TETON COUNTY, IDAHO AND TETON COUNTY, WYOMING
SHORT TERM RENTAL STUDY
CAPSTONE - SPRING 2020
A Report by Shelby Jablon
Master of Urban and Regional Planning Candidate
University of Colorado, Denver
Prepared for:
Valley Advocates for Responsible Development
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
TETON COUNTY, IDAHO AND TETON COUNTY, WYOMING
SHORT TERM RENTAL STUDY
Capstone Project submied to sasfy the degree requirements of the
Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program,
College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver
Advisor: Ken Schroeppel
Submied May 14, 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
Introduction
The study area of this report encompasses
Teton County, Wyoming and Teton, County
Idaho, an area that covers approximately
4,667 square miles. Both counes are premier
tourist desnaons, aracng thousands of
overnight visitors every year. The two counes
are situated along the Idaho/Wyoming border
in the Teton Mountain range. This mountain
range is a large aracon for visitors who
take advantage of the plenful opportunies
for skiing, hiking, mountain biking and sight-
seeing. Addionally, Teton County, Wyoming
hosts the southern entrance to Yellowstone
Naonal Park. This entrance provides visitors
with access to Yellowstone’s to two million
acres of protected area containing waterfalls,
geysers and a diverse array of wildlife. The
tourists that make their way to the Tetons
are vital to keeping countless businesses in
operaon, and supporng the local economy.
Restaurants, hotels and ski resorts alike all rely
on the inux of visitors into the area every year.
While tourism contributes to the local
economy and plays a vital nancial role in
the area, the inux of visitors also brings
unintended consequences to the communies
they visit. The desire for aordable and unique
accommodaons has driven many to ulize
short-term rental properes rather than
tradional lodging such as hotels, motels
and lodges. Since the company Airbnb was
established in 2007, vacaon rental companies
have become increasingly common within
the Unites States and internaonally. Like
many others, property owners within Teton
County, Wyoming and Teton County, have
seen short-term rentals as an opportunity
to capitalize on their properes. The short-
term rental market is becoming increasingly
saturated within the study area, resulng
in both posive and negave impacts on
these communies. These impacts will be
amplied as this pracce connues to grow.
Objective
The Client organizaons for this project
are The Valley Advocates for Responsible
Development and The Jackson Hole
Conservaon Alliance. These two
organizaons are focused on understanding
environmental, social and economic issues
within the Teton region. The objecve of
this report is to determine how the short-
term rental market has impacted the study
area and to provide policy recommendaons
to migate the negave impacts resulng
from the rise of short-term rental units.
Background Research
The inial phase of the study included
compleng background research on the topic
of short-term rentals. Peer reviewed research
arcles helped to provide an understanding
of the dierent types of short-term rental
properes that are commonly seen and
their impacts on the communies they are
located in. It was found that short-term rental
properes can generally be grouped into
three categories: full-home rentals, private
room rentals, and shared space rentals. While
these types of rentals can all be listed on
popular vacaon rental plaorms; such as
Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway, they oen
have very dierent impacts on communies.
These impacts oen vary based on the size
and scope of the short-term rentals. Full-
home rentals are oen ulized by investors
or individuals with mulple homes, while
private room and shared space rentals are
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
generally located within residenal units
that have a full me resident residing in the
home. It was also discovered that while short-
term rental properes can have economic
benets, they can also have a signicant
negave impact on housing availability.
Addional background research also included
a review of other exisng short-term rental
studies. It was found that a number of
communies have conducted studies into
short-term rentals with the goal of using their
ndings to provide new or updated regulaons.
These studies generally employ similar
techniques to understand rental markets
including stakeholder surveys, research into
comparable community regulaons, and
assessments of housing data. The informaon
in this research was ulized to create the
methodology for the remainder of the report.
Existing Short-Term Rental
Conditions
Aer examining data on short-term rental
properes within the area, it was found that
there were approximately 2,575 individual
short-term rental properes acve within
the study area from February 2019 to
February 2020. Of these 2,575 properes,
approximately 67 percent were located within
Teton County, Wyoming, with the remaining
33 percent located within Teton County,
Idaho. It was also found that the short-term
rental market in the study area is subject to
seasonal uctuaon. During February of
2020, there were a total of approximately
1,877 acve short-term rental properes with
a total of 1,254 properes located on the in
the Wyoming poron of the study area, and
the remaining 623 located within Idaho. It
was also found that property owners in Idaho
are more likely to oer up a single room or
shared space within their home for a short-
term rental than those in Wyoming, where
almost all short-term rentals are enre homes.
Housing Analysis
When comparing the short-term rental
properes within the study area to exisng
housing data, it was found that these rental
properes are likely negavely impacng
the availability of housing for residents.
Approximately 6.9 percent of the total housing
units within Teton County, Wyoming have been
converted to use as full me short-term rental
properes. This percentage is even higher to
the west of the Tetons, where approximately 7.9
percent of housing units have been operang
as full me short-term rentals in the past year.
The data also indicated that the opportunies
to earn high prots from vacaon rentals are
likely movang an increasing number of
property owners to partake in the pracce. It
was found that the average monthly income
for a vacaon rental within the Wyoming
poron of the study area is approximately
$5,791, while the average monthly income
earned on the Idaho side is approximately
$2,920. The potenal income of these rental
properes in both counes is higher than
the median rental price, and median monthly
mortgage payments. These high prots
can make renng a property to short-term
tourists more lucrave compared to renng
the properes to long term tenants. The
opportunity to make high prots through short-
term rentals not only drive up local property
values, but also incenvizes purchasing
mulple homes as investments, ulmately
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UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER
leaving fewer properes available for purchase or long-term rental.
Recommendations
The recommendaons for the study area have been summarized
below:
Teton County, Idaho
• Include Short-Term Rentals as use in Land Development Code
Update
• Require Short-Term Rental Perming
• Ulize a Third Party Monitoring Company
• Evaluate Need for Code Enforcement Ocer
City of Driggs, Idaho and City of Victor, Idaho
• Include Short-Term Rentals as use in Land Development Codes
• Establish a Principal Dwelling Requirement
• Provide Excepon for Accessory Dwelling Units
• Require Condional Use Permits
• Ulize a Third Party Monitoring Company
City of Tetonia, Idaho
• Monitor Properes for Business Licenses
Teton County, Wyoming
• Require Perming of Short-Term Rental Properes
• Ulize a Third Party Monitoring Company
Town of Jackson, Wyoming
• Addional short-term rental recommendaons for the Town of
Jackson have not been deemed necessary at this me.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
