Jersey City vs Los Angeles: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Jersey City edges ahead of Los Angeles on higher occupancy (37.8% vs 29.6%), stronger RevPAR (£57 vs £48).

Head-to-head metrics

	Jersey City	Los Angeles
Median occupancy	37.8%	29.6%
Median daily rate	£190	£182
Median RevPAR	£57	£48
Active listings	1,628	24,491
YoY occupancy	-12.6 pts	+1.7 pts
YoY daily rate	+70.9%	+51.8%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Jersey City vs Los Angeles

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Jersey City finishes clearly ahead of Los Angeles. Jersey City turns its rate and occupancy into £57 per available night against £48 in Los Angeles, a 20% edge on the only yield figure that nets the empty nights out. Jersey City's listings run at 37.8% occupancy against 29.6% in Los Angeles, worth 8.2 extra points of booked calendar every year. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Jersey City takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £190 against £182 — and still fills more of the year, 37.8% against 29.6%. 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 £57 against £48.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Los Angeles is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours Los Angeles too: occupancy there moved +1.7 points while Jersey City moved −12.6 points. Los Angeles is the deeper market at 24,491 active listings against 1,628, which usually means better comparables going in and a wider buyer pool coming out. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Jersey City nor Los Angeles 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. Jersey City peaks in September at 55.1% and bottoms in February at 24.3%; Los Angeles runs from 51% in September down to 29.1% in February. Los Angeles is the steadier of the two at 21.9 points peak-to-trough against 30.8 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Jersey City concentrates its return into a shorter window and rewards operators who price the peak aggressively instead of holding a flat rate all year.

Who each suits, then. Jersey City suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. Los Angeles answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, dated 2026-09, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 1,628 active Jersey City listings and 24,491 in Los Angeles.

Frequently asked questions

Is Jersey City or Los Angeles better for Airbnb investment?

Jersey City, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£57 vs £48), higher occupancy (37.8% vs 29.6%), and faster rate growth (+70.9% vs +51.8% year over year). Los Angeles is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (+1.7 points vs −12.6 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Jersey City or Los Angeles?

Jersey City, at 37.8% median occupancy against 29.6% in Los Angeles — a gap of 8.2 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Los Angeles can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Jersey City shed 12.6 points and Los Angeles gained 1.7 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Jersey City or Los Angeles?

Jersey City, at £190 a night against £182 in Los Angeles — roughly 4.5% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £57 in Jersey City against £48, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Jersey City or Los Angeles?

Los Angeles, on occupancy: +1.7 points over the last twelve months against −12.6 points in Jersey City. Nightly rates rose 70.9% in Jersey City and rose 51.8% in Los Angeles over the same window. One year of movement is a direction, not a trend — weigh it against the regulation picture before treating it as momentum.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, Jersey City or Los Angeles?

Los Angeles, with 24,491 active listings against 1,628 in Jersey City. Size cuts both ways: a deep market gives you comparables, contractors and an exit, while a thinner one means fewer near-identical rivals competing for the same search results.

How much can you earn from an Airbnb in Jersey City vs Los Angeles?

Jersey City earns more: roughly £20,951 a year for a median listing against £17,472 in Los Angeles. Those are gross booking revenues before cleaning, management, platform fees, furnishing amortisation and tax — budget for a meaningful share of them, and note that a median listing is a median operator, not a good one.

Go deeper on each city

Market guide

Airbnb in Jersey City →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Los Angeles →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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