Lake townsMichigan2026

Michigan Lake Towns

Traverse City, Saugatuck and South Haven were the most booked of the 29 lake towns in Michigan on Airbnb in the 12 months to October 2026, with an estimated 23,856, 14,738 and 11,213 stays. July is the busiest month across them, and the typical stay is 4.2 nights.

Source: AirROI Reviewed by Jun Zhou, Founder @ AirROI Updated November 4, 2026

Figures are AirROI estimates. How they are made

Among the 9 towns with 200+ homes

Most booked of these 9: Traverse City 23,856 stays
Highest revenue per home of these 9: Saugatuck $68,120 a year
Highest rated of these 9: Muskegon 4.89 out of 5
Lowest nightly rate of these 9: Muskegon $309 a night
Longest typical stay of these 9: Muskegon 4.8 nights

Ranking

Michigan Lake Towns Ranked by Airbnb Stays

Every one of the lake towns in Michigan with 100 or more Airbnb homes and recent stays, most booked first.

Michigan Lake Towns ranked by Airbnb stays, with homes, typical stay, busiest month, nightly rate, occupancy, revenue per home and guest rating

1	Traverse City	23,856	800	4.2 nights	July	$352	43%	$44,628	4.87
2	Saugatuck	14,738	452	3.4 nights	July	$509	44%	$68,120	4.85
3	South Haven	11,213	557	4.3 nights	July	$576	38%	$57,913	4.87
4	New Buffalo	10,562	410	3.5 nights	July	$633	38%	$64,793	4.85
5	Muskegon	5,920	244	4.8 nights	July	$309	42%	$36,178	4.89
6	Marquette	5,919	165	4.4 nights	August	$265	49%	$40,953	4.91
7	Chikaming Township. Includes Lakeside, Union Pier and Harbert.	5,725	261	4.5 nights	July	$589	37%	$58,723	4.87
8	Grand Haven	5,005	208	4.7 nights	July	$368	44%	$39,197	4.83
9	East Bay Township	4,893	214	4.7 nights	July	$416	40%	$47,293	4.83
10	Douglas	4,417	186	3.6 nights	July	$491	39%	$51,793	4.86
11	Boyne City	4,261	189	4.0 nights	July	$430	35%	$42,272	4.89
12	Charlevoix	4,234	203	4.0 nights	July	$401	36%	$41,313	4.81
13	Holland	3,504	110	4.8 nights	July	$348	48%	$46,524	4.90
14	Custer Township	3,407	146	3.9 nights	July	$323	33%	$32,311	4.85
15	Bellaire	3,321	144	4.0 nights	July	$408	37%	$44,321	4.91
16	Ludington	3,315	168	4.4 nights	July	$329	40%	$28,804	4.86
17	Munising	3,297	104	3.4 nights	August	$254	44%	$30,757	4.81
18	Au Train Township	3,174	113	4.2 nights	July	$306	46%	$42,036	4.87
19	Suttons Bay Township	3,014	144	4.6 nights	July	$459	39%	$44,695	4.87
20	Manistee	2,962	142	5.0 nights	July	$279	42%	$31,062	4.85
21	Casco Township	2,907	127	3.5 nights	July	$546	37%	$60,987	4.74
22	Kearney Township	2,838	125	4.0 nights	July	$312	34%	$35,403	4.86
23	Green Lake Township. Includes Interlochen.	2,681	103	4.2 nights	July	$323	39%	$37,583	4.87
24	Acme Township	2,523	144	5.7 nights	July	$360	36%	$30,605	4.83
25	Ironwood Township	2,384	101	3.9 nights	July	$264	35%	$24,673	4.83
26	Harbor Springs	2,308	116	4.6 nights	July	$484	37%	$46,452	4.87
27	Indian River	2,158	120	4.1 nights	July	$254	36%	$21,897	4.83
28	Frankfort	2,029	111	4.5 nights	July	$360	42%	$33,796	4.87
29	Glen Arbor	1,816	119	5.3 nights	August	$535	40%	$46,416	4.78

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 Chikaming Township and rows like it cover several towns.

Town by town

Where the Top Towns Stand Out

7 of 8 are busiest in July. Marquette peaks in August. Among guests who left a review, Chicago is the top home city in 7 of the 8. Houses 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.

Traverse City
Of the 9 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, Traverse City had the most Airbnb homes, at 800, and had the biggest share of apartments and condos, at 65%, in the 12 months to October 2026.
South Haven
Of the 9 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, South Haven had the biggest share of homes that sleep 8 or more, at 68%, in the 12 months to October 2026.
4
New Buffalo
Of the 9 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, New Buffalo had the highest nightly rate, at $633, in the 12 months to October 2026.
5
Muskegon
Of the 9 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, Muskegon had the highest guest rating, at 4.89, and had the longest typical stay, at 4.8 nights, in the 12 months to October 2026.
7
Chikaming Township
Of the 9 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, Chikaming Township had the biggest share of houses, at 87%, in the 12 months to October 2026.
8
Grand Haven
In the 12 months to October 2026, apartments and condos were the largest home type in Grand Haven, Michigan, at 51% of homes.

When to go

Busiest and Quietest Months

July, August and June rank as the busiest months for Airbnb nights across the lake towns in Michigan, and January and February as the quietest. July is the busiest month in 26 of the 29, while Marquette, Munising and Glen Arbor peak in August. Across the 29 towns, nightly rates run lowest in March, at about $359, and highest in July, at about $561. Across the 29 towns, stays run longest in July, at 5.3 nights, and shortest in September, at 3.0 nights.

July ranks first, February 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 Michigan by rank
Rank	Month	Typical stay	Nightly rate
1	July	5.3 nights	$561
2	August	3.8 nights	$523
3	June	4.5 nights	$505
4	September	3.0 nights	$430
5	October	3.1 nights	$387
6	May	3.8 nights	$413
7	November	3.5 nights	$369
8	December	3.7 nights	$375
9	April	4.9 nights	$364
10	March	4.2 nights	$359
11	January	3.5 nights	$366
12	February	3.4 nights	$361

Who comes

Where Guests Come From

Among guests who left a review, 98.2% come from within the United States. The top home cities among those guests are Chicago, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. Muskegon draws the most from abroad, at 2.9%, among towns with 200 or more homes.

Top home cities

Among guests who left a review

98.2% from within the United States

Chicago 8.2%
Grand Rapids 2.9%
Ann Arbor 2%
Michigan 1.2%
Indianapolis 1.2%
Detroit 1.1%

The money view

Revenue, Occupancy and Nightly Rate

Among the 9 towns with 200 or more Airbnb homes, Saugatuck has the highest estimated revenue per home, at $68,120 a year. Of those 9, Saugatuck and Grand Haven share the highest occupancy, at 44%, and Muskegon has the lowest nightly rate on Airbnb, at $309. The most booked of the 29, Traverse City, earns about $44,628 per home.

Highest revenue per home of these 9

A year, AirROI estimate

Saugatuck $68,120
New Buffalo $64,793
Chikaming Township $58,723
South Haven $57,913
East Bay Township $47,293

Highest occupancy of these 9

Nights booked, AirROI estimate

Lowest nightly rate of these 9

On Airbnb, AirROI estimate

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular lake town in Michigan?

By AirROI's estimates, Traverse City is the most booked of the 29 lake towns in Michigan, with 23,856 Airbnb stays in the 12 months to October 2026. Saugatuck is second, with 14,738. This counts Airbnb bookings only.

What is the most affordable lake town in Michigan?

By AirROI's estimated nightly rate on Airbnb in the 12 months to October 2026, among lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, the lowest are Muskegon ($309), Traverse City ($352) and Grand Haven ($368). That is the average asking price on booked nights, not what it costs to live or buy there.

What are some small lake towns in Michigan?

By AirROI's count of active Airbnb homes as of October 2026, the smallest of the 29 lake towns it lists in Michigan are Ironwood Township (101), Green Lake Township (103) and Munising (104). AirROI's list starts at 100 homes, so smaller places are not on it.

What lake towns in Michigan 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 lake towns in Michigan with 200 or more homes, the highest are Saugatuck ($68,120), New Buffalo ($64,793) and Chikaming Township ($58,723). Among the same towns, Saugatuck and Grand Haven share the highest occupancy, at 44%.

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 the shore of a lake or large reservoir, and the lake has to be a main reason to come. The town's own listings can back that up, with 35% of its homes listing lake access, or 25% of its titles naming the lake with 10% of homes listing it. 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 415,673 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.