Broward County vs Hawaii Airbnb: Which Market Actually Pays

Hawaii earns $2.5K more per listing per year, but Broward's occupancy is climbing faster and its entry costs are lower. Here's how to read both numbers honestly.

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The headline split here is simple: Hawaii makes more money per listing, Broward fills beds more reliably relative to where it was twelve months ago. A 16.8-point occupancy jump in Broward against Hawaii's 11.9-point rise tells you something real about momentum, even if Hawaii still sits on a higher absolute floor. That's the tension worth unpacking before anyone wires a deposit.

What this piece will settle is which market actually serves your financial profile. Median annual revenue, nightly rate spread, seasonal cash-flow shape, and the regulatory picture in each place point in directions that don't all favour the same buyer. One of these markets is the straightforward pick for most people. The other has a narrower but legitimate use case.

Where the money actually is

Hawaii's $208 nightly rate against Broward's $129 is a $79 gap. At 30% occupancy across a 365-night year that's roughly 110 booked nights, so Hawaii is generating around $8,700 more in gross nightly revenue from rate alone before you touch the occupancy difference. The $2.5K median revenue gap — $13.3K versus $10.8K — actually understates what a well-placed Hawaiian listing can do, because medians are dragged down hard by the 22,154-listing pool, which is nearly double Broward's 11,860.

Broward's 36% occupancy is the more interesting number right now. Six percentage points ahead of Hawaii, and it got there via a 16.8-point annual swing that Hawaii simply hasn't matched. If that trajectory continues for another year, the revenue gap narrows quickly. It hasn't closed yet, though. Hawaii wins on the P&L today.

What the data can't tell you is purchase price or gross yield, and that's where both markets' numbers become genuinely hard to use. A $13.3K median annual revenue figure on a $900K Hawaiian condo is a very different investment from the same revenue on a $400K property. Street-level variance matters enormously in both markets, and no snapshot figure resolves it.

Cash flow through the year

Hawaii's seasonal shape is the more dramatic of the two. A 48% peak in October collapsing to 27% in May is a 21-point swing. That's a $2,500-plus monthly revenue difference between your best and worst months, and any investor relying on consistent monthly income to service a mortgage needs to model that trough seriously. Broward's range is tighter: 40% in September down to 27% in November, a 13-point spread. Shallower troughs mean more predictable debt cover.

For a seasonal operator who plans to use the property personally during slow months and doesn't need year-round income, Hawaii's shape is actually fine — the peak months are strong enough to justify the model. For anyone running this as a pure yield play with leverage, Broward's flatter curve is less likely to produce a month where the rental income doesn't cover the mortgage. Neither market is genuinely year-round in the way, say, a city-centre urban let can be, but Broward comes closer.

Where the rules bite

Both markets currently operate without a night cap, which is the single most destructive regulatory instrument a local authority can deploy. That's the good news. Hawaii is the one to watch more carefully, though. The state has a history of municipality-level crackdowns — Maui and Oahu have both moved to restrict short-term rentals in residential zones in recent years, and enforcement has tightened around permit compliance. Buying in Hawaii without a transferable, legally clean STR permit attached to the specific property is a serious risk. Some listings operate in a grey area that a title search won't always surface.

Broward County's regulatory environment is more permissive at the county level, though individual municipalities within it vary. The absence of a night cap and no current legislative signal pointing toward one makes it easier to underwrite. Neither market is risk-free on regulation — STR rules in the US are moving in one direction nationally — but Hawaii demands more due diligence per transaction and filters out buyers who aren't prepared to pay for proper legal verification of permit status.

The actual call

Hawaii is the better-performing market by revenue and by rate, and for a buyer who can afford the entry price, has done the permit homework, and can absorb a volatile monthly cash flow, it's the right choice. The $79 rate premium is structural — it reflects genuine demand that Broward's tourism profile can't replicate — and 30% occupancy with upward momentum is not a weak foundation.

Broward is the pick for the buyer who needs the numbers to be more forgiving. Lower purchase prices, flatter seasonality, less regulatory exposure per transaction, and an occupancy trajectory that's climbing faster all point the same way. It won't match Hawaii's revenue ceiling. It's also less likely to hand you a permit problem on completion or a mortgage-shortfall month in May. If you're building a portfolio and Broward is property two or three rather than a trophy asset, that trade-off is worth making.

Frequently asked questions

Methodology. Figures are medians across active listings from Inside Airbnb's 2025-09-26 snapshot, refreshed automatically as new snapshots land. The table and chart above always show the latest data; the commentary is re-written when the numbers move materially.