Chicago and Columbus score similarly on the metrics that matter most for short-term rental returns. The right pick depends on whether you optimise for yield (lower regulation risk, higher RevPAR) or capital growth.
Head-to-head metrics
| Chicago | Columbus | |
|---|---|---|
| Median occupancy | 54% | 54% |
| Median daily rate | £111 | £88 |
| Median RevPAR | £36 | £28 |
| Active listings | 6,086 | 2,366 |
| YoY occupancy | — | +19.5 pts |
| YoY daily rate | — | -1.8% |
| Regulation risk | — | — |
| Annual night cap | None | None |
| License required | No | No |
Full analysis: Chicago vs Columbus
There is no clean winner between Chicago and Columbus. Chicago posts 54% occupancy and £36 RevPAR; Columbus posts 54% occupancy and £28 RevPAR. Weighted together with regulation risk the two finish inside the margin we are willing to call, which is the honest answer rather than an evasive one — a scoring gap this small would flip on the next data refresh. When markets are this close the decision stops being about the market and starts being about the deal: what you pay, what it costs to run, and how quickly you could exit.
Chicago takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £111 against £88 — and still fills more of the year, 54% against 54%. A market that leads on price and utilisation at once is normally one where demand has outrun supply, rather than one where hosts are discounting to keep the calendar busy. RevPAR reflects the double advantage at £36 against £28.
A tie does not mean the two are interchangeable — it means each holds something the other does not. Across a full year the median Chicago listing grosses £12,988 against £10,324 in Columbus. Columbus is the less crowded of the two — 2,366 active listings to 6,086 — so a well-run property has fewer near-identical rivals to out-rank. Pick the one whose advantage matches how you intend to operate, because the composite score will not do that job for you.
Neither Chicago nor Columbus currently has a verified short-term rental regulation record in our register, so the comparison above is a yield comparison only. Regulation is the single largest source of downside in this asset class — an unverified market is an unpriced risk, not an absent one.
The two calendars also behave differently. Chicago peaks in September at 51.4% and bottoms in February at 25.2%; Columbus runs from 49.9% in September down to 22.7% in February. Both swing by a similar amount across the year, so neither offers meaningfully steadier cash flow than the other.
Who each suits, then. Chicago suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry and who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. Columbus answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal: it is the market for an owner whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2025-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 2,560 active Chicago listings and 1,065 in Columbus.
Frequently asked questions
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