The MyUSAStay Vacation Rental Affordability Index 2026: Where Your Travel Dollar Goes Furthest

The cheapest place to book a vacation rental in 2026 is not where most travelers would guess. Measured against what the people who live there actually earn, Kansas and North Dakota give a visitor more nights under a roof per dollar of local income than almost anywhere else in the country. Maine sits at the opposite end. A nightly rate in Maine costs more than double as much, relative to the median household income of the state, as the same night in Kansas. That single comparison is the reason this index exists.

The MyUSAStay Vacation Rental Affordability Index 2026 ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia by one number: the average nightly rental rate divided by the local median household income. Raw price alone is a poor guide. A $300 night reads very differently in Mississippi than in Massachusetts, because the wage behind that $300 is not the same. By anchoring price to income the way the National Association of Realtors anchors home prices to qualifying income in its housing affordability index, the index turns a pile of nightly rates into a like-for-like measure of where a travel dollar genuinely stretches and where it quietly disappears.

The 2026 Affordability Index: the full ranking

The table below ranks every state, plus the District of Columbia, from most affordable to most overpriced. The affordability score is the average nightly rate expressed per $1,000 of median household income. A lower score means the local economy can absorb that nightly rate more easily, which is the closest thing travelers have to a fair-value signal. The five most affordable are the District of Columbia (2.21), Kansas (2.69), North Dakota (2.70), Illinois (2.73) and Iowa (2.93). The five most overpriced relative to local incomes are Maine (6.08), South Carolina (5.65), Vermont (5.56), Michigan (5.27) and North Carolina (5.23). The pattern is not subtle: high-demand vacation states, the coastlines and the mountains people travel to, charge rates that dwarf what their own residents earn.

Read the score as a value gauge, not a price tag. A high rank does not mean a state is cheap in absolute terms. Maryland and Washington both run close to $300 a night yet land inside the top ten, because their incomes are high enough to carry the rate. Mississippi and Arkansas post some of the lowest nightly rates in the country and still finish mid-table, because local incomes are thin. Affordability is always a ratio.

How the index works

The method is deliberately transparent so any newsroom can check it. Two inputs, one division.

The numerator is the average nightly rate per state, drawn from AirROI's market data and captured in a single snapshot on June 2, 2026. The figure reflects a trailing twelve months and is averaged across each state's ranked short-term rental markets. The denominator is the 2024 median household income for each state, from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Table B19013. The score is the nightly rate multiplied by 1,000 and divided by that income, which yields the nightly dollars a state's rentals cost per $1,000 of local annual income.

Two caveats keep the index honest. First, because the nightly rate is averaged across ranked markets, beach and resort destinations pull a state's number upward. Alabama looks pricier than its reputation precisely because its Gulf Coast markets carry the average. Second, the index measures price against the income of residents, not visitors. That is the point. It answers how out of step rental pricing has drifted from the local economy, which is exactly the gap that produces the most quotable superlatives. Rates exclude cleaning fees and taxes, and cover entire-home and private-room listings alike.

Where your travel dollar goes furthest

The most affordable states share a quiet logic. Either rates stayed grounded while incomes held up, or both moved in the traveler's favor. The District of Columbia tops the table almost entirely on income: at $109,707 it carries the second-highest median household income in the country, so even a $242 night barely registers against the local wage. Among actual states, Kansas is the standout. Its $180 average nightly rate is the lowest in the nation, and a respectable $66,900 median income does the rest. North Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska follow the same script, modest rates against steady Plains incomes.

There is a second group worth a traveler's attention. Maryland, Washington, Minnesota and Virginia are not cheap on paper, all four sit near or above $290 a night, yet they rank inside the top dozen because their incomes are among the highest in the index. For a visitor that translates into well-supplied markets, professional hosts and rates that the local market can actually sustain, which tends to mean fewer wild seasonal spikes. Value is not always the bargain bin. Sometimes it is a high rate in a high-wage place that knows what it is doing.

The most overpriced states

The bottom of the table is a roll call of postcard destinations. Maine finishes dead last at 6.08, a score more than double that of Kansas. A $402 average night collides with a $66,100 median income, and the math turns brutal. South Carolina, Vermont, Michigan and North Carolina round out the five most overpriced, every one of them a state where tourism rates have detached from what residents earn. Vacation demand sets these prices, not the local wage, and the index makes that detachment visible.

Hawaii is the instructive case. Its $484 nightly rate is the highest in the country by a wide margin, the kind of number that screams overpriced. Yet Hawaii lands at 41st rather than 51st, because its $98,600 median income absorbs part of the blow. High price, high income, middling value. It is the cleanest illustration of why the index refuses to rank on price alone, and why a headline that calls Maine more overpriced than Hawaii is, on these terms, correct.

Why rental affordability tracks the wider housing market

Vacation-rental pricing does not float free of the real estate market underneath it. The same forces that drive the National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index, the HAI that weighs median household income against the income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home, also shape what hosts charge per night. When home prices climb and mortgage rates stay elevated, the cost of owning an investment property rises, and owners pass that into nightly rates. Rental affordability and homeownership affordability are two readings of one housing story.

The numbers make the link plain. National median household income reached an American Community Survey high in 2024, yet home prices and interest rates rose faster than wages through the post-pandemic years, pushing the NAR housing affordability index to some of its weakest levels on record. A market where a typical family can barely qualify for a median-priced home is also a market where property owners need higher nightly rates to cover their costs. States with the steepest real estate prices, the coastal and resort markets, tend to be the same states that score worst on this rental index. Maine, Vermont and South Carolina are not anomalies; they are housing markets where property values and the costs of ownership have outrun local incomes, and the vacation-rental rate simply inherits that gap.

Reading the rental data alongside real estate statistics also explains the affordable end of the table. States such as Kansas, Iowa and North Dakota carry moderate home prices, healthier price-to-income ratios and steadier homeownership costs, so the nightly rate has less ground to make up. For a traveler, an affordable rental market and a balanced local property market usually travel together. The index is a tourism tool, but it is reading the same economy that real estate analysts track all year.

Key statistics worth citing

• Most affordable state for vacation rentals in 2026, relative to local income: Kansas, with an affordability score of 2.69 and the lowest average nightly rate in the country at $180. The District of Columbia scores 2.21 but is a federal district rather than a state.
• Most overpriced state relative to local income: Maine, scoring 6.08, where a $402 average night meets a $66,100 median household income.
• Maine's affordability score is roughly 2.3 times higher than Kansas's, the widest value gap in the index.
• Highest average nightly rate: Hawaii at $484. Lowest: Kansas at $180. Across all 50 states and D.C., the average ranked-market nightly rate is about $303 (AirROI, June 2026).
• National median household income reached $81,604 in 2024, an American Community Survey high. Massachusetts leads the states at $113,900; Arkansas trails at $58,600.
• The U.S. short-term rental average daily rate was about $298 in the fourth quarter of 2025, up roughly 4.5% year over year, with AirDNA forecasting rate growth near 1.5% and a slight occupancy dip in 2026.
• U.S. vacation-rental nightly rates peaked around $339 in June 2025, a reminder that summer pricing runs well above the annual average.
• Airbnb counted more than 8 million active listings worldwide as of November 2025, the deepest supply travelers have ever had to shop against.

How to use the index to plan a 2026 trip

The index is a planning tool, not just a leaderboard. Travelers chasing value can read it two ways. The obvious move is to favor the top of the table, where rentals are priced in step with local economies. The smarter move is substitution. Anyone drawn to an overpriced state can usually find a neighbor that scores far better for a similar experience. Craving New England coastline without Maine's 6.08? New Hampshire sits at 3.88. Tempted by the mountain West? Wyoming (3.90) and Utah (3.32) deliver alpine scenery at a fraction of Colorado's or Montana's relative cost.

Timing matters as much as geography. Because the index reflects a full-year average, peak season in any state runs hotter than its score suggests, and shoulder months run cooler. A high-ranking state booked in July can cost what a low-ranking state costs in May. The takeaway is simple. Pair an affordable state with an off-peak week and the savings compound. Pick an overpriced state in high season and even a strong income base will not rescue the bill.

None of this requires a spreadsheet to act on. The practical lesson for a 2026 trip is that the sticker price a traveler sees first rarely tells the whole story, and that a little flexibility on where and when to go pays off more than haggling ever will. Two travelers can spend the same money and come home with very different value, and the difference usually comes down to the state they chose and the week they booked it. A quiet inland town in a balanced market will almost always feel like a better deal than a marquee coastal name in peak July, even when the headline rate looks similar.

It also helps to keep expectations grounded about what a single ranking can and cannot do. This is a state-wide lens, and any state contains both bargains and blowouts. A traveler willing to skip the obvious resort towns can find honest value almost anywhere, and a traveler who insists on the most famous beach in the most famous town will pay for it regardless of how the state ranks. The index points in the right direction. The final call still belongs to the person packing the bags.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Vacation Rental Affordability Index?

It is a proprietary ranking that divides each state's average nightly vacation-rental rate by its median household income, then scores all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The score shows how much a nightly rate costs relative to the local economy, so travelers can compare value rather than raw price. It borrows its price-to-income logic from established affordability measures such as the housing affordability index.

Which U.S. state has the most affordable vacation rentals in 2026?

Kansas, with an affordability score of 2.69 and a $180 average nightly rate, the lowest in the country. The District of Columbia scores even lower at 2.21 on the strength of its high median income, but it is a federal district, not a state. North Dakota and Iowa round out the most affordable destinations.

Which state has the most expensive vacation rentals relative to income?

Maine, with a score of 6.08. A $402 average nightly rate sits well above what the state's $66,100 median household income can comfortably support. South Carolina and Vermont follow. Hawaii posts the highest absolute nightly rate at $484 but ranks lower on the overpriced list because its incomes are high.

How is the affordability score calculated?

The score equals the average nightly rate multiplied by 1,000, then divided by the state's median household income. The result is the nightly dollars charged per $1,000 of local annual income. Nightly rates come from AirROI market data captured on June 2, 2026; income figures come from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey. A lower score means greater affordability.

The MyUSAStay Vacation Rental Affordability Index is updated annually, and the ranking table and state map are free to embed with credit. Publications and tourism boards are welcome to cite their state's standing and link back to the methodology. Next year's edition will track which states closed the gap between rental pricing and local incomes, and which let it widen.