Short-Term Rental Laws in Door County, Wisconsin

Door County is a county-level regulatory framework overlaying ~15 distinct townships and cities (Sturgeon Bay, Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Sister Bay, Ephraim, Baileys Harbor, Jacksonport, etc.). Each township sets its own STR ordinance variations on top of the Door County baseline. Sturgeon Bay (the county seat) has the most developed city-level framework; the smaller resort villages (Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Sister Bay) each have their own permit + room-tax stack. Per WI Act 59, none of them can outright ban STR — they regulate via licensing, life-safety, and room-tax collection.

Permits & zoning: Door County requires a Door County Land Use Services STR registration + the township-specific STR license + the WI DATCP Tourist Rooming House permit. The Premier Resort Area Tax (0.5%) is a Door-County-specific add-on funding tourism infrastructure. Township-level Room Tax varies (5-9%). Allowed in nearly all residential, mixed-use, and shoreland zones subject to permits and life-safety standards. Shoreland-zoning (within 1,000 ft of Lake Michigan / Green Bay or 300 ft of inland waters) triggers additional WI DNR setback + impervious-surface review.

Operators must hold a short-term rental permit before listing. See the official permit portal.

Three-license stack: Door County registration + Township STR license + WI DATCP Tourist Rooming House permit. Annual renewals across all three. Operating without the stack: administrative fines + back-tax + stop-rental. Door County Land Use Services is the primary aggregator — the county maintains a public STR registry. Township enforcement varies: Egg Harbor and Fish Creek are more active enforcers; smaller townships rely on complaint-driven enforcement. Sturgeon Bay also runs its own city-level rental-property inspection regime that layers on top.

Combined short-term lodging tax in Door County is approximately 16.000% of gross nightly revenue (state sales + state TRT + local TRT + applicable resort/city options).

Wisconsin State sales 5% + Door County 0.5% + Door County Premier Resort Area Tax 0.5% + various township room taxes 5-9% — combined ~14-16% on transient lodging depending on township

Verify the current combined rate via the Utah State Tax Commission before remitting — rates drift quarterly.