In the past decade or so, Airbnb rentals have given real estate investors a feasible, profitable alternative to traditional rental properties. Despite efforts by many local authorities in the US housing market as well as globally to impose restrictions on short term rentals, this strategy continues to thrive for the benefit of both Airbnb hosts and Airbnb guests.
When buying an investment property to rent out on Airbnb, investors should consider a number of factors, and the Airbnb occupancy rate is among the most important ones. This real estate metric will determine not only the Airbnb rental income which a vacation home will generate but also the Airbnb cap rate and Airbnb cash on cash return.
To help beginner real estate investors start a successful short term rental business in 2020, we’ve gathered the 2020 Airbnb occupancy rate by city to be expected in the major US cities.
If you consider buying rental property to rent out on Airbnb.com or a similar home-sharing platform in 2020, read The Ultimate Guide to Buying an Airbnb Property with Ease for lots of useful tips and tricks.
Airbnb Occupancy Rate by City in the US Real Estate Market in 2020
Right away we will give you what this article promises – the average Airbnb occupancy rate which you can expect in 2020 in some of the best places to invest in real estate in the US.
After that, we will walk you through the process of calculating the average Airbnb occupancy rate by city and by neighborhood, discuss the source of Airbnb data, and provide you with some tips for making money with Airbnb in 2020.
Without further ado:
Table: Average Airbnb Occupancy Rate by City Expected in 2020
| Ranking | City and State | Average Airbnb Occupancy Rate |
| #1 | Honolulu, HI | 71.1% |
| #2 | Gatlinburg, TN | 70.1% |
| #3 | Jersey City, NJ | 69.1% |
| #4 | Key West, FL | 68.8% |
| #5 | Trenton, NJ | 67.6% |
| #6 | Oklahoma City, OK | 66.9% |
| #7 | New York, NY | 66.1% |
| #8 | Montgomery, AL | 64.8% |
| #9 | Panama City Beach, FL | 64.5% |
| #10 | Long Beach, CA | 64.3% |
| #11 | Fresno, CA | 64.0% |
| #12 | Los Angeles, CA | 63.8% |
| #13 | Fort Wayne, IN | 63.7% |
| #14 | Denver, CO | 63.7% |
| #15 | Flagstaff, AZ | 63.6% |
| #16 | St. Petersburg, CA | 62.7% |
| #17 | Daytona Beach, FL | 62.7% |
| #18 | Portland, ME | 62.3% |
| #19 | Boulder, CO | 62.2% |
| #20 | Nashville, TN | 62.1% |
| #21 | Joshua Tree, CA | 62.0% |
| #22 | Sacramento, CA | 61.9% |
| #23 | Memphis, TN | 61.8% |
| #24 | Boston, MA | 61.8% |
| #25 | Seattle, WA | 61.3% |
| #26 | San Diego, CA | 61.2% |
| #27 | Albany, NY | 61.1% |
| #28 | El Paso, TX | 60.4% |
| #29 | Tulsa, OK | 60.1% |
| #30 | Raleigh, NC | 58.8% |
| #31 | Boise, MD | 58.8% |
| #32 | Miami Beach, FL | 58.4% |
| #33 | Bakersfield, CA | 58.4% |
| #34 | Reno, NV | 58.0% |
| #35 | Richmond, VA | 57.8% |
| #36 | Chicago, IL | 57.5% |
| #37 | Fort Collins, CO | 57.2% |
| #38 | Tucson, AZ | 57.1% |
| #39 | Fort Worth, TX | 56.4% |
| #40 | Irving, TX | 56.2% |
| #41 | Santa Fe, NM | 56.1% |
| #42 | Columbus, OH | 56.1% |
| #43 | St. Louis, MS | 55.9% |
| #44 | Bend, OR | 55.9% |
| #45 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 55.7% |
| #46 | Kansas City, MO | 55.7% |
| #47 | Miami, FL | 55.6% |
| #48 | Cleveland, OH | 55.3% |
| #49 | Colorado Springs, CO | 55.3% |
| #50 | Cincinnati, OH | 55.3% |
| #51 | Virginia Beach, VA | 55.2% |
| #52 | Pittsburgh, PA | 55.0% |
| #53 | Baltimore, MD | 54.9% |
| #54 | Austin, TX | 54.9% |
| #55 | Tampa, FL | 54.7% |
| #56 | Dallas, TX | 53.9% |
| #57 | Jacksonville, FL | 53.7% |
| #58 | Phoenix, AZ | 53.5% |
| #59 | Philadelphia, PA | 52.4% |
| #60 | San Antonio, TX | 52.1% |
| #61 | Indianapolis, IN | 52.1% |
| #62 | New Orleans, LA | 49.7% |
| #63 | Scottsdale, AZ | 49.5% |
| #64 | Fort Myers, FL | 49.2% |
| #65 | Atlanta, GA | 48.5% |
| #66 | Houston, TX | 44.7% |
| #67 | Augusta, GA | 43.7% |
| #68 | Portland, OR | 27.0% |
Source: Mashvisor
To get started on your journey to becoming a real estate investor in Airbnb rentals in 2020, have a look at the best cities for Airbnb rental income.
Once you know where you want to invest in an Airbnb property in the coming year, you should learn how to become an Airbnb host in 2020 with our comprehensive guide.
So, these are the Airbnb occupancy rates which you can expect to see in some of the best places to buy rental property in the US in 2020.
But where did this Airbnb occupancy rate data come from?
Where to Find Data on Airbnb Occupancy Rate in 2020
The occupancy rate of a short term rental property is defined as the number of days in which the vacation home is occupied over the number of days in which it is made available for renting. As an Airbnb host, you can choose to mark some days as unavailable on your calendar so that you can enjoy your second home with your family and friends.
Naturally, the best place to find Airbnb occupancy rate data is the source: Airbnb.com. However, can you imagine how much time and effort it will take to go through all Airbnb listings in your location to figure out their occupancy in order to calculate the Airbnb average occupancy rate for this market?
Now imagine if you have to do that for more than one Airbnb location in order to choose the best market for your short term rental investment…
Alternatively, you can rely on the rental property calculator on Mashvisor’s Airbnb analytics platform, which plugs big data directly from Airbnb.com into its AI algorithms to calculate the Airbnb occupancy rate by city in the entire US housing market. The Airbnb data in the table above has been calculated by Mashvisor’s Airbnb profit calculator.
To learn more about our calculations, read What Is Airbnb Occupancy Rate & How to Calculate It?
Major Trends in the Airbnb Occupancy Rate in 2020
The Airbnb data in the table above reveals a few interesting trends in the 2020 Airbnb occupancy rate by city. First of all, investing in vacation rentals in 2020 will bring an occupancy rate anywhere between 27.0% and 71.1%. According to Mashvisor’s real estate market analysis, Airbnb Portland, OR has the lowest occupancy in all of the US, while Airbnb Honolulu, HI has the highest rate.
Generally speaking, the best locations to invest in short term rentals have a relatively high Airbnb occupancy rate in the 50s and 60s. This confirms that the proportion of time for which you can rent out your vacation home is a major determinant of its return on investment as these places with high occupancy are also some of the most profitable Airbnb locations.
Last but not least, our rental property calculator shows that both large cities like Airbnb San Diego and small places like Airbnb Joshua Tree can enjoy a high rate.
Airbnb Occupancy Rate by Neighborhood
As we all know, location is a key factor for how much money you can make in real estate investing. However, buying a rental property in one of the above-listed real estate markets does not guarantee a high Airbnb occupancy rate and a good rate of return.
Actually, real estate data from Mashvisor reveals that the short term rental occupancy rate can vary significantly among different neighborhoods in the same city. In the Atlanta real estate market, the Chastain Park neighborhood has an occupancy rate of 41.2%, while the Midtown neighborhood has a rate of 60.9%.
This is a big variation that can result in major differences in the expected Airbnb rental income, Airbnb cap rate, and Airbnb cash on cash return.
That’s why it is important to conduct neighborhood analysis as well to find the best areas for Airbnb rentals in each housing market. No worries, you don’t have to do that manually as our real estate investment tools have taken care of it.
You can use Mashvisor’s heatmap analysis tool to quickly and efficiently find the neighborhoods with the highest and the lowest Airbnb average occupancy rate in any US city or town. You can have a look here at the Atlanta housing market:
Mashvisor Heatmap Analysis: Airbnb Occupancy Rate by Neighborhood in the Atlanta Real Estate Market
Moreover, the heatmap can show you the best and worst neighborhoods for Airbnb rental income and Airbnb cash on cash return.
Airbnb Occupancy Rate for Individual Rental Properties
While knowing the best areas for Airbnb occupancy rate is a great starting point in your short term rental property search, you still need to conduct investment property analysis on specific real estate listings to choose the most profitable one.
Once again, Mashvisor’s predictive analytics incorporated in the Airbnb rental property calculator show you the Airbnb occupancy rate which you can expect for any property listed on the platform (whether an MLS listing, foreclosure, bank owned home, short sale, or off market property) as well as any other property in the US housing market for which you input the required information.
The occupancy rate estimate for short term rentals will be very accurate as it is based on actual data from Airbnb.com.
In your Airbnb investment property analysis, remember to use our Airbnb profitability calculator to find the most profitable opportunity in less than 15 minutes.
Below you can see how the Airbnb occupancy rate figure looks like for this Atlanta investment property:
Mashvisor’s Rental Property Calculator: Airbnb Occupancy Rate for an Atlanta Investment Property
How to Increase Your Return on Investment With Airbnb
The Airbnb occupancy rate is one of the most important determinants of how profitable your real estate investment will be. The higher the occupancy rate, the more Airbnb guests you will welcome, the more Airbnb rental income you will generate, and the higher your cap rate and cash on cash return will be. To help out beginner real estate investors in 2020, here are a few tips on how to minimize the vacancy rate of your short term rentals:
- Make your online listing interesting but true
- Use professional photographs for your listing
- Offer a competitive nightly rate
- Adjust your Airbnb pricing seasonally
- Keep your rental property clean and well-maintained
- Provide for all the basic needs of your Airbnb guests
- Get a lot of positive reviews
Is Airbnb Legal in My Location?
No discussion of Airbnb is complete without considering the short term rentals rules and regulations. The last few years have seen a surge in the number of prohibitive Airbnb laws all across the US, making this rental strategy illegal in many top locations. One specific example is Airbnb Las Vegas, which has become virtually impossible for real estate investors.
Thus, it is important to highlight that the Airbnb laws and rules vary in the cities included in our table above. While short term rentals are legal in one form or another, they face many different regulations. For example, Airbnb Dallas is legal for all property types, in all neighborhoods, for both owner-occupied and non-owner occupied short term rentals. The situation is the same for Airbnb Atlanta and Airbnb Phoenix.
At the same time, Airbnb Austin will become illegal in 2022 for non-owner occupied single family homes and duplexes in residential neighborhoods. Airbnb Los Angeles is also only allowed for primary residences and not for investment properties.
So, before you decide to buy an investment property for the sole purpose of renting it out on Airbnb or another similar platform, make sure to check out the local rules regulating the short term rental industry. Counties’ and cities’ websites are the best sources for this information.
Airbnb investment properties have shown resilience in the face of restrictions, remaining a money-making real estate investing strategy in 2020. In your property search, remember to focus on real estate markets with a high Airbnb occupancy rate.
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