In the mountain towns, the cap is the market. A license you cannot get is worth nothing, and a basin with room is an opportunity. These towns publish caps and waitlists as documents rather than data feeds, so we read the documents and keep this tracker current by hand, monthly. Every figure below names its source and the date we checked it.
| Jurisdiction | Published cap or waitlist facts | Source | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summit County (unincorporated) | Type II license caps by basin: Lower Blue Basin 550, Upper Blue Basin 590, Snake River Basin 130. When a basin is full, the county runs a waitlist; placement on the waitlist does not guarantee a license. | Summit County Short Term Rental regulations and basin cap materials, summitcountyco.gov | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Breckenridge | Licenses are capped by zone. The town zones its housing stock (resort, tourism, downtown core, and remaining residential areas) and sets each zone's cap as a share of that zone's homes. Some zones run waitlists. Licenses do not transfer when a property sells. | Town of Breckenridge accommodation unit license page, townofbreckenridge.com | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Aspen | Classic (STR-C) permits are capped in some zone districts. Available STR-C permits are offered to waitlist applicants in order of waitlist position, and a waitlisted application may not be transferred to anyone else. The city publishes the STR-C waitlists online. Permits are annual. | City of Aspen Short Term Rental program guidelines and waitlist page, aspen.gov | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Pitkin County (unincorporated) | The county license program, in effect since September 20, 2023, does not publish a numeric cap list. Instead it limits nights by license type, with a 4 night minimum stay and a 120 night maximum per licensing period in the county materials. Licenses run 12 months from issuance. | Pitkin County Short Term Rentals page, pitkincounty.com | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Steamboat Springs | An overlay zone map decides availability. Zone A licenses are by right with no cap in the ordinance. Zone B licenses are capped. Some areas, shown red on the city's overlay materials, take no new Short Term Rental licenses at all. Licenses do not transfer with a sale. | City of Steamboat Springs Short Term Rental ordinance and licensing pages, steamboatsprings.net | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Denver (for contrast) | No numeric cap. The binding limit is the primary residence rule: only your own home can hold a license, which is why Denver has 2,062 active licenses and no waitlist. | Denver Excise and Licenses Short Term Rental program; license counts from the city file pulled Nov 1, 2026 | Nov 1, 2026 |
How to read this tracker: a cap figure tells you the size of the wall, not whether there is a door open today. Towns move waitlists on their own schedules, and a zone can open or close between our monthly checks. Before you underwrite a purchase on any of these numbers, confirm current availability with the town, and run the address through the free evaluator, which carries the same rules summaries.
Why this is a page and not a feed: none of these towns publish a machine readable license list. We will not pretend otherwise. The tracker is updated monthly from the towns' own published documents, and the rules monitor watches their program pages for changes in between.