Buying or listing a short-term rental on Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com is exciting, but the nightly price is only half the story. The number that actually matters is what lands in your bank account after cleaning crews, platform fees, supplies and the mortgage are paid. This short term rental calculator turns your nightly rate and occupancy estimate into a clear monthly and annual net profit figure, so you can judge whether a property pencils out before you commit.
Slide the inputs and every figure updates instantly. Because the math is transparent, you can stress-test bad months (a 40% winter occupancy) and good months (a busy summer at 90%) to see how thin your cushion really is.
How to Use
- Enter your Nightly Rate — the average price you realistically charge per booked night, not your peak weekend rate.
- Set your Occupancy Rate. Aim for a conservative estimate: across many US markets a 65–70% average is solid, and 55–65% is normal for smaller markets.
- Choose your Average Stay. The typical Airbnb reservation is 2–4 nights; this converts booked nights into the number of cleanings you actually pay for.
- Add your Cleaning Cost per turnover. If you charge guests a separate cleaning fee equal to what you pay the crew, the two cancel out — enter the net cost here.
- Set Supplies & Consumables as a percentage of gross revenue. Toiletries, coffee pods, tea, and fresh linens usually run about 8–12%.
- Enter the Platform Host Fee. Airbnb's host-only fee is roughly 3%; under the older split-fee model the guest pays most of it, but a host-side estimate of 3% is safe.
- Add Monthly Fixed Costs — mortgage, utilities, insurance, internet, dynamic-pricing software and any property manager — everything you owe even in an empty month.
The result card shows your booked nights, bookings, gross revenue, each cost line, and the highlighted Net Monthly Income plus the annual total.
How the Math Works
A short-term rental is paid by the night, so the engine starts from nights booked rather than monthly rent:
- Booked nights = 30 × occupancy %. At 70% that is 21 nights a month.
- Gross revenue = nightly rate × booked nights. At $180 and 21 nights that is $3,780.
- Bookings = booked nights ÷ average stay. At a 3-night average, 21 nights is 7 turnovers.
- Cleaning cost = cleaning fee × bookings. At $100 × 7 that is $700.
- Supplies = gross revenue × the supplies percent. At 10% of $3,780 that is $378.
- Host fee = gross revenue × the host fee percent. At 3% that is $113.40.
- Net monthly income = gross revenue − all variable costs − fixed costs.
On the defaults, costs total $1,191.40, leaving a net monthly income of $2,588.60, or about $31,063 a year before income tax. That is the operating profit of the business — it does not yet account for your mortgage principal paydown, depreciation or appreciation, which matter when you size the overall return on invested cash.
Gross vs Net: Why the Gap Matters
New hosts routinely quote a gross number — "$180 a night, 70% full" — and treat it as take-home. In reality roughly 25–35% of that gross disappears before you see it:
- Cleaning and turnovers scale with the number of bookings, not nights, so short stays quietly eat profit. A 2-night-average listing has three times the cleanings of a 6-night-average one at the same occupancy.
- Platform fees are a direct percentage of every reservation.
- Supplies and consumables creep up as the listing gets busier.
- Fixed costs do not care whether you booked the place; an empty January still has a mortgage.
Always decide on the net figure, and keep at least three months of fixed costs in reserve to cover the off-season.
Examples
Example 1 — The default urban listing. A host charges $180/night, averages 70% occupancy, a 3-night stay, $100 cleanings, 10% supplies and a 3% host fee, with no mortgage cost modeled. Booked nights are 21, gross is $3,780, costs are $1,191.40, and net monthly income is $2,588.60 (about $31,063/year).
Example 2 — Adding a mortgage. On the same listing, the owner carries a $1,800 monthly mortgage and $250 in utilities and insurance, for $2,050 in fixed costs. Net monthly income drops to $538.60 — still positive, but the empty-season risk is now real. This is exactly why running the fixed-cost line before buying is non-negotiable.
Example 3 — A luxury high-end home. A $350/night vacation home runs at 75% occupancy (22.5 nights), a 4-night average stay, $120 cleanings, 8% supplies and a 3% host fee, plus $1,500 monthly fixed costs. Gross is $7,875, variable costs are about $1,541.25, and after fixed costs the net monthly income is roughly $4,833.75. Higher nightly rate compounds fast because the per-booking cleaning cost is spread across larger reservations.
FAQ
How much can I make with an Airbnb per month?
A typical US short-term rental booked at 65–70% occupancy nets somewhere between $1,500 and $5,000 per month after cleaning, supplies, platform fees and fixed costs, depending on nightly rate and how much debt the property carries. Use the calculator with realistic occupancy rather than your peak season to get a figure you can actually plan around.
What is a good occupancy rate for a short term rental?
A strong performing US market runs 60–75% annual occupancy. Leisure destinations can spike higher on weekends and holidays while sitting quiet midweek. Anything consistently above 80% usually signals you can raise your nightly rate; anything below 50% suggests pricing, reviews or location need work before adding more properties.
How do Airbnb cleaning fees affect profit?
Cleaning is charged per turnover, so it scales with the number of bookings, not the nights. A listing with a 2-night average stay pays for cleanings twice as often as one with a 4-night average at identical occupancy. Many hosts charge guests a separate cleaning fee that covers the crew cost, which means it nets to roughly zero — enter only your true net cleaning cost to avoid double-counting.
What percentage do Airbnb and other platforms take?
Under Airbnb's host-only fee the host pays about 3% of the booking subtotal. Under the older split-fee arrangement the guest pays roughly 14.2% and the host around 3%. Vrbo and Booking.com have their own structures, sometimes reaching 15–20% total. Enter the host-side share you actually pay; when in doubt, 3%–5% is a reasonable planning estimate.
Is a short term rental more profitable than long term?
It can earn more gross, but it carries more cost and risk: cleaning, supplies, platform fees, furniture wear, and vacant weeks. Long-term rent gives stable, low-effort income with near-zero turnover cost. Run both numbers on the same property — the 1% rule or a long-term rent estimate — before deciding, and remember that STR income is also more volatile and subject to local occupancy-tax and zoning rules.
What fixed costs should I include?
Include everything you owe every month regardless of bookings: mortgage or rent, property tax and insurance if not escrowed, utilities, internet, dynamic-pricing software, pest and garden service, and any property management fee (often 10–25% of revenue). Forgetting fixed costs is the single most common reason new hosts overestimate their profit.
Disclaimer
This short term rental calculator is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. All estimates depend on the inputs you enter — actual occupancy, nightly rates and costs vary by market, season, location and regulation. Short-term rental income is taxable and may be subject to local occupancy taxes, registration requirements and zoning restrictions. Always confirm your projections with a qualified accountant or tax professional before purchasing or operating a property.