Despite the fact that Airbnb has only recently gotten out of the startup category, this online lodging platform has become an emblem for the global sharing economy, and Airbnb statistics are confirming its enormous success. A win-win deal for both hosts and travelers, the unique Airbnb business model (peer-to-peer) has enabled affordable stays for more than 750 million travelers across the world and profits for around 2.9 million hosts by 2020.
Considering all that, many are wondering how much they would make if they joined the Airbnb community as hosts and whether they could supplement these earnings with the new, activity-based gigs called Airbnb Experiences.
If financial profits and fun are what you’re after, you might get a better idea of how to achieve this after reading these stats.
Top 10 Key Points of the Latest Airbnb Statistics
- There are more than 7 million Airbnb accommodation listings around the globe.
- By the end of 2019, around 1.1 million US rentals were offered through Airbnb.
- The average Airbnb stay is 4.3 nights.
- The average Airbnb occupancy rate in the US is 48%.
- Airbnb accounted for 19% of the US lodging market in 2018
- American Airbnb hosts earn $102 per booked night on average.
- The best US cities for Airbnb hosting per occupancy rates are situated in Hawaii, California, and Florida.
- Airbnb hosts made $80 billion in the Q4 2018.
- The most profitable American destinations for Airbnb hosts are Santa Rosa Beach, Lahaina, and Kihei.
- Women over 60 years of age host 43% of the private rooms that are rented in the US.
Airbnb Growth Statistics
1. Airbnb accounted for 19% of the US lodging market in 2018.
(Statista)
Airbnb is one of the leaders in the US lodging market. Moreover, it was one of the highest-valued startups in the world ($35 billion), ranking just before Musk’s SpaceX, startup statistics reveal.
In the last several years, the biggest Airbnb competitors, such as HomeAway (11% share of the lodging market), lost to this company by a lot. Back in 2018, Airbnb’s revenue surpassed that of Hilton and its subsidiaries.
Also, Marriott International inc., one of the biggest Airbnb competitors, launched a site for home-rentals similar to Airbnb.
2. Airbnb growth statistics project 45.6 million Airbnb users by 2022.
(Statista) (Tech Crunch)
In 2019 an estimated 41.1 million Americans were using the Airbnb services, a 2.7 million increase since 2018 (38.4 million).
However, the biggest jump in popularity of this online marketplace was noted in the year 2012, when Airbnb increased the number of users fourfold and doubled the number of listings.
3. There are more than 7 million Airbnb accommodation listings around the globe, Airbnb data reveals.
(Airbnb) (Airbnb)
As of 2019, Airbnb could accommodate travelers from around the globe in more than 6 million active Airbnb listings, a number which augmented to 7 million at the beginning of 2020.
Currently, more than 100,000 cities worldwide situated in over 220 different countries and regions offer Airbnb rentals, as the official Airbnb figures show.
4. There were around 1.1 million US properties available for Airbnb renting by the end of 2019, Airbnb statistics confirm.
(Airbnb) (Statista)
The US is the world leader in the number of Airbnb offers — a fact that comes as no surprise, since America is the birthplace of Airbnb.
In a 2019 survey, nearly half of the American Airbnb hosts claimed that their monthly Airbnb income helps them make ends meet. For 18% of them, as shown in the mortgage statistics, it was a means to avoid eviction.
On the other hand, 56% of American Airbnb tourists said that they economized their stay by renting through Airbnb instead of booking a hotel room.
5. The Airbnb Experiences statistics showed a 7-fold increase in bookings during 2018.
(Airbnb)
Airbnb business model, beginning with 2016, offers another economic opportunity called Airbnb Experience. From 500 registered Experiences in 2016, over 30,000 are available around the globe today. What’s more, more than 90% of them have 5-star user ratings.
In 2018, the average host made $2,500 per Experience, but the top-earners were counting more than $300,000 a year from Airbnb Experiences.
6. Airbnb gained a gross revenue of $4.3 billion in 2019.
(Skift) (Tech Crunch) (ATR)
In the Q4 2019, Airbnb reported passing the cap of $1 billion for the second time; the Airbnb revenue for 2018 surmounted $1 billion in the third quarter.
Earning a $1.1 billion in revenue in the last quarter in 2019, Airbnb made a 32% jump from Q3, moving far ahead of Booking Holdings and other Airbnb competitors such as Expedia Group, and Trip Advisor.
7. The market value of Airbnb reached $40 billion in 2019, Airbnb growth statistics show.
(Statista) (Financial Times) (Business Insider)
Despite nearing the saturation of the renting market, and the pressure from the competitors, the market value of Airbnb in 2019 reached $40 billion, stock market statistics confirm. This represents a $2 billion jump in value from 2018 when Airbnb was worth 38 billion. It is also a $9 billion increase since 2017 ($31 billion).
However, amid the coronavirus outbreak, the internal valuation dropped to $26 billion at the end of March 2020.
8. Airbnb facts show that 79% of Americans had heard of Airbnb in 2018.
(Statista)
In a 2018 survey, 44% of US adults were familiar with the Airbnb brand, and 35% declared being somewhat familiar with the Airbnb services.
A proof of the increasing popularity of Airbnb is also the fact that only 21% of the Americans were unable to give an answer to the question — what is Airbnb?
US Hosting Airbnb Statistics
9. Airbnb guests stay, on average, 4.3 nights.
(Pillow)
Similarly to the statistics for Airbnb earnings per year, the median and average duration of stay in the Airbnb rentals are quite different. The vast majority of visits last only around 3 days, but some 5% stay longer than 12 days, accounting for an average of 4.3 nights per visitor.
10. Airbnb hosts made a combined $80 billion through Airbnb in Q4 2018.
(Reuters) (ATR) (CNBC)
Boosting rental revenue for hosts is not an easy task in the tightly-packed Airbnb market. However, Airbnb host analytics can offer valuable information, so hosts can adjust their prices in accordance with the demand.
Many complain about not having real-time data that they can use and only dispose of limited 12-month-charts on earnings and occupancy rates. Despite these setbacks, Airbnb hosts earn, on average, around $924 a month, as per Earnest’s research data.
11. US hosts gain an average annual Airbnb revenue of $9,570.
(Pillow)
Airbnb analysis shows that the earnings of an average Airbnb host are a solid $9,750, but the median value shows another story. Namely, there is a $6,270 gap between the average and the median earnings on an annual level, which are estimated at $3,300.
Multiple listings bring over million-dollar revenue to 0.3% of the Airbnb hosts. This accounts for the higher average, even though 98% of Airbnb hosts make less than $100,000 per year.
12. Airbnb statistics show that the average American host earns $102 per booked night for an entire unit.
(Airbnb) (Pillow)
Additionally, 82% of the American Airbnb hosts, according to Airbnb figures, are renting their property to gain a supplementary income, while 18% of them are earning a living this way.
Stats further show that US hosts are more likely to rent the entire unit for an estimated average charge of $102 per night. Prices, however, depend greatly on the location and demand.
13. The combined Airbnb host analytics of 500 cities show an average occupancy rate of 48%.
(ATR)
Occupancy rates of Airbnb properties are an important metric that shows the correlation between the booked days in the month vs. the days when rentals stay empty. This number can disclose the most visited Airbnb venues, hence the most profitable.
In the US, the average occupancy rate for the period between October 2018 and September 2019 measured in 500 US cities was 48%.
14. The best cities for Airbnb renting per occupancy rates are located in the states of Hawaii, California, and Florida.
(ATR Analytics)
Following ATR analytics data on monthly Airbnb occupancy rates, 7 out of the top 10 most visited US cities were located in Hawaii, with Kihei (occupancy rate of 69%) at the top of the list, offering more than 1,000 active properties.
Other most visited cities include:
- Port Aransas, Texas (63%)
- San Francisco and Pensacola, Florida (both 62%)
- Sevierville, Denver, and Gatlinburg (all 61%)
- Hollywood (60%)
15. The best cities for Airbnb investment in 2018 and 2019 were Santa Rosa Beach, Lahaina, and Kihei.
(AirDNA)
Is Airbnb profitable for hosts? — you might ask. It depends on three factors — the location, the occupancy rates, and the competition. AirDNA lists the best Airbnb investment bets using their Revenue Per Available Rental metrics (RevPAR).
Following this listing, Santa Rosa Beach in Florida tops the list with RevPAR of $119,116. It is followed by Lahaina in Hawaii ($104,805), Destin, Florida ($88,608), and Kihei, Hawaii ($78,311).
16. Miami, Florida, is the most expensive Airbnb city in the world, Airbnb data reveals.
(Lonely Planet) (Travel Nine)
With an average charge of $205 per night, Airbnb rentals in Miami take the lead on the list of the most expensive rentals. Next is Boston, with an average of $195 per night, followed by Reykjavik, Iceland ($194), and Tel Aviv in Israel ($188).
The cheapest Airbnb venues for 2019, according to Travel Nine, were Lviv, Ukraine ($42 per night), Saint Petersburg in Russia ($47), and Jakarta in Indonesia ($50).
17. Kissimmee in Florida offers the largest number of property listings in the US, Airbnb statistics for 2019 show.
(Statista)
There were 47,875 offered properties for renting through Airbnb and HomeAway in Kissimmee city in June 2019, making it officially the most welcoming place for tourists in the US.
New York was second with 37,979 property listings, followed by Davenport and Los Angeles, which offered 21,406, and 20,916 (Airbnb and HomeAway) listings, according to Airbnb statistics by city.
18. Airbnb stats show that 43% of the private rooms rented in the US are hosted by women over 60 years of age.
(Airbnb Citizen)
The typical senior Airbnb host supplements an additional $6,000 per year to their retirement savings statistics thanks to the Airbnb business model — a 2015 Airbnb report reveals.
Most of the hosts aged over 60 are women, self-declaring as empty nesters. This host demographic is both the most highly ranked and the fastest growing in the Airbnb community. Namely, the year-to-year growth for hosts over 60 is 102%, followed by those aged 50–59, with YoY growth of 99%.
19. European Airbnb host demographics data shows that most hosts are between 25 and 34 years of age.
(Statista) (Airbnb Citizen)
36% of the Airbnb hosts in Europe (the majority) are between the ages of 25 and 34, whereas 15% were even younger (18–25 years).
This raises the question — does Airbnb check the age? The answer is yes! Guests and hosts alike need to verify their identity prior to using the services, and this includes age verification.
In Europe, 23% of hosts were aged 35–44, while those 45–55 hosted 14% of the European rentals. The lowest share of hosts was over 65 (5%). In comparison, around 13% of hosts in the US are over 60.
Airbnb Statistics and Covid19 Crisis
20. Airbnb laid off 25% of its employees due to the coronavirus crisis.
(City Metric)
During May, in an attempt to diminish the losses that the company had suffered due to the coronavirus outbreak, Airbnb has laid off almost 2,000 of its employees, which is approximately one-quarter of its workforce.
An additional 50% cuts were made to the wages of the executive team, in order to save up to $800 million in 2020.
21. The average Airbnb occupancy rate is expected to drop down to 28.6% by late August 2020.
(AirDNA)
The new reality of post-COVID-19 tourism brings little hope for an upward trend of the occupancy rates this summer, regardless of the available AirDNA promo code discounts and other affordable offers.
Following AirDNA statistics, the occupancy rates of Airbnb rentals are expected to decrease by approximately 15% when compared to the rates in 2019. For June 2020, the projected occupancy rate is 47%, which is expected to drop to 41.45% in July, and 37% in August.
22. The highest average Airbnb daily rate will not surpass $180 in summer 2020, projections claim.
(AirDNA)
If you were still wondering — how much money do Airbnb hosts make? — AirDNA projections for this summer will leave you somewhat discouraged if you were planning on becoming an Airbnb host. The global crisis is expected to lower the daily Airbnb prices for $10–$20 in comparison with the summer season of 2019.
At the moment, the highest Average Daily Rate (ADR) of $180 is predicted for late July, whereas the lowest ADR of $139 is expected during the first week of June.
FAQ
What year was Airbnb founded?
(Airbnb)
Airbnb was officially launched as Airbed & Breakfast during the South by Southwest festival (SXSW) in March 2008. However, the first guests through the already active Airbedandbreakfast.com website were received in the fall of 2007.
In March 2009, the official name became Airbnb, and the rental service expanded to houses and vacation rentals.
How many people use Airbnb yearly?
(Airbnb) (Statista)
Every night, across the globe, more than 2 million people are staying in accommodation rented through Airbnb. Each year, over 150 million travelers book Airbnb rentals worldwide, and roughly 41.1 million of them in 2019 were Americans.
How many Airbnb hosts are there?
(Airbnb)
The tempting Airbnb business model attracted 2.9 million hosts to the Airbnb network. They rent approximately 7 million rooms, apartments, houses, and vacation homes globally.
Around 14,000 individuals owning property around the globe are joining Airbnb as hosts each month, according to their official data.
What is the average occupancy rate for Airbnb?
(ATR)
The occupancy rate of the Airbnb accommodation options fluctuates depending on their location, the season, and available listings.
The real occupancy rate is calculated by taking into account booked days versus the days when the accommodation is empty during a month, excluding the blocked dates. According to All The Rooms Analytics (ATR), the average occupancy rate for Airbnb rentals in 500 US cities between October 2018 and September 2019 was 48%.
How much money can you make on Airbnb?
(Reuters) (ATR) (CNBC) (Airbnb) (Pillow)
Per-host earnings depend greatly on demand, location, and seasons. However, the average monthly Airbnb earnings estimated by Earnest’s research data are $924, and the median is $440 per month.
The average yearly revenue for Airbnb hosts is estimated at $9,750, with a median of $3,300. Per night earnings are approximately $102 on average, for renting an entire unit, as per official Airbnb data.
Bottom Line
Granted, with COVID-19 still ravaging the globe, it won’t be easy for Airbnb hosts and staff to make a profit. However, the chances are that after months in lockdown, travelers across the globe will jump to the first opportunity to quench their wanderlust, and book the cleanest and most isolated rentals.
Meanwhile, Airbnb statistics remain strong and ready for another power ride through the earning charts, and you will probably get a “piece of the pie” too if you join the ride.
