Rhode Island vs Salem Or: which is better for Airbnb investment? (2026)

Bottom line

Rhode Island edges ahead of Salem Or on higher occupancy (42% vs 36%), stronger RevPAR (£39 vs £31).

Head-to-head metrics

	Rhode Island	Salem Or
Median occupancy	42%	36%
Median daily rate	£206	£94
Median RevPAR	£39	£31
Active listings	4,262	247
YoY occupancy	+22.3 pts	+3.1 pts
YoY daily rate	+0.4%	+8.7%
Regulation risk	—	—
Annual night cap	None	None
License required	No	No

Full analysis: Rhode Island vs Salem Or

On the money side of this comparison — what a listing actually earns against the nights it has available — Rhode Island finishes clearly ahead of Salem Or. Revenue per available night — rate and occupancy combined, the figure that actually reaches an owner — is 27.4% higher in Rhode Island: £39 against £31. Rhode Island commands 119.3% more per night, £206 against £94. Those gaps are wide enough to survive a normal year's variance.

Rhode Island takes both halves of the yield equation, which is less common than it sounds. It charges more per night — £206 against £94 — and still fills more of the year, 42% against 36%. 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 £39 against £31.

That verdict needs a caveat, because Salem Or is not simply the weaker market of the two. Nightly rates are also climbing faster in Salem Or, +8.7% over the last year against +0.4% in Rhode Island. Salem Or is the less crowded of the two — 247 active listings to 4,262 — so a well-run property has fewer near-identical rivals to out-rank. If your model leans on that dimension, the ordering above can reasonably flip.

Neither Rhode Island nor Salem Or 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. Rhode Island peaks in October at 60% and bottoms in June at 45.6%; Salem Or runs from 54.8% in November down to 34.7% in February. Rhode Island is the steadier of the two at 14.4 points peak-to-trough against 20.1 — easier to underwrite against a mortgage — while Salem Or 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. Rhode Island suits buyers who want a conventional, lightly regulated entry. It is also the momentum side of this pair. Salem Or answers to the same regulatory profile, so the split between them is operational rather than legal. Every figure above comes from the same Inside Airbnb snapshot pipeline on both sides, filtered to listings with at least one booking in the last twelve months. Occupancy medians are drawn from 2,776 active Rhode Island listings and 95 in Salem Or.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rhode Island or Salem Or better for Airbnb investment?

Rhode Island, on the data we track. It leads on stronger RevPAR (£39 vs £31), a higher nightly rate (£206 vs £94), and the better occupancy trend (+22.3 points vs +3.1 points year over year). Salem Or is not the weak side of this pair, though — it wins on faster rate growth (+8.7% vs +0.4% year over year).

Which has higher occupancy, Rhode Island or Salem Or?

Rhode Island, at 42% median occupancy against 36% in Salem Or — a gap of 6 points. That is a real but modest edge; a well-run listing in Salem Or can close most of it. Over the last twelve months Rhode Island gained 22.3 points and Salem Or gained 3.1 points, so the gap is widening.

Which has higher nightly rates, Rhode Island or Salem Or?

Rhode Island, at £206 a night against £94 in Salem Or — roughly 119.3% more. Revenue per available night agrees rather than contradicts: £39 in Rhode Island against £31, so the rate premium survives contact with the occupancy figures.

Which has stronger year-over-year growth, Rhode Island or Salem Or?

Rhode Island, on occupancy: +22.3 points over the last twelve months against +3.1 points in Salem Or. Nightly rates held flat in Rhode Island and rose 8.7% in Salem Or 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, Rhode Island or Salem Or?

Rhode Island, with 4,262 active listings against 247 in Salem Or. 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 Rhode Island vs Salem Or?

Rhode Island earns more: roughly £14,336 a year for a median listing against £11,234 in Salem Or. 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 Rhode Island →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

Market guide

Airbnb in Salem Or →

Occupancy, ADR, neighborhoods, regulation

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