Short-Term Rental Calculator
Short-term rental math has moving parts a long-term rental does not: turnovers, platform fees, utilities you pay, and an occupancy number you are guessing at. This gives you cashflow and the number that actually matters, your breakeven occupancy. Nothing is saved, and there is no email wall.
What the listing puts in your pocket each month after the platform, cleaning, utilities, reserves, and the mortgage.
You have 1.7 points of cushion below your 62% assumption before the property costs you money.
Annual cashflow divided by the cash you put in, including furnishing.
About 6.3 separate stays, so that many turnovers.
Revenue per available night. The metric other hosts compare on.
The long-term rent that would leave you the same income, with far less work. A tenant pays their own utilities, and the supplies and subscriptions go away.
Estimates only, for education. Short-term rental income swings with season, competition, and local rules, and the rules are the real risk: many cities cap or ban non-owner-occupied short-term rentals, and a permit change can turn this into a long-term rental overnight. Check the ordinance and the HOA before you buy, and pressure-test the numbers at a lower occupancy than you expect.
What the numbers mean
Breakeven occupancy is the one to lead with. Cashflow tells you what happens if your occupancy guess is right, and your occupancy guess is the least reliable input on the page. Breakeven tells you how wrong you can be before the property starts costing you money. Compare it to what similar listings in that specific neighborhood actually run, not to a city-wide average.
The equivalent long-term rent is the reality check. If a short-term rental nets you the same as renting the place to a tenant on a twelve-month lease, you have taken on a part-time business, guest messages, cleaner scheduling, and regulatory risk for no additional return. Sometimes the number justifies it. Often it does not.
Run it at a lower occupancy than you expect and a nightly rate below your best month. A property that still works under those numbers is a property that survives a soft year. For deeper context, read is Airbnb a good investment, compare the two models in short-term vs long-term rentals, and check where the math holds up in the best cities for short-term rental investment. To model the same property as a standard rental, use the rental cashflow calculator.
Short-term rental questions
How do you calculate Airbnb income?
Start with nightly rate times nights booked, which is occupancy applied to about 30.4 nights a month. Add the cleaning fees guests pay. From that gross revenue, subtract the platform commission, what you actually pay your cleaner per turnover, utilities, supplies, insurance, taxes, and a maintenance reserve. What remains after the mortgage is your cashflow.
What is a good breakeven occupancy for a short-term rental?
Lower is safer. If your property breaks even at 45% occupancy and comparable listings run at 65%, you have twenty points of cushion for a slow season or a new competitor down the street. If it breaks even at 60% and the market runs at 62%, a single bad quarter puts you underwater. This is the number that tells you how much risk you are actually taking.
Why does average length of stay matter?
It sets your number of turnovers. At 20 nights booked a month, three-night stays mean about seven cleanings while seven-night stays mean about three. Since cleaning is both revenue and cost, and the cost rarely matches the fee exactly, shorter stays quietly change your margin even when occupancy and nightly rate are identical.
Is a short-term rental better than a long-term rental?
It usually grosses more and nets less than the gap suggests, because utilities, furnishing, higher insurance, supplies, and management all land on you rather than a tenant. It is also a small business, not passive income. This calculator shows the long-term rent that would leave you the same cashflow, which is the honest comparison to make before committing.
What is the biggest risk with short-term rentals?
Regulation, not occupancy. Many cities cap, permit, or ban non-owner-occupied short-term rentals, and HOAs increasingly restrict them too. A rule change can turn your short-term rental into a long-term rental with no notice. Read the local ordinance and the HOA covenants before you buy, and check that the property still works as a long-term rental if the rules change.
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