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

Bottom line

New Orleans edges ahead of Seattle on higher occupancy (49.3% vs 32.9%), stronger RevPAR (£76 vs £55).

Head-to-head metrics

	New Orleans	Seattle
Median occupancy	49.3%	32.9%
Median daily rate	£175	£184
Median RevPAR	£76	£55
Active listings	4,619	5,958
YoY occupancy	-5.5 pts	-1.6 pts
YoY daily rate	+68.8%	+60.9%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: New Orleans vs Seattle

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — New Orleans finishes decisively ahead of Seattle. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 38.8% higher in New Orleans: £76 against £55. New Orleans sells 16.4 more points of its calendar — 49.3% median occupancy against 32.9% in Seattle. 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. Seattle is the rate market: £184 a night against £175, some 5.5% more, but it converts fewer of those nights at 32.9% 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 £55. Rate is what you advertise; RevPAR is what you bank.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Seattle is not simply the weaker market of the two. The twelve-month direction favours Seattle too: occupancy there moved −1.6 points while New Orleans moved −5.5 points. Its strongest submarket, Lower Queen Anne, clears £127 RevPAR on its own — city medians hide that kind of spread. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither New Orleans nor Seattle 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. New Orleans peaks in September at 49.2% and bottoms in December at 30.6%; Seattle runs from 59.2% in September down to 31.4% in February. New Orleans is the steadier of the two at 18.6 points peak-to-trough against 27.8 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Seattle 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. New Orleans suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry and whose economics survive high turnover — more bookings, more cleans, more guest contact per pound of revenue. It is the contrarian side: buying it means buying a market that has cooled. Seattle answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal: it is the market for an owner who can hold rate through the shoulder season rather than discounting to fill the calendar. 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 4,619 active New Orleans listings and 5,958 in Seattle.

Frequently asked questions

Is New Orleans or Seattle better for Airbnb investment?

New Orleans, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£76 vs £55), higher occupancy (49.3% vs 32.9%), and higher median annual revenue (£27,865 vs £20,063). Seattle is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on the better occupancy trend (−1.6 points vs −5.5 points year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, New Orleans or Seattle?

New Orleans, at 49.3% median occupancy against 32.9% in Seattle — a gap of 16.4 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 New Orleans shed 5.5 points and Seattle shed 1.6 points, so the gap is closing.

Which has higher nightly rates, New Orleans or Seattle?

Seattle, at £184 a night against £175 in New Orleans — roughly 5.5% 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 £55, so New Orleans's cheaper nights are more than repaid by how often they fill.

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

Neither is growing on occupancy — both cooled over the last year. New Orleans gave up 5.5 points and Seattle 1.6, so Seattle is the shallower decline rather than the winner. Nightly rates rose 68.8% in New Orleans and rose 60.9% in Seattle over the same window.

Which is the bigger Airbnb market, New Orleans or Seattle?

Seattle, with 5,958 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 New Orleans vs Seattle?

New Orleans earns more: roughly £27,865 a year for a median listing against £20,063 in Seattle. 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 New Orleans →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Seattle →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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