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Short-term vs long-term rental calculator
Compare a short-term rental scenario against a long-term lease using your own nightly rate, your own occupancy assumption, and the costs you enter for each. The gap is your math, not a market forecast.
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The short answer
Last updated: July 2026
To compare a short-term rental with a long-term lease, estimate STR net as nightly rate × assumed occupancy × 30.4 nights − extra monthly costs, and LTR net as monthly rent − monthly costs. At $150 a night and 65% assumed occupancy, an STR grosses about $2,964 a month before costs.
STR vs LTR calculator
Short-term or long-term rental?
Compare your own short-term scenario (nightly rate × the occupancy you assume) against a long-term lease, after the monthly costs you enter for each. Every input is your assumption.
Short-term: nightly rate
$
Short-term: occupancy you assume — 65%
0%
100%
Your guess at booked nights, not a market figure. Occupancy swings with season, pricing, and listing quality.
Short-term: extra monthly costs
$
Cleaning, supplies, platform fees, furnishings wear, utilities you cover — everything the STR adds each month.
Long-term: monthly rent
$
Long-term: monthly costs
$
Costs specific to the lease setup — management, tenant-caused wear, utilities you'd still pay.
Input-driven result
Your inputs
Formula
Result below
Short-term ahead by
$164
Per month, on your assumptions. A small gap can flip with one slow season.
Short-term net (est.)
$2,064
$150/night × 65% × 30.4 nights = $2,964 gross − $900 costs.
Long-term net (est.)
$1,900
$2,200 rent − $300 costs.
Estimate based on your inputs. Not a promise of results.
Estimate only. Short-term income is far more variable than a lease — occupancy here is your assumption, and the workload is much higher. Many cities restrict or license short-term rentals; check your local rules before deciding.
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How it works
How this tool works.
Short-term rentals usually show a bigger headline number — a nightly rate multiplied across a month looks great next to a lease. The honest comparison is net of what it takes to earn that number: cleaning between stays, platform fees, supplies, furnishings, the utilities you now cover, and above all the occupancy you can actually sustain. A long-term lease earns less per night but earns it every night, with far less work.
This calculator puts both on one screen. On the short-term side, enter your nightly rate, the occupancy you believe you’d achieve, and the extra monthly costs the STR adds; on the long-term side, the monthly rent and its costs. The tool converts occupancy to booked nights using the calendar average of 30.4 nights per month and shows both nets and the gap. Every figure in the result is your assumption — especially occupancy, which is the number that decides the comparison.
1
Enter your short-term inputs: nightly rate, the occupancy percentage you assume, and the extra monthly costs — cleaning, supplies, platform fees, utilities you’d cover.
2
Enter your long-term inputs: the monthly rent a lease would bring and the monthly costs tied to it.
3
The tool computes STR net (nightly rate × occupancy × 30.4 nights − costs) and LTR net (rent − costs).
4
The headline shows which side comes out ahead per month on your assumptions, and by how much.
Make the result useful
Compare net income and operating load
Short-term and long-term rentals have different revenue timing, costs, vacancy patterns, furnishing needs, and operating work. The comparison must use net figures and assumptions you can revisit.
Short-term rental legality can change by address and over time. A higher modeled net is not useful if the use is restricted by law, HOA, lender, or insurance terms.
Worked example
At $150/night and 65% occupancy, gross STR revenue is about $2,964/month before platform, cleaning, furnishing, and utility costs. Compare that with the fully loaded lease scenario.
Does the tool confirm STR legality?
No. Check local, HOA, lender, and insurance rules directly.
Answers
Questions, answered plainly.
Where does the occupancy number come from?
From you — it’s the assumption that drives the whole comparison, and this tool deliberately doesn’t supply one. Short-term occupancy swings with season, pricing, competition, and listing quality, so test the comparison at a range of occupancy levels, including a pessimistic one, before drawing a conclusion.
What does this tool not tell me?
It can’t tell you whether a short-term rental is allowed at your property. Many cities restrict, license, tax, or ban short-term rentals, and HOA rules and lease or lender terms can prohibit them too — the rules vary by location and change. Check your local law before you build plans on the STR number.
Why does the short-term side use 30.4 nights?
That’s just the average month: 365 days ÷ 12 is about 30.4. It converts your occupancy percentage into booked nights per month — calendar arithmetic, not a market statistic.
Is a higher STR net the end of the analysis?
No. Short-term income is far more variable month to month than a lease, and the operating load — messaging, turnovers, restocking, reviews — is a real job or a real management fee. A modest STR edge on paper can disappear in one slow season; a lease’s value is partly that it doesn’t.
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