Short-Term Rentals
Short-term rental modeling with occupancy, average daily rate, cleaning costs, platform fees, and seasonality baked in. Indianapolis runs roughly 4,900 active short-term rental listings averaging about $34,000 a year in revenue at 57% occupancy and a $182 average daily rate (AirDNA, 2026) — here is how to model where you'd land.
Best for
Use it when
Every figure updates as you type — the defaults are typical Indianapolis numbers.
Your short-term rental, by the month
Indianapolis benchmarks
57%
Average Indianapolis STR occupancy across active listings (AirDNA, 2026)
$182
Average daily rate in the Indianapolis market (AirDNA, 2026)
$34.1K
Average annual revenue per active Indianapolis listing (AirDNA, 2026)
~$1,500
Average long-term rent it competes against (Zillow, 2026)
Every number in the tool above comes from these formulas — nothing hidden.
Booked nights
Booked nights = available nights × occupancy rate
A full year has 365 nights; a full month averages 30.4. Occupancy is measured against the nights you make available, not the calendar.
Gross revenue
Revenue = booked nights × average daily rate (ADR)
ADR is your blended average across seasons and weekdays — not your best weekend rate. Cleanings and fees are handled separately below.
Revenue per available night
RevPAR = ADR × occupancy
The single best metric for comparing STR properties: it prices both pricing success and booking frequency at once. A $200 ADR at 40% occupancy loses to a $150 ADR at 65%.
Turnovers
Stays per month = booked nights ÷ average stay length
Every stay is a cleaning, a check-in, and a chance for a bad review. Two-night averages turn far more than four-night averages at the same occupancy.
Net STR income
Net income = revenue × (1 − platform fee %) − cleanings × stays − utilities − operating costs
Platform fees run roughly 15–17% all-in. Utilities run 3–5× a long-term rental because guests treat utilities like they’re free — because for them, they are.
Indianapolis runs roughly 4,850 active short-term rental listings earning an average of $34,100 a year, booked 57% of available nights at an average daily rate of $182 (AirDNA, August 2026). Those are market averages across everything from downtown condos to far-suburban houses — the spread around them is enormous.
Published occupancy estimates for the city range from the high 30s to over 70% depending on methodology and sample, and that spread is itself the lesson: performance is hyper-local. A well-run, well-located property beats the average while a distant or dated listing drags it. Underwrite your property against genuine comparables in the same zip, never against the citywide headline.
Short-term revenue is built from two dials: how many nights you sell (occupancy) and the price you sell them at (ADR). Neither dial means much alone — a high ADR with empty nights and a low ADR sold out can produce identical revenue. RevPAR multiplies them into one comparable number: revenue per available night.
This model computes nights from your occupancy assumption, applies your ADR, then subtracts the real cost stack — platform fees on revenue, cleaning costs on every turnover, and utilities that run several times a long-term rental’s. The number left over is the only one that competes with a tenant’s rent check.
A static nightly rate is a bet that the market won’t move this week — and that bet rarely pays off. Demand in short-term rentals shifts by day of week, season, event calendar, and booking pace, and industry benchmarks consistently point to double-digit revenue improvements when hosts move from flat rates to dynamic pricing tools.
The practical version: set a floor price you can live with, a ceiling you can defend, and let a pricing tool move between them using market data. You keep the guardrails; the tool does the nightly work. For a single listing it’s an hour of setup that compounds across every booked night.
The calculator compares your STR cash flow against what the property would earn with a long-term tenant. The premium has to be meaningful — roughly $150–300 a month after the extra costs — to justify furnishing, turnover labor, guest messaging, and the operational intensity of hosting. Running an STR is a part-time hospitality job; the numbers should pay you for it.
In Indianapolis, that premium is achievable downtown and in walkable, event-adjacent neighborhoods. It is much harder in far-suburban areas where $1,500 of long-term rent — the city-wide average (Zillow, 2026) — is already a strong number to beat. If your STR barely outearns a tenant, the tenant is the better business.
The market average is 57% (AirDNA, 2026), with published estimates ranging from the high 30s to over 70% depending on methodology and sample. For underwriting, well-run properties in event-adjacent locations commonly plan around 55–65%, and conservative first-year models use the low end while the listing builds reviews. Underwrite against genuine same-zip comps, not the citywide average.
The market average is $182 (AirDNA, 2026), but ADR varies more than occupancy — from roughly $100 for modest rooms to $300+ for premium homes on event weekends. Set yours from actual comparables in your zip with similar size and finish, then average across seasons. Your race-weekend rate is marketing data, not an underwriting input.
It depends entirely on the premium. Run this calculator against the property’s realistic long-term rent: if the STR clears roughly $150–$300 a month more after cleaning, fees, and higher utilities — and you’re willing to operate it — it can be worth it. If the two are close, the long-term rental delivers similar money with a fraction of the work.
It’s driven by average stay length: booked nights ÷ average stay = stays per month. At 60% occupancy with 3-night stays, that’s about six turns a month — six cleanings, six check-ins, and six chances for a bad review. Longer stays reduce turns but also shrink the guest pool. The cleaning cost input in this model is applied per stay, so stay length flows straight through your bottom line.
Indianapolis regulates short-term rentals and requires proper registration and adherence to zoning rules, which vary by district and whether the property is your primary residence. HOA covenants can add restrictions on top. Confirm current requirements with the city and any HOA before purchasing — Austin helps investors verify this during due diligence.
Yes — renting a spare bedroom or a unit in your primary residence via Airbnb is a common house hack variant, and primary-residence STRs usually face lighter regulation than whole-investment-home listings. Note that lenders rarely count bedroom income toward qualifying, and the operations are entirely yours: guests, cleanings, and reviews on top of normal homeowner life.
Beyond normal property taxes, short-term rental revenue is subject to lodging taxes, and the net income is taxable like any rental income. Standard landlord insurance also usually excludes short-term use, so budget for a proper STR policy. Your CPA should model the tax stack before you commit — it’s part of the premium calculation, not a footnote.
These calculators are educational tools. Good underwriting still depends on accurate rents, expenses, financing, repairs, vacancy, management, and local market judgment.
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