Beach townsUS2026

Beach Towns in the US

Source: AirROI Reviewed by , Founder @ AirROI Updated

Figures are AirROI estimates. How they are made

Among the 306 towns with 200+ homes

Most booked of these 306
Panama City Beach 206,733 stays
Highest revenue per home of these 306
Kahuku $149,072 a year
Highest rated of these 306
Homer 4.92 out of 5
Lowest nightly rate of these 306
Aguadilla $172 a night
Longest typical stay of these 306
Dana Point 10.4 nights

Ranking

Beach Towns in the US Ranked by Airbnb Stays

Every one of the beach and coastal towns in the United States with 100 or more Airbnb homes and recent stays, most booked first.

Beach Towns in the US ranked by Airbnb stays, with homes, typical stay, busiest month, nightly rate, occupancy, revenue per home and guest rating
1Panama City Beach, Florida206,733$366
2Myrtle Beach, South Carolina170,852$271
3Honolulu, Hawaii. Includes Waikiki.155,968$294
4Gulf Shores, Alabama113,008$433
5Miami Beach, Florida112,701$409
6San Juan, Puerto Rico109,941$236
7St. Augustine, Florida100,808$334
8Fort Lauderdale, Florida97,572$400
9Galveston, Texas97,249$334
10Miramar Beach, Florida89,096$476
11Destin, Florida86,895$495
12Hollywood, Florida81,028$336
13Hilton Head Island, South Carolina80,590$464
14North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina78,044$389
15Orange Beach, Alabama75,240$435
16Santa Rosa Beach, Florida72,027$613
17Ocean City, Maryland71,653$364
18Sarasota, Florida70,474$341
19Pensacola, Florida61,405$281
20Kihei, Hawaii61,228$413
21Carolina, Puerto Rico60,696$209
22Port Aransas, Texas55,622$499
23South Padre Island, Texas53,620$376
24Clearwater, Florida50,679$308
25Fort Walton Beach, Florida50,449$363

Figures are AirROI estimates for the 12 months to October 2026, and stays count Airbnb bookings only. Typical stay is a booking's length, occupancy the share of available nights booked, and revenue the yearly average per home, before costs. Guest rating is out of 5. Airbnb data files some places as one district or township, so Honolulu and rows like it cover several towns.

By region

Stays and Top Town by Region

Beach Towns in the US by region: towns, Airbnb stays and the top town in each
RegionStaysTop town
Florida2,304,197Panama City Beach
Hawaii525,160Honolulu
South Carolina459,147Myrtle Beach
California419,251Oceanside
Puerto Rico363,259San Juan
Texas334,624Galveston
North Carolina284,656Carolina Beach
Alabama201,774Gulf Shores
Oregon168,052Lincoln City
Massachusetts151,919Provincetown
Maine138,709Portland
Washington133,387Port Angeles
New Jersey127,379Atlantic City
Michigan112,418Traverse City
Georgia73,933Tybee Island
Maryland71,653Ocean City
Rhode Island58,251Newport
Virginia55,812Virginia Beach
Mississippi51,258Gulfport
New York50,345East Hampton
Delaware44,855Rehoboth Beach
United States Virgin Islands42,314Charlotte Amalie
Alaska26,123Homer
Connecticut21,158Stonington
Wisconsin15,391Sturgeon Bay

Town by town

Where the Top Towns Stand Out

4 of 8 are busiest in March. Panama City Beach, Myrtle Beach and Gulf Shores peak in June, and Honolulu in August. Among guests who left a review, New York is the top home city in 3 of the 8. Apartments and condos are the largest home type in 6 of the 8. The lines below add what the table can't show, where one of the 8 most booked towns leads its peers or differs from the rest.

  1. Panama City Beach, Florida

    Of the 306 beach towns in the United States with 200 or more homes, Panama City Beach (Florida) had the most Airbnb homes, at 10,441, in the 12 months to October 2026.

  2. 7
    St. Augustine, Florida

    In the 12 months to October 2026, houses were the largest home type in St. Augustine, Florida, at 58% of homes.

  3. 8
    Fort Lauderdale, Florida

    In the 12 months to October 2026, houses were the largest home type in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at 48% of homes.

When to go

Busiest and Quietest Months

July, June and August rank as the busiest months for Airbnb nights across the beach towns in the United States, and November and January as the quietest. July is the busiest month in 153 of the 464, while Panama City Beach and Myrtle Beach peak in June, and Honolulu in August. Across the 464 towns, nightly rates run lowest in November, at about $374, and highest in July, at about $478. Across the 464 towns, stays run longest in February, at 7.8 nights, and shortest in September, at 4.0 nights.

July ranks first, January last

Airbnb months in calendar order. The number is the month's rank, and 1 is the busiest. The bar shows its part of Airbnb nights.

  • Three busiest months
  • Other months
Month by month: rank, typical stay and nightly rate
Months in the United States by rank
RankMonth Typical stay Nightly rate
1July5.6 nights$478
2June5.2 nights$472
3August4.8 nights$428
4March5.8 nights$408
5May4.8 nights$414
6April5.1 nights$399
7September4.0 nights$377
8February7.8 nights$396
9October4.6 nights$379
10December5.3 nights$392
11November4.9 nights$374
12January7.3 nights$389

Who comes

Where Guests Come From

Among guests who left a review, 91% come from within the United States. Among those guests, the largest groups from abroad, each 1.5%, come from Canada and Puerto Rico. The top home city among those guests is New York. Sunny Isles Beach (Florida) draws the most from abroad, at 55%, among towns with 200 or more homes.

Top home cities

Among guests who left a review

91% from within the United States

  • New York 3%

The money view

Revenue, Occupancy and Nightly Rate

Among the 306 towns with 200 or more Airbnb homes, Kahuku has the highest estimated revenue per home, at $149,072 a year. Of those 306, Kahuku has the highest occupancy, at 63%, and Aguadilla has the lowest nightly rate on Airbnb, at $172. The most booked of the 464, Panama City Beach, earns about $40,080 per home.

Highest revenue per home of these 306

A year, AirROI estimate

  1. Kahuku $149,072

    Hawaii

  2. Malibu $135,588

    California

  3. Florida

  4. California

  5. Koloa $112,868

    Hawaii

Highest occupancy of these 306

Nights booked, AirROI estimate

  1. Hawaii

  2. Maine

  3. Hawaii

  4. Alaska

  5. California

Lowest nightly rate of these 306

On Airbnb, AirROI estimate

  1. Puerto Rico

  2. Puerto Rico

  3. Florida

  4. Puerto Rico

  5. Puerto Rico

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular beach town in the United States?

By AirROI's estimates, Panama City Beach (Florida) is the most booked of the 464 beach towns in the United States, with 206,733 Airbnb stays in the 12 months to October 2026. Myrtle Beach is second, with 170,852. This counts Airbnb bookings only.

What is the most affordable beach town in the United States?

By AirROI's estimated nightly rate on Airbnb in the 12 months to October 2026, among beach towns in the United States with 200 or more homes, the lowest are Aguadilla (Puerto Rico) ($172), Aguada (Puerto Rico) ($192) and Hudson (Florida) ($192). That is the average asking price on booked nights, not what it costs to live or buy there.

What are some small beach towns in the United States?

By AirROI's count of active Airbnb homes as of October 2026, the smallest of the 464 beach towns it lists in the United States are Gearhart (Oregon) (98), Hauula (Hawaii) (98) and Brunswick (Maine) (103). AirROI's list starts at 100 homes, so smaller places are not on it.

What beach towns in the United States offer the strongest Airbnb returns?

Returns depend on what a home costs to buy and run, which AirROI's figures do not cover. On AirROI's estimated revenue per home in the 12 months to October 2026, among beach towns in the United States with 200 or more homes, the highest are Kahuku (Hawaii) ($149,072), Malibu (California) ($135,588) and Anna Maria Island (Florida) ($120,620). Among the same towns, Kahuku (Hawaii) has the highest occupancy, at 63%.

Method

How These Lists and Numbers Are Made

How a town gets on this list. A town needs 100 or more Airbnb homes with recent stays. A language model then judges the place from its name, state, country and coordinates, not from words in its name: it has to be on an ocean or sea coast with its own beach, seafront or harbour, or on a Great Lake with a public beach, and within about 10 km of the shore. The town's own listings can back that up, with 30% of its homes listing beach access, or 10% with ocean views, waterfront homes or beach in their titles besides. A town whose listings do not gets a second, stricter check, which asks whether people go there for that or mainly for something else. Big cities stay off. Corrections come last: places the checks got wrong are added or taken off, and rows that name one place are joined.

How the figures are made. Stays, occupancy, nightly rate and revenue are AirROI estimates built from Airbnb listing data, and cover Airbnb only. A town's stays are its bookings in the period, and the typical stay and busiest month come from the same data. Guest ratings, home sizes and how far ahead guests book are the latest figures in each town's AirROI data. Month ranks compare each month's part of Airbnb nights. Origin rests on 16,078,094 reviews and describes guests who left a review, not everyone who stayed. A town needs 1,000 reviews before this page gives its share from abroad.