At a glance
Can one Wyoming short-term rental cash-flow at statewide planning prices?
Yes – but the model is far more sensitive to the final address, lease permission and platform fee structure than to Wyoming's entity filing cost. The canonical case here is an independent, owner-operated, leased two-bedroom whole-home rental for up to four guests, with one unit, 340 sellable nights per year, outsourced turnover cleaning, and the owner handling guest communication, pricing and listing administration. The assumed legal form is a Wyoming single-member LLC taxed federally as a disregarded entity, with no employees in the Base case.
Configuration fingerprint. Format: one independent whole-home short-term rental. Ownership basis: leased real estate with explicit written landlord authorization for short-term subletting. Asset/site count: one. Capacity: two bedrooms, four guests, 340 sellable nights. Core mix: nightly lodging plus a turnover cleaning fee; owner manages the listing and guest service, while cleaning/laundry is outsourced. This fingerprint is intentionally fixed so a future state comparison changes state economics and rules rather than silently changing the business.
Startup scope
A one-home Wyoming launch needs about $28,000 before the first booking
The Typical scope assumes a move-in-ready two-bedroom rental rather than a construction project. Wyoming's 2026 Secretary of State fee schedule sets LLC formation at $100 and the annual report license tax at at least $60. A Wyoming sales tax license adds a $60 one-time state filing in the planning allowance; exact local STR permits are address-dependent. The capital burden is therefore furnishings, liquidity and lease cash – not entity formation.
| Use of funds | Lean | Typical | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lease cash at signing | $2,880 | $2,880 | $2,880 |
| Furniture, linens, kitchen, décor | $6,500 | $9,500 | $14,000 |
| Safety, smart-lock, guest tech, Wi-Fi setup | $800 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
| Entity, state tax license, local permit allowance | $260 | $460 | $760 |
| Insurance deposit / pre-opening coverage | $450 | $750 | $1,200 |
| Professional help, photography, launch marketing | $950 | $1,800 | $3,500 |
| Opening supplies and setup cleaning | $850 | $1,300 | $2,100 |
| Initial net working capital | $300 | $500 | $800 |
| Opening operating-cash reserve | $6,400 | $7,500 | $10,000 |
| Contingency | $1,300 | $2,100 | $3,500 |
| Total project cost / founder cash required | $20,690 | $27,990 | $40,740 |
Lease cash assumes a $1,440 first month plus a $1,440 refundable security deposit. The $1,440 planning rent comes from a three-market Wyoming basket: a current two-bedroom house listing sample in Cheyenne with an approximately $1,795 median, a Casper sample with a $1,440 median, and a Cody published two-bedroom apartment benchmark around $1,350; the basket median is $1,440. Because an ordinary residential lease may not authorize short-term subletting, the actual STR-permitted lease premium or extra deposit is a local quote required, not silently modeled.
Opening path
Address approval – not entity filing – is the real Wyoming opening gate
A straightforward, already-finished home can be operational in a modeled 6 – 12 weeks from serious address shortlist to first booking. That window is not a sum of every task: entity formation, insurance quotes, furnishing orders and platform setup can overlap. The critical path is whether the final address may legally operate as a short-term rental and whether the landlord explicitly authorizes it.
Validate the address
Confirm zoning, STR eligibility, HOA/covenant limits and written lease permission before paying nonrefundable furnishing costs. This is the primary kill gate.
Form the LLC and obtain EIN
Wyoming LLC filing is $100. Paper processing may take up to 15 business days; online filing is available. The IRS issues an eligible online EIN free.
Open tax and insurance setup
Obtain the Wyoming sales tax license, verify marketplace tax handling, and bind STR-appropriate coverage. Do not assume a standard homeowner or renter policy covers paid lodging.
Complete local approvals
Where required, submit local STR/business-use paperwork and pass safety inspection. Agency processing SLAs are often not published; local examples range materially.
Furnish and commission
Install beds, kitchen inventory, smoke/CO protection, smart access, Wi-Fi, owner storage, linens and turnover standards. Photograph only after the final setup.
List, test and soft-open
Configure rates, minimum stays, tax settings, house rules, cleaning workflow and emergency contacts; then test one turnover before scaling availability.
| Requirement | Level | Fee / cadence | Lead / dependency | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLC Articles of Organization | State · assumed form | $100 initial; annual tax $60 minimum | Paper: up to 15 business days; annual report due anniversary month | Secretary of State |
| Employer Identification Number | Federal | $0 | Eligible online applications issue immediately | IRS |
| Wyoming Sales & Use Tax License | State | $60 one-time planning basis | Processing SLA not published; verify platform reporting | Wyoming Legislature / DOR tax overview |
| Sales tax + lodging assessment | State + local | 4% state sales tax + 5% lodging assessment, before address-specific local taxes | Collected tax excluded from model revenue; local rate must be confirmed | Wyoming Legislature, Title 39 |
| Local STR / zoning / business approval | City / county | Varies by city/county | Confirm before lease commitment; inspection may be required | Issuing local government |
| Employer registration if staff are hired | State · conditional | Classification-dependent | Register so DWS can determine unemployment / workers' comp obligations | Department of Workforce Services |
Wyoming law also gives detached one- and two-family STRs an important building-code boundary: W.S. 35-9-163 says short-term rental of detached one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses is not treated as commercial use for state fire, building and electrical standards and is not subject to the International Building Code on that basis. That does not erase local zoning, STR registration, life-safety inspection, lease or HOA rules.
Local variation and address checks
Wyoming's STR rules diverge sharply by final address
There is no responsible way to average these legal rules into a fictional “Wyoming permit.” The examples below establish the planning range only. A founder must recheck the exact parcel, zoning district, lease, HOA/covenants, parking, occupancy and inspection requirements before signing.
| Jurisdiction | Observed rule | Planning implication | Official source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cody | Annual registration, $100 application, fire/life-safety inspection; residential-zone restrictions can prohibit renter-operated subleases. | Canonical leased model may be infeasible on some residential parcels. | City STR registration |
| Jackson | Outside the lodging overlay, short-term rentals are limited to three stays and 60 rental nights per calendar year; business license and BUP can run concurrently. | The 340-night statewide configuration only works where the parcel's STR rules allow it. | Town STR rules |
| Teton County | Rentals under 31 days are prohibited except in specified approved areas. | Do not underwrite generic residential inventory as STR-capable. | County Planning FAQ |
| Cheyenne | The city says it has no specific STR regulations and treats STRs like other residential uses; multiple STRs on one property need applicable approvals. | Lower local regulatory friction does not replace landlord, tax or safety diligence. | City planning FAQ |
Revenue engine
The Wyoming Base model earns $60,400 at 66% occupancy
The statewide planning basket uses current AirDNA market-level observations from three distinct Wyoming demand types. As of July 2026, Cheyenne showed 72% occupancy and a $117 ADR, Cody 57% and $234, and Jackson 66% and $753. The simple median is 66% occupancy and $234 ADR. That is used as a planning center – not as a claim that every two-bedroom home in Wyoming commands $234.
Nightly accommodation
Wyoming taxes transient lodging. The statewide planning layer is 4% state sales tax plus the 5% statewide lodging assessment, before any address-specific local sales or optional lodging tax. Tax collected from the guest is a pass-through liability, not operating revenue. See Wyoming Title 39.
Required cleaning charge
The model treats the $105 guest cleaning charge as part of taxable lodging sales price. Wyoming's sales-price definition generally includes seller service costs and services necessary to complete a sale; separately stating this required charge is not assumed to remove it from the tax base. Confirm the exact platform/DOR mapping for the final listing.
Host platform fee
The Airbnb host fee is modeled as a variable operating cost rather than a reduction of earned lodging revenue. Platform-collected guest taxes remain pass-through amounts and are excluded from revenue. Local tax rates and marketplace-remittance responsibilities must be reconciled to the property address before launch.
| Driver / result | Downside | Base | Upside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Occupancy | 50% | 66% | 75% |
| Occupied nights / year | 170 | 224 | 255 |
| Average daily rate | $190 | $234 | $275 |
| Average stay | 3.2 nights | 3.0 nights | 2.8 nights |
| Booked stays / year | 53 | 75 | 91 |
| Cleaning fee / stay | $105 | $105 | $105 |
| Annual net operating revenue | $37,878 | $60,364 | $79,688 |
| Monthly revenue | $3,157 | $5,030 | $6,641 |
| Passive cash operating profit before D&A | – $8,749 | $10,567 | $27,521 |
| Working-owner pre-tax business cash benefit | $2,675 | $21,991 | $38,945 |
For tax planning, Wyoming's statute layers a 4% state sales tax (3% plus the additional 1%) and a separate 5% assessment on lodging services, before any address-specific local sales or optional lodging taxes. These taxes are collected from the customer and excluded from the P&L revenue shown here. A marketplace may collect and remit some or all of them, but the operator should reconcile platform tax statements with Wyoming Department of Revenue registration and the final local rate.
Monthly cost structure
Rent, turnovers and platform fees consume the Base case
Base monthly cash operating costs are about $3,198 before owner-replacement labor. Rent is the dominant fixed line. Turnover cleaning is modeled at $95 per stay, built from Wyoming traveler-accommodation labor as an adjacent wage benchmark plus contractor overhead and supplies; the actual cleaner price is a local quote required. Utilities and insurance are also planning allowances rather than published statewide averages for a specific two-bedroom STR.
| Cost line | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Rent | $1,440 |
| Turnover cleaning / laundry | $592 |
| Utilities + internet | $275 |
| STR insurance allowance | $175 |
| Platform fee – 3% host-side Base | $151 |
| Guest consumables – $8 / occupied night | $150 |
| Routine repairs | $75 |
| Software / smart-access tools | $80 |
| Marketing + professional + recurring fees + misc. | $260 |
| Total cash operating cost before owner replacement | $3,198 |
The platform assumption needs active monitoring. Airbnb's current fee documentation still describes a roughly 3% host fee for many split-fee hosts, while its July 2026 host update describes a transition toward a single host fee around 15.5% for affected listings. If this model moved from 3% to 15.5% with no price response, Base annual cash profit would decline by roughly $7,545 (12.5% of modeled revenue). That is a business-model risk, not a Wyoming tax.
Owner economics
Working-owner income is materially higher than passive profit
The owner's labor is not free economically. For comparability, the passive P&L charges a fixed management replacement cost based on about 25 hours per month at a modeled $34 hourly market wage plus 12% employer/payroll burden, or $952 per month. The wage is derived from the 2023 BLS Wyoming lodging-manager mean of $31.89 per hour, trended by the change in statewide accommodation weekly wages from $691 in 2023 to about $738 in 2025: $31.89 × ($738 ÷ $691) ≈ $34.05. The extra 12% is a modeled employer-payroll/burden allowance; the resulting figure is an adjacent benchmark, not a quote for a one-unit property manager.
The $21,991 figure is not a salary and is not guaranteed take-home pay. It combines the residual cash return of the business with the market-value labor the owner chooses to perform. An owner draw or distribution is not an operating expense. Depreciation and amortization are not modeled reliably enough for a leased unit with varied furnishing lives, so the article reports normalized cash operating profit before D&A rather than pretending to produce EBIT.
Revenue per booked stay
Three nights × $234 ADR + $105 cleaning fee.
Variable cost per stay
$24.21 platform fee + $95 cleaning + $24 consumables.
Economic contribution per stay
82.3% passive/economic contribution before fixed rent, utilities and fixed owner-management replacement labor.
The natural unit is a booked stay, not a guest. There is no variable owner production labor in the Base configuration because cleaning is outsourced and owner guest-management time is treated as fixed/step-fixed administration. This keeps replacement labor out of the unit contribution and in the fixed-cost bridge exactly once.
Break-even and payback
Break-even is about 54% occupancy once replacement capex is funded
At the Base stay mix, each booked stay contributes $663.79 after platform, cleaning and consumables. That is an 82.25% contribution margin. The correct break-even depends on whose labor and which cash obligations are included; there is no single universal number.
Cash-survival break-even
$2,305 monthly fixed non-owner cash costs ÷ 82.25% contribution margin = about $2,802 revenue, 3.47 stays, or 10.4 booked nights monthly.
Sustainable owner / passive break-even
Add the $952 fixed management-compensation target: about $3,960 revenue, 4.91 stays, or 14.7 booked nights monthly.
Cash break-even incl. capex
Add $125 monthly furniture/replacement capex: about $4,112 revenue, 5.09 stays, or 15.3 booked nights monthly.
Payback uses a monthly cumulative cash schedule, not a stabilized annual shortcut. The Typical all-equity project starts at – $27,990 in month 0. Post-opening revenue ramps at 50%, 65%, 75%, 85%, 95% and 100% of each scenario's stabilized contribution during months 1 – 6, while fixed costs and the $125 maintenance-capex reserve are paid in full. In the Base working-owner case, monthly cash after maintenance capex moves from about – $361 in month 1 to +$1,708 stabilized; cumulative founder payback occurs in month 20. Because no debt is modeled, unlevered project and founder-equity payback are numerically identical on the same ownership basis.
Downside payback
Working-owner cash stabilizes near $98/month after maintenance capex; passive cash remains negative. Payback is not reached within the 60-month modeled horizon.
Base payback
Month 20 on working-owner actual business cash; month 45 after fully charging fixed replacement management labor.
Upside payback
Month 12 working-owner and month 17 passive-owner, still using the same Typical startup scope and one-unit capacity.
Market context and sensitivity
Wyoming tourism is deep, but legality and seasonality dominate the underwriting
Wyoming's official tourism industry site reports 8.8 million visitors and $5.0 billion of direct travel spending in 2025, useful evidence that visitor demand is economically important statewide. It is not short-term-rental market size. A reliable statewide STR gross-booking amount is not publicly determinable from the accessible category data, so this model does not manufacture TAM from population share or from broad tourism spending.
A fall from 66% Base occupancy toward 50% cuts annual operating revenue to about $37,900 and makes passive economics negative. Watch 30/60/90-day booked-night pace and cancellation-adjusted occupancy.
Zoning or lease restrictions can make projected revenue effectively zero regardless of attractive ADR. Watch permit status, covenant/HOA changes and written landlord authorization.
A host-platform fee structure near 15.5% instead of 3% would remove about $7,545 from Base annual cash before repricing. Watch platform statements and net payout per stay.
Every $200 monthly rent increase raises sustainable annual cash break-even by $2,400 before any margin knock-on. Watch STR-permitted lease quotes, renewal escalators and extra deposits.
Shorter stays increase cleaning turns and platform-fee exposure. Watch average length of stay, cleaning cost per turn and contribution per booked stay.
Annual occupancy can hide several weak winter or shoulder months. Watch lowest three-month forward contribution, not only trailing-twelve-month revenue.
State labor data provide another reality check. Wyoming's 2025 QCEW reported roughly 12,089 accommodation jobs with average annual wages around $38,360. That supports using real labor value for cleaning and management rather than treating owner time as free. Wyoming energy and connectivity are smaller lines, but they still deserve local validation: the model uses a combined $275 monthly utilities/internet allowance informed by state energy pricing and a 2026 Wyoming internet benchmark, then leaves water/waste and seasonal heating variability inside the planning cushion.
Sources and method
Method, evidence and what to recheck before signing a lease
Research was reviewed on August 29, 2026 and the model is expressed in 2026 USD. Official rules and fees use issuing authorities. Market price inputs use multiple Wyoming observations where a true statewide series was unavailable. The STR performance basket uses three current market-level AirDNA observations; the rent basket uses current two-bedroom rental evidence from three Wyoming markets. Sparse samples, different property quality and the premium nature of some tourism markets are the largest limitations.
| Source / publisher | Geography / period | Evidence type | How used |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming Secretary of State fee schedule | Wyoming · effective July 1, 2026 | Official fee or rule · High | LLC $100 formation; $60 minimum annual report tax. |
| Wyoming Legislature, Title 39 | Wyoming · current statute set | Official fee or rule · High | 4% state sales-tax layer and 5% lodging assessment; local taxes remain address-specific. |
| Wyoming Legislature, W.S. 35-9-163 | Wyoming · current law | Official rule · High | State building/fire treatment for detached one-/two-family STRs. |
| Wyoming Office of Tourism | Wyoming · 2025 | Reported government data · High | 8.8M visitors and $5.0B travel-spending demand proxy; not labeled STR market size. |
| Wyoming DWS QCEW + BLS lodging-manager wages | Wyoming · 2025 | Reported government data · High | Accommodation employment and wage context; cleaning and owner-labor reasonableness. |
| AirDNA market basket | 3 Wyoming markets · through July 2026 | Published benchmark · Moderate | Median 66% occupancy / $234 ADR from Cody, Jackson and the linked eastern-market page; not property-matched. |
| Zillow rent basket | 3 Wyoming markets · Aug. 2026 | Observed market quote · Low / model-dependent | Planning rent median using Casper 2BR houses and Cody rental benchmark; STR permission premium is not observed. |
| Airbnb host fee update | U.S. platform · July 2026 update | Published benchmark · High for platform policy | 3% Base host-fee convention with explicit 15.5% transition sensitivity. |
| U.S. EIA + connectivity benchmark | Wyoming · 2025 – 2026 | Government + published benchmark · Moderate | Utility allowance reasonableness; internet cross-check from 2026 state internet-cost benchmark. |
| Local-government STR sample | 4 Wyoming jurisdictions · current | Official local rules · High locally | Shows why local rules are not averaged; exact address remains confirm-with-issuing-authority. |
Evidence labels. Official fees/rules and reported government data are used without silent adjustment. Published benchmarks and observed market quotes are clearly identified. Derived calculations use the formulas shown in the article. Furnishings, insurance, repairs, cleaning overhead, launch timing, seasonality ramp and minimum cash floor are modeled planning assumptions. Replace them with property-specific quotes and a 12-month comparable-set forecast before financing or signing a lease.