Los Angeles vs New Orleans: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

New Orleans edges ahead of Los Angeles on higher occupancy (49.3% vs 29.6%), stronger RevPAR (£76 vs £48).

Head-to-head metrics

	Los Angeles	New Orleans
Median occupancy	29.6%	49.3%
Median daily rate	£182	£175
Median RevPAR	£48	£76
Active listings	24,491	4,619
YoY occupancy	+1.7 pts	-5.5 pts
YoY daily rate	+51.8%	+68.8%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Los Angeles vs New Orleans

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — New Orleans finishes decisively ahead of Los Angeles. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 59.4% higher in New Orleans: £76 against £48. New Orleans sells 19.7 more points of its calendar — 49.3% median occupancy against 29.6% in Los Angeles. That is not a rounding difference, and it compounds over a hold period.

The two markets reach their revenue by different routes, which is what makes this pairing worth reading rather than just tabulating. Los Angeles is the rate market: £182 a night against £175, some 4.3% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 29.6% occupancy. New Orleans is the volume market, filling 49.3% of its calendar at a lower headline price. Revenue per available night settles it: £76 in New Orleans against £48. Rate is what you advertise; RevPAR is what you bank.

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 New Orleans moved −5.5 points. Los Angeles is the deeper market at 24,491 active listings against 4,619, 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 Los Angeles nor New Orleans 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. Los Angeles peaks in September at 51% and bottoms in February at 29.1%; New Orleans runs from 49.2% in September down to 30.6% in December. New Orleans is the steadier of the two at 18.6 points peak-to-trough against 21.9 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Los Angeles 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. Los Angeles suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is also the momentum side of this pair. New Orleans answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. 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 24,491 active Los Angeles listings and 4,619 in New Orleans.

Frequently asked questions

Is Los Angeles or New Orleans better for Airbnb investment?

New Orleans, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£76 vs £48), higher occupancy (49.3% vs 29.6%), and faster rate growth (+68.8% 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 −5.5 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Los Angeles or New Orleans?

New Orleans, at 49.3% median occupancy against 29.6% in Los Angeles — a gap of 19.7 points. That is a wide spread by short-term rental standards and usually reflects a structural demand difference rather than better hosting. Over the last twelve months Los Angeles gained 1.7 points and New Orleans shed 5.5 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, Los Angeles or New Orleans?

Los Angeles, at £182 a night against £175 in New Orleans — roughly 4.3% more. The nightly rate is not the whole story, though. On revenue per available night — rate multiplied by how often the room actually sells — New Orleans comes out ahead at £76 against £48, so New Orleans's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Los Angeles or New Orleans?

Los Angeles, on occupancy: +1.7 points over the last twelve months against −5.5 points in New Orleans. Nightly rates rose 51.8% in Los Angeles and rose 68.8% in New Orleans 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, Los Angeles or New Orleans?

Los Angeles, with 24,491 active listings against 4,619 in New Orleans. 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 Los Angeles vs New Orleans?

New Orleans earns more: roughly £27,865 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 Los Angeles →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in New Orleans →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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