nov 202520136
Dec 2025 to Feb 2026453018
Mar 2026 to May 202628209
Jun 2026 to Sep 2026 (current)15135

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Dec 2025 to Feb 2026, with 45 meetings.

Where it is moving34 states

The same topic at different speeds in different states. A state's name opens its own page where one exists.
StateTowns on the recordMeetings, 90 daysLatest
Maine345 ▼ -54.5%2026-07-28
New Hampshire1432026-08-04
Vermont802026-05-06
Massachusetts82 ▬ +0.0%2026-08-05
Connecticut602026-02-18
Kentucky lighter read402026-03-23
Colorado lighter read402026-02-11
Pennsylvania lighter read302025-09-17
Arizona lighter read302026-01-23
Illinois lighter read202026-01-27
Kansas lighter read21 new on the record2026-06-22
New York lighter read202026-04-07
Texas lighter read202024-07-18
Utah lighter read202023-10-12
Oregon lighter read202024-01-01

And 19 more states on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

5 August 2026 · Randolph, Massachusetts

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-05

4 August 2026 · Rindge, New Hampshire Planning Board

the minutes, on the town's own site 2026-08-04 Notice of Public Hearing Planning Board meeting August 4,, 2026-1

28 July 2026 · Auburn, Maine City Council

the minutes, on the town's own site City Council — 4 - Minutes Special Council Meeting July 28, 2026

21 July 2026 · Lewiston, Maine City Council Meeting

the minutes, on the town's own site CC-Mins-07-21-26

Companies on this record504 companies, 153 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
AirbnbAndover, Bartlett, Blue Springs and 3 more
VRBOAndover, Blue Springs, Keene and 2 more
GPCOGSaco, Scarborough
Kate L.K. BlystoneMaui County
VerizonBristol, Vienna
Advanced Drainage SystemsClifton, Rindge
AECOMClifton, Rindge
AES CorporationClifton, Rindge
American Water WorksClifton, Rindge
American Water Works (AWK)Montpelier, Rindge
Arcadis (ARCVF)Montpelier, Rindge
AT&TBristol, Rindge
CasellaFalmouth, Scarborough
Central Maine PowerBelfast, Lewiston
ChamberCaribou, Winthrop
Denis D’AuteuilAuburn, Lewiston
Garbage to GardenSanford, Scarborough
HomeawayAndover, League City
MarcBath, Brunswick
NHDESBethlehem, Rindge
SteveBath, Rindge
VLCTMontpelier, St. Albans Town
Ashoryn, LLCRindge
Bangor International Airport (BGR)Bangor
ComcastMontpelier
Crooker ConstructionFreeport
David and Amy BjarnasonWolfeboro
Falmouth Fire-EMSFalmouth
Franklin Pierce UniversityRindge
GRAZ Engineering, LLCRindge

And 474 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 13 September 2026; the topic is not. 39 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 13 September 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Each state's name above opens its own page. The site's story on this topic: The Housing Density Wave Is Rewriting Municipal Zoning in Real Time. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Short term rental, across the country

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Across the country

Area

Development

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

115

with a dated document on this topic

States on the record

34

counted from the record

Earliest

1 December 2018

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

12 against 29 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

13 September 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours